The Kerugoya school for the Deaf is a primary school, though in Kenya that is not an age based description. It was started by nuns in the late 1960's and was taken over by Joe Morrissey, an American Peace Corps volunteer who stayed on as head. In 1986 he left the school to work full time for CBM, and John Murigu became the first Kenyan head. He retired in August 2002 and the current head is Mrs.Annie Maina, who has worked at the school for over 25 years.

The staff is dedicated, and many of them work extra hours without pay. There are about 165 children aged from 6 - 20+ years at the school, mostly local, but some from all over Kenya, because the school has a good reputation for taking their education seriously. There are exam classes and accredited vocational training classes in several trades for older pupils.

Teachers' salaries are paid for by the state, but the care workers are not salaried. The German charity Christoffel Blinden-Mission covers about 65% of the running costs (care staffing and food and medicines), and the sponsors, all over the world, but particularly in Netherlands, USA and England cover the rest. Some 40% of the teachers live on site with their families.

The children are mostly from poor families who cannot afford the fees (only Ksh 6,000/= (about £50) per annum) and in any case it's not common for deaf or handicapped children to be educated at all. The school compound is about five acres on a very hilly site over 5000 feet above sea level, in the foothills of Mount Kenya, which is about 25 miles away. The area grows tea and coffee cash crops, but it is a mostly subsistence peasant economy. There are cows for milk and some food is grown on the site. Many of the teachers keep chickens for eggs.

The children eat the same food every day (as do their teachers), maize
porridge for breakfast, lunch, which is boiled stew of dried maize and beans, and a cake made from maize (like polenta) with vegetables in the evening. They have meat and bread twice a week. Avocadoes grow wild and are a valuable extra source of nourishment.

The partnership

• I was asked to do some teacher training in the autumn of 1993 for a few weeks. I fell in love with the place, and immediately decided to sponsor a child myself.

• I came back and talked about the school to friends and without canvassing, many friends decided to also become sponsors.

• I kept in touch with school, partly for personal reasons, but also
  because I wanted to make links for our children to learn about deaf children in a developing country.

• Since 1993 we have built links which have included attempts to get pen-friendships established, donations of outgrown uniforms especially
  shirts and sweatshirts, which I carry out there twice a year, working
  hearing aids as they become available, and audiometers, & other technical equipment.

• In 2000 our pupils successfully raised £2000 in a Millennium Fund, and
  this has funded the secondary education for two boys from the school for the last four years. We had 1p and 2p trails, discos, raffles, non-uniform days, and many other fundraising activities. Since then many events produce additional monies for the school. One member of staff asked for donations at a 40th birthday party, and sent a cheque for £250, for example.

• Kenya is a part of our primary school and secondary school curriculum, with many artefacts, photos, video footage and other items from the school providing learning resources. Kerugoya has been adopted by all of us at Boston Spa now.

• Other links have involved staff. Three teachers from the school have been in England for training courses, most recently a teacher who successfully undertook the two year Birmingham Teacher of the Deaf distance learning B.Phil at his own expense. I was his tutor.
• Other links have involved six ex-pupils from St.John's who have travelled out to Kerugoya to visit, raise Deaf Awareness, and help the school, some of whom have had JAMA awards, notably Katrina Fitzpatrick, Monica Clarke and Fiona McClean.

• I have visited the school at least twice every year since 1993, for periods of 2 - 6 weeks, and last year did a sponsored climb of Mount Kenya, with a teacher and a pupil from the school, which raised over £3750 to establish a new building fund. (the school buildings are wood, which is being eaten away by ants!)

• Currently about £3500 per year is raised by my sponsor group, and another £2500 is raised by another group run by a Bradford man who is a member of the "Kerugoya Family". Other monies come from USA, Netherlands and elsewhere, and these sponsorships represents well over 30% of the school's running budget.
  
  

It's a wonderful place, and my dream is to take a group of pupils from
Boston Spa one day.