Help Provide Classrooms For Kenyan Children

In the chaotic, confusing mess that is 2020, it’s easy to disregard anything that doesn't directly impact our own day to day routine. Consider for a moment how lucky, how privileged we are to have the luxury to worry about such small problems: what if instead of complaining about having to wear a mask to walk to the bathroom, you had to use a dirty pit latrine without running water? What if instead of being upset that your concert was cancelled due to COVID, your school did not have the resources to implement basic desks and chairs, and you were crowded four or five students to one desk in the midst of a global pandemic? One moment in which I fully was reminded my own privilege was when I saw pictures of six and seven year olds at the Thiru Primary School happily wearing old windbreakers with my Atlanta private school's logo emblazoned on the front. I remember hearing about how excited they were to have "real uniforms" and how they wore them proudly (some refusing to take them off). While I, a white girl at a private school with seemingly infinite resources, will never understand what it is like to not have my own chair at school or what it is like to be unsure if I will have enough money for a school uniform, now is not the time to let this make me uncomfortable or defensive. Now more than ever,  we must both acknowledge and take advantage of our privilege to support those who weren’t born with it. 

 As I have gotten to know Kenya native turned Atlantan Charles Wangondu, who is one of the kindest, funniest, and hardest working people I’ve met, I've also learned more about the TFalls foundation, which he has a central role in creating. Charles is originally from Kenya, and since he has moved to Atlanta, has started and grown his own extermination business. His expert knowledge of and personal connection to the Laikipia County area has helped TFalls fulfill their mission to “offer quality education and support to children at risk and the surrounding community (in Marmanet, a town in Kenya's Laikipia County), along with empowering them through training and education to be self-supporting”. Charles, whose personal connection to Kenya makes him an authentic and direct source to real thoughts, hopes, and worries of inhabitants of Laikipia County, believes that safe, quality education for children in this town will make the biggest difference in their lives. The foundation has already rebuilt one school and is currently in the process of rebuilding a second.


After directly consulting with the foundation, what they need most right now is money to build desks and chairs to furnish the classrooms and to create a safe, comfortable environment for 6-13 year old students to grow and learn. The foundation is currently focused on the Thiru Primary School in Marmanet, which is looking to provide each classroom with desks and chairs. One desk and chair set costs $40, and a single classroom needs 50 of these sets. My goal is to raise enough money to furnish one classroom with newly built desks and chairs, which in total will cost $2000.  Starting now and ending on December 20, you can help by donating any amount to this GoFundMe to give students at the Thiru Primary School the best learning environment possible.  


http://tfallsfoundation.org/index.html