Building a School in Irovo, Kenya
Both MD Peter and I recently attended the Business Network in Central Lancashire. Many of you will be well aware of the 10 minute slot given to businesses to pitch their skills, knowledge and idea. This month was Alan Whelan, ghost writer and travel specialist. He spoke about the Shalom Academy in Irovo, Kenya, and he touched around hearts. A school he and his wife have been helping for many months now. His presentation had so much of an impact, that we wish to spread the work further about the incredible work he is doing in Africa. We believe helping others in their business and in the personal passions add values to everyone. A message, we hope you share with us.
For this piece, we asked him to write a few words and this is what he had to say:
A pencil and an eraser.
That’s all it took to bring tears of joy to Anselm’s eyes. Imagine what a car full of pens & crayons, calculators & compasses, protractors & paperclips, chalk & chalkboards and masses of sports gear could do.
That’s what Lancashire-based ghostwriter and author Alan Whelan wondered when he collected school equipment and cash donations from friends, colleagues and clients to donate to Shalom Academy, an embryonic school project in Western Kenya.
The inspiration and driving force behind the school, local man Vitalis Tivis, has been striving to provide free education from ramshackle rented premises since 2009 after being shocked by the number of kids in the village not attending school.
Their parents could afford neither the fees for local schools nor a uniform — both mandatory in Kenya — so Vitalis made it his policy to never turn away a child who wanted education.
But it’s tough to build a school on your own. That’s why Alan collected and shipped 34 boxes of school supplies to Cape Town before loading it all into a Toyota 4X4 and driving 6,300 kms to the school on the edge of Lake Victoria. Little Anselm got more than a pencil and eraser that day.
The next goal is to raise enough cash to build some new classrooms and make contacts with a UK school that wishes to ‘twin’ with Shalom Academy.
See more www.irovo.org
Contact Alan alan@alanwhelan.co.uk
