Rona visits St Paul Omonayo
After a successful handover between both sites, both Uganda research teams and first and second half Project Managers in Kisumu, I returned to Kisii town to start my stint as Project Manager. Unfortunately I returned to Kisumu much quicker than expected as one PW was admitted as an inpatient to Kisumu Aga Khan due to severe food poisoning. After 2 nights and 5* care we returned back to Kisii to find the Kisii project workers getting ready to leave for their well earned holiday week. We were also met by a new addition to the summer team in the form of last year’s Project Manager, Samuel Jones.Two project pairs went without holiday week as they are leaving the project slightly early due to commitments in the UK. This gave Samuel and me the opportunity to visit the project pair working at St Thomas Turwa (a second year school) and to see the fruits of all their hard work, which included: a new floor in the lab; dozens of new text books; new lab equipment; a new water tank and water filters for drinking water. The Headteacher was delighted with all their hardwork and held an open day to celebrate the improvements in the school and to thank the Project Workers. The second pair have been based in Kisii town and have been working diligently on updating the guide for Post Educational Opportunities with exciting results. The guide they are creating will benefit so many schools and their students’ knowledge and awareness of careers.
The summer team have been catching up on all the admin, while schools are closed for the holidays. This has included: meeting with local NGOs and businesses to discuss potential partnerships; tying up LTP24 investment; working on a central database of schools; planning the midsummer meeting and all around numerous power cuts!
We have an exciting week ahead with lots of school visits, including visiting my old school again, St Paul’s Omonayo. We are also looking forward to the midsummer meeting to hear all the PWs ideas for the second half of the project as well as planning for the year ahead. To top things off, Jan has just arrived back from Uganda; it’s so exciting to hear about all the work that has been going on there – here’s to KEP 2013!
Rona, Project Manager Kisii
