Lights for 300 children at elerai primary school
The Barbara Dougan Foundation (BDF) recently donated about US $3,000 towards the Lights for Learning Program by the Nancy Ellen Crooks Foundation (NECF). With these funds, the NECF recently distributed solar lamps to 300 children at Elerai Primary School in the Mara Division of Narok County.
Elerai Primary School is located in a remote and rural area about 300 kilometers from Nairobi. Off the rough and rugged road to the Masai Mara, one drives for several kilometers on no-tarmac roads, crossing seasonal rivers, through hilly and rocky terrain. The area was dry, windy and dusty. Maasai manyatas are the common mode of housing. Most of the area is not on the national electricity grid. Solar power is the primary source of energy for the few homes and schools that can afford it.
The school was started six years ago by the local community, led by Elder Chief James Nairuko, to protect children from walking long distances to the only primary school, many kilometers from their homes, through dangerous terrain teeming with wildlife, including leopards, lions, wild dogs and elephants.
Given that we distributed 300 solar lights, and the average household has four children, we have potentially enriched the lives of 1,200 children and their families.
Kids with Solar Lights Improve their Grades … from 26% to 47%
You have been up well before dawn, done your chores and walked several miles to reach your school before 7:00 am. Students in rural Kenya use solar lighting to study.
It’s a repeat at the end of the school day, but now it’s dark and you have homework to do. But that’s OK now…no more trying to study by the light from the cooking fire or kerosene lamp.
You have a solar light that was given by the Nancy Ellen Crooks Foundation through the kindness and concern of their donors. You get all your homework done and more. Studying has now become easier for you… sometimes even enjoyable.
This is the story of hundreds of students in rural Kenya where the Foundation has supplied school communities with solar lights. We get great reports that kids with solar lights increase their grade point averages ranging from 26% to 47%.
These students, the leaders of tomorrow, have been educated because of your concern for them through your generous donation!