Eating Stone update from Sandi Carlile and Dr Cyprian Lumumba
Greetings!
I am delighted to send this mid-year Eating Stone update. It has been a long time since Dr Cyprian has written to supporters!
Update from Sandi – An urgent plea!
I start with an urgent plea. We, in this part of the world, are experiencing inflated costs of everything. It is the same in Kenya, if not much worse. Prior to Covid and even during that time, Jackie and Agnes were able to buy large quantities of staple foods from a large wholesale supplier. He would even give an extra bag or two of rice, beans or maize. Now, since Covid and the escalation of prices, the amount of food money given by supporters no longer allows wholesale purchases. Kale from the neighbour is the only vegetable the children have now. They are eating only two meals per day; uji (a thick, drinkable porridge) in the morning and one meal early evening.
Pre-Covid, feeding 70 per day at Eating Stone was 150.00CAD. Now, the same costs 538.00CAD per day! A whooping 259% inflation rate!
If there is ANY possibility of you, our dear supporters, contributing towards the feeding of these children, then please, please do. Every donation, no matter how small or large, will greatly help. Please head over to our donation page and follow the guidance to make a donation.
My profound thanks to each and every one of you,
Sandi Carlile
Eating Stone Kenya Board Member & Trustee
Update from Dr Cyprian
The Eating Stone Organisation would love to congratulate, acknowledge, appreciate and give thanks to ALL our donors and generous supporters for having done the most beautiful work of supporting the Eating Stone family.
Over the years we have seen your wonderful involvements in taking Eating Stone forward despite the difficulties and challenges. Sometimes it is indeed difficult to list the names of all supporters and other institutions involved, but allow me just to mention a few individuals and other institutions:
- SANDI JUNE CARLILE – thank you MAMA (our mother), and your friends. You’ve done everything in your capacity to make sure that Eating Stone, which was homeless, surviving only on a few cabbages, is now enjoying having a beautiful and lovely facility
- ROTARY CLUBS of Grand Prairie, Canmore, Stampede Park, the Blair Family Foundation, and so many others. We acknowledge your gorgeous support!
- SUSAN RHAN, TRACEY FARLEIGH, SHARON SMALL, DONNA STIMSON, JOEL PARK, BERYL PARK, FAITH HARCKHAM, CINDY PARK, CHRIS ANDERSON, SHERI BRAUN, MARNY DABBS and others. Thanks a lot for your contributions.
The list is endless; we just pray that God gives you good health and a long life!
Achievements
1. Education
Eating Stone has offered education to 5,764 kids, both residents and non-residents, since it started in 2006. The community, majorly the vulnerable ones in disadvantaged homes, have also benefited. We have achieved so much in this education sector: 50 university graduates,124 under graduates, 300 certificates, and numerous short courses.
Wisdom Academy, our on-site school as you may know, is one of the major projects the organisation is running within its premises. It has a total of 250 children currently. In last year’s national exams, it became position ONE in Karai ward, the village where it is currently situated; position ONE in the sub county; and position FIVE in the entire county. A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT!
NB: This tells you that our children are placed in the best secondary school county-wise and finally join the best universities taking the best courses of their own choices.
We currently have kids all the way from Play Group One (lower nursery/primary – as per the new Kenyan school curriculum) to Form Three (upper secondary). The composition is as below:
- Play Group One – 2 kids
- Grade One – 1 kid
- Grade Two – 1 kid
- Grade Three – 1 kid
- Grade Four – 2 kids
- Grade Five – 3 kids
- Grade Six – 2 kids
- Class Seven – 6 kids
- Class Eight – 5 kids
- Form One – 7 kids
- Form Two – 6 kids
- Form Three – 4 kids
We also have 5 children who performed excellently in the KCSE exams waiting to to join colleges and universities due to a lack of fees (their grades were A-, B+, B-).
2. Farming Project
Through Sandi’s support, we acquired 5 acres of land where we practice farming. The organisation grows maize and beans for consumption and sometimes when the yield is good, we sell it to generate income to buy school supplies, medicine, and clothes for the children. We were hoping for a bumper crop of maize this growing season but due to too much rain, the yield will be much lower.
John’s Sanctuary
This is one of the best archived projects, dedicated to our dear friend John, a friend to Tracey Farleigh from England – the biggest supporter of Eating Stone monthly. Tracey and John’s families, plus other friends, contributed towards the accomplishment of this project. The building is for recreation – our children take time to read, do storytelling and enjoy themselves.
Solar Electricity / Water Heater
We give thanks to SherI Braun, our supporter, who made it possible for us to achieve solar electricity and solar heaters. This has greatly reduced the power bill from KES 15,000 to KES 5,000 monthly. Our children are enjoying warm showers and studying at dawn and night without power interruption.
Areas in need of urgent attention and support
- Secondary / College sponsorship – as mentioned above, 5 of our children have finished secondary school and are stuck waiting to join colleges
- Food – as per Sandi’s plea above, food prices are higher than ever! We request for more support to feed this growing number of needy young children. FUNDS FOR FOOD ARE OUR GREATEST NEED NOW WITH PRICES HAVING QUADRUPLED
- Security fence – we are very much hoping for funding from The Rotary Club Stamped Park. We need the security fence to protect the children on the roof where there are several classrooms and John’s Sanctuary
I hope you will consider donating to these wonderful souls!
With profound thanks,
Dr Cyprian Lumumba
Founder of Eating Stone