Water for Kachele!

What an exciting time for Kachele School.  Clean water at last!!

TT&F, H2O For Life, Sunnyside Elementary School and Edgewood Middle School partnered to raise money for a bore hole and water tower at Kachele School!

H2O For Life, www.h2oforlifeschools.org, is a non-profit organization committed to helping United States schools to extend clean drinking water and sanitation to schools overseas.

Sunnyside Elementary and Edgewood Middle School are two Moundsview, MN schools, within the H2O For Life group, that did fundraising throughout the 2009/2010 school year and raised $5,000 towards drilling a bore hole and installing a water tower at Kachele School.

Pictures of the well covering

_____________________________________

Up goes the water tower

_____________________________________

Water tower is completed! Of course, it must be inspected by the neighborhood children.

A tremendous thank you goes to H2O For Life, Sunnyside Elementary School and Edgewood Middle School for all of their fundraising efforts.  They have truly contributed to the well-being of these schoolchildren and the neighboring community.

_____________________________________

For more information on the history of The Kachele Education Center, continue reading:

Kachele Education Center started out as a Transit House run by Rev. Zimba.  It was used as a meeting place for local women and children, to provide education about HIV and pregnancy.

Tiny Tim and Friends (TTF) was able to test these chidren and enroll the HIV+ children in our program.

____________________________________________________________

In late 2008, the Transit House became the Kachele Education Center. The main focus of the Education Center was taking care of children between the ages of 3 and 12 years old. The children are provided food and health care they desperately needed, and are taught all the required school subjects.

Due to the tremendous generosity of our donors, TTF was able provide funds for a roof, new windows and newly painted walls.

____________________________________________________________

On Christmas Eve 2008 the U.S. Marines (through the American Embassy in Lusaka) delivered toys to the Kachele Education Center from the Toys For Tots program. They were met with such happy and grateful faces.

The children sang a welcome song to the Marines.

After singing, they anxiously waited for the gifts.

Finally it was time to receive their gifts! The Marines handed out presents to each of the children.

The letter below, written by Rev. Zimba, truly expresses their delight to be remembered on Christmas day by the Marines and U.S. Embassy:

“I would like to thank you so much on behalf of the John Lang Community for the wonderful gifts that you gave to us on the 24th of December 2008.  I wish you knew how much the gifts meant to the children.  There was so much excitement among all those who received the gifts including everybody else who observed the whole process.  Words alone cannot express the joy that I have in me.  I do not know what I could have done with those needy children.  I wish to also thank TTF who made it possible for you to come to us.  TTF has been an all weather partner who have assisted in all our projects.  We are running a Transit Home where we intend to look after the HIV/AIDS children under the age of 13.  Of course this is done under the supervision of TTF.  We also run a Women’s Empowerment Project, which deals with women who are HIV positive.  Our project also includes a school for both the vulnerable and HIV+/AIDS children. Therefore your program to give gifts to the children was received with tremendous excitement.  Once again thank you so much.”

____________________________________________________________

In March 2009, members of the TTF board visited Kachele School and brought gift bags, which included new hats and mittens.

The wonderful teachers at Kachele School with their babies.  These qualified teachers mainly volunteer their time.

____________________________________________________________

In the summer of 2009, a group of volunteers from the UK came to Kachele Education Center. Within a few days they had built a new room onto the school and painted the inside and outside.

What a amazing job they did in such a short time. Thank You!

____________________________________________________________

Kachele School Children

____________________________________________________________

There are now 110 children in the Kachele Education Center.

Happy New Year 2010 to all of our generous donors!

____________________________________________________________