Please Help Save HIP Academy Kenya
Please help the eager learners of Bungoma County, Kimilili Kenya attend school at the HIP Academy. Take a Step to Help a Friend- SAVE HIP ACADEMY (PHASE 1)
HIP ( Hope Initiative Programs) Africa is a registered “Community Based Organization” (CBO) in western rural Kenya founded by our friend Livingstone Kegode in May 2015. Livingstone was in his early 20s and had a dream of helping his community to have access to education in order to become successful, self sufficient, global citizens and that's just what he did! 
He (Livingstone Kegode) borrowed some land and found people to assist in constructing a couple of classrooms in order to be able to get started as soon as possible on very limited financial resources. His professional learning network helped him to acquire a water tank, electricity and other needed startup resources to create a much needed resource for his community. The HIP Academy is a very nurturing environment---Many students from the community want to come to HIP and is finishing its second year of operation.
The goal of HIP Africa/HIP Academy is to improve the
educational, social, vocational, and medical needs of the local community through its programs. The first program Livingstone started was the HIP Academy, a primary school serving children from approximately 5-11 in age, many of whom had never been to a school until attending the HIP Academy. 
Many of the HIP students come from very poor families. Some are orphans, others are being raised by surviving relatives, and the majority of the students would go hungry if they were not getting two meals at school. HIP plays an important role in helping approximately 68 local children to survive and thrive.
Why does HIP Africa need funds?
Kenya has changed its official policy for school building standards and three new classroom structures need to be built. They cannot be built one at a time since they all need to be constructed on one foundation. This means the funds must be raised in one round for this critical piece of the puzzle. 
Connor Janzen, Chief of Operations, Open World Cause (the US non profit partner organization for HIP, located in Kansas) met with the local architect in Kenya over the summer to review the plans and confirm the construction design, method, and pricing so we have confidence that the money raised will be properly and effectively deployed at HIP.
In addition to the classrooms, new washrooms and fencing are required. The costs of these campus updates have risen beyond than the $14,000 originally needed and we currently need $7,000 more for this phase of the project after the fundraising we did in last year's short holiday time campaign.
We would have been closer to our original goal, but we received updated information on washroom standards while Open World Cause was on the ground recently and this new information has increased the amount of funds needed to get the upgrades done at HIP. We are thrilled to have the most current information so that the updates will be done without any interruptions!
Take a Step to Help a Friend
Individual, corporate, and organizational donors are desperately needed and invited to donate to this cause. Please be a friend to these amazing and precious students!
If you work with students in a school, club, civic group etc this fundraising project can be organized as a global student empowerment project. Students from around the world are invited to solve this real world problem. 
Your students can use your school’s standards such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and problem solving (just to name a few) to determine the best way to raise funds to help save this school!
Will your students be able to help save this beloved school from closure? Are your students up for this challenge? The lives and futures of precious students are at stake!
What do I need to do?
Please donate now if you are so moved and if you are able. Or, you can share this cause with some of your friends. Sharing is a very helpful thing for you to do and we really appreciate that!
How long will this fundraiser last?
This is an urgent mission and we would appreciate individual donation as soon as possible. If you are working with a group, you are encouraged to wrap up the campaign by the end of September 2017 or mid October at the latest so that construction can begin in November 2017, which is the designated renovation date.
If I want to donate to this cause after the GoFundMe Campaign ends would it be possible?
Yes! You can donate directly to Open World Cause, (Lawrence, Kansas, USA) an official non-profit 501c3 that’s partnered with schools in three continents. https://openworldcause.org/causes/hip-academy/
What percentage of the money raised will go to HIP Africa?
100% of all funds raised (after any fees from GoFundMe) will be used for this project.
PROJECT PHASES FOR OUR MOST DEDICATED FRIENDS: We want you to know that we are serious about helping the dear children at HIP so we want you to know we are planning on standing with the HIP Academy from now until we hit the final home run. We hope you will help our team reach its goals for the students.
PHASE 1: Urgent upgrades and additions (three classrooms, washrooms for students, fence)
PHASE 2: Teacher Salaries & Assistance with Internet
PHASE 3: Comprehensive School Nutrition Program
PHASE 4: Teacher Washrooms
PHASE 5: School Expansion (to include more classrooms and teachers)
Future projects and phases include:
Technology Lab (HIP Technology)
Library (HIP Library)
Community Clinic (HIP Clinic)
Additional crops (HIP Farms)
Ben Honeycutt, Director of Open World Cause and Livingstone Kegode, Director of HIP Academy 
About the organizer of this campaign:
Sue Levine is a Teacher-Librarian at the Fernbank Science Center in Decatur, GA and is a Fulbright Distinguished Teacher USA->NZ 2015-2016.
She is the US Outreach Coordinator for HIP Academy (and a partner of Open World Cause), the organization founded by Benjamin Honeycutt and Connor Janzen as part of their HS legacy project a number of years ago. This organization later went on to become a non profit (501C3) helping to provide students with access to education in regions of th world where education is difficult to access.
The funds raised from this campaign will be sent directly to the Open World Cause Organization to administer. Receipt of funds will be posted to the updates to this page.
Important Notes About This Campaign
To give this very important project greater exposure, it was decided that a GoFundMe Campaign would be deployed to help "bring this project home" so that the vulnerable children of Kimilili can continue attending school, where many get their only meals of the day. There will be at least one other fundraising project running a the same time as this GofundMe campaign.
If you see Open World Cause promoting any projects other than this one, it is due to the multi prong approach that needs to be undertaken in order to raise the necessary funds to meet the updated school requirements in effect in Kenya to help keep this critical resource up and running.
Open World Cause and/or Ben Honeycutt will be working on Phase 2 of this project. Since there are multiple phases to this project, any funds raised in excess of the $7,000 requested in this campaign will roll into the whichever phase is ready to be funded next.
Regular updates will be provided to keep supporters informed about the progress being made on behalf of the HIP Academy! Thank you for helping HIP to care-create-connect by helping them strive and thrive!
Best,
HIP Academy Organizers
A Tribute to HIP Africa, an Original Song by a 5th Grader
