Two local organizations, Wellington-based Dream Sponsors and the Essence of Africa, will join forces with the North Carolina-based nonprofit One Way Out for a volunteer mission trip this October offering services and delivery of much-needed supplies to members of several remote African villages located in Kenya.
Last summer, Emmanuel Tasur, the founder of Sirua Aulo Academy, based in Masa Mara, Kenya, was hosted here in Wellington, by the Dream Sponsors team. Sirua Aulo, the No. 1 school in the district, has nearly 650 youth enrolled between the primary school and high school. Most of these youth come from rural villages and live in extreme poverty. Education is their only hope of a better life. Many youth live in dorms on campus, while others walk in excess of five miles each way to get to school. Tasur is in need of support to help raise the quality of life and the nutritional diet of these children. Currently, the school can only afford to provide minimal food options, with limited choices.
Dream Sponsors is seeking donations to initiate a poultry farming project to be housed on the Sirua Aulo high school campus. The project budget will include construction of a structure and fencing to contain the chickens, purchase of chickens, start-up feed and instructional materials for the students. The project will cost about $6,000. This self-sustaining project will provide eggs for student meals, while also contributing to a farming curriculum at the high school. This new project will also provide youth with the means to participate in hands-on learning about agricultural practices. They will also learn business skills by marketing and selling eggs in the local Maasai community.
The team hopes to raise the start-up funds prior to the October volunteer visit, so they can personally participate in the launch of the project. Donations are also being accepted to help with transportation costs for the delivery of supplies. The group is bringing paper, pencils and notebooks for those children who attend schools where water and electricity are non-existent; socks and sweaters for women during cooler temperatures; and baseball-type hats for the men to protect them from the sun. Donations will also help support the hiring of a Kenyan-based photographer to document the journey and share the stories of the Maasai women, men and children. The images will be used for educational purposes with local schools here in the U.S., providing valuable cultural learning opportunities.
If you are interested in supporting this volunteer mission, contact Carla B. Neumann, founder and president of Dream Sponsors, at (561) 795-2223.
For more info., visit www.dreamsponsorsinc.org, www.onewayoutkenya.com and www.teoafrica.com.
