2014 was the year the Barbara Dougan Foundation built a dorm with solar hot water and solar lighting for 100 girls in St. Andrew's school in Kasarani, Kenya. We also supplied 100 beds and mattresses. In December 2015 the first 15 girls from the new dorm graduated and 11 went on to computer classes at a polytechnic school in Naivasha while awaiting entrance into colleges or trade schools.

The Barbara Dougan Foundation sponsored the building of a new dorm to house 280 boys. Construction started in July 2018 and was finally completed in the fourth quarter of 2020. The COVID-19 global pandemic impacted the schedule, but the craftsmen persevered and the dorm is ready for boys to move in! These photos show a sequence of construction and the final product.

A poem from the girls of St. Andrews:

A Walking Miracle

There was darkness, no moon, no light,

A starless sky,

A daily 7KM trek from the dusty slum,

A look on the hill of hope just for some,

The beautiful winds carried you to me,

An ocean full of unfailing love without limits,

A face of calmness, rare to see,

Soft spoken Barbara Dougan.

 

You are like no other,

From you angel, there rises a beam that reaches straight to heaven,

A kindness that the deaf can hear and the blind see,

You give silently without hope of praise or reward

A sacrifice not many can make,

Look at the home, the light, only you made possible,

Kindly accept the title, ‘Mama’ and we you adopted babies.

 

We are writing to you this letter,

Just to make ourselves feel better,

Yet no words feel good enough,

None seem adequate,

You saved us all countless tears,

You placed no limits on my dreams, her dreams and now, his dreams,

With you our dreams are valid.

 

Mom, I look at you and see a walking miracle,

I want to hold you tight and hug you,

I just want to say thank you,

So thank you,

Thank you very much,

Thank you momma.