29 Aug It’s Back to School for the Children of Chepkebit
It’s that time of year again when many children are preparing for a new school year, armed with the essentials — notepads, pencils and backpacks. And in the Unstoppable community of Chepkebit, the children are heading to school as well, but with essentials of a whole other level — clean water, healthy food, healthcare and bright new classrooms. We checked in on the students on our recent Founder & Friends trip.
Excited chatter and giggles fill the air as students head to their brand-new classrooms in Chepkebit. The two bright classrooms are fully equipped with desks, chalkboards and supplies, in stark contrast to the students’ former school environment, which consisted of several small, deteriorating structures with mud floors, a few splintered wooden benches for seating and very little light. The students pile in, wide-eyed, grinning and ready to learn, with the promise of even more great things to come.
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- Young Chepkebit student
An ambitious plan is in place to add up to nine new classrooms in the next two years, as well as other essential school infrastructure. The empty field at Chepkebit Primary School will gradually be filled with sturdy buildings that protect students from the elements and provide a healthy space for learning. We completed the first two new classrooms earlier this year, and when we previously visited Chepkebit in March, community members were digging a trench to lay the foundation for the third classroom.
Just a few short months later, a third structure with solid brick walls and a green roof had been erected. The new classroom awaited only the finishing touches – glass in the windows, a door in the frame and a coat of paint. Alongside it, a newly-dug trench displayed the beginnings of a fourth new classroom. With the help of some of our strongest (and fittest!) Unstoppable Foundation supporters, we mixed the mortar alongside members of the community and laid the brick walls of this fourth classroom.
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- Donors and community members dig in
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- Donors help lay the foundation
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- Building a school is a team effort
By the end of the year, all four new classrooms will be fully functional and a new school kitchen will be complete. The saplings recently planted by eighth-graders as part of their training on agroforestry will have taken root, and the 60 new trees will be sheltering students on breaks and when classes are held outside.