Building the Land Caretaker's home on the site of our 1st children's village, Ubazi Village. |
In addition to building the villages, we currently take care of children in three ways. Some children are in our total care program, some children are in one of our preschool & feeding programs, and some are in our vulnerable child support program.
Kulea Kids (Total Care) -- Children who have been surrendered to our care are in our total care program and often called "Kulea Kids." We support these children primarily through sponsorship funds which covers food, clothes, a bed, school fees, sports, and dental and health checkups. Currently we have 11 Kulea Kids and they live in the first Kulea home in Tanzania. Each child has five sponsors. Only one Kulea Kid needs one sponsor: Rama. You can sponsor Rama. We are grateful for our sponsors and their faithfulness!
Rama holding Naomi |
A fun loving, smart kid -- I adore Rama! |
Kulea Preschool & Feeding Programs -- We care for some children who have a care giver that is unable to provide school fees and/or three nutritious meals a day. Those children are enrolled in one of our three preschools run through our partner churches. The preschools are Kingdom Kids (Chalinze, Tanzania), Golden Hope (Mombasa, Kenya), and Hilltop (Likoni, Kenya). Each school provides two meals per day, small classes and excellent teaching. Kulea USA provides funds to each church to help with the cost of food. We are looking for donors to help us feed the children. In addition, our dream is to find two USA Preschools to come alongside one of these preschools in partnership. The partnership can include pen pals, providing funds through special fundraisers, etc.
Children sing at Golden Hope School, Mombasa, Kenya. |
Happy children at Kingdom Kids Preschool, Chalinze, Tanzania. |
One of our three preschools has such a sponsor: Hilltop School in Haverhill, MA. Hilltop School in Likoni, Kenya took the name of their sponsoring school. This partnership started over three years ago when the church members in Likoni assessed the needs around them and decided to open a school to help families who could not afford preschool. The director of Hilltop School USA, Tammi McGrath, heard about the dire needs in that community and decided to approach her teachers about helping. It was a unanimous decision to help and from that point on, Hilltop School USA has been the sponsoring preschool for Hilltop Likoni. Every year, Hilltop School USA finds around 25 people willing to provide school fees for one Hilltop Likoni preschool child (cost is $120 for the year). These fees cover the child's food, too. In addition, Hilltop USA has held a few special fundraisers and the money raised has purchased new fans, additional classrooms, school supplies, etc. They have sent t-shirts to the Kenyan school and the teachers at each school pray for each other regularly. The partnership has added value to both schools and is more than I can capture in this paragraph.
One class at Hilltop School, Likoni, Kenya. |
First year at Hilltop School, t-shirts and logo from Hilltop School USA. |
Kulea Vulnerable Child Program -- What happens when the preschool children "age out" of preschool and need continued help with school fees to be able to attend primary school? This question has concerned us. So often we hear that school is "free" after Kindergarten in Kenya and Tanzania. Well, as in many things, you get what you pay for. The free primary schools (government schools) often have missing teachers, no supplies or curriculum, inadequate buildings and latrines, and class sizes of 70+ children to one frustrated teacher. Children generally don't learn. School fees at a private school can range from very little ($20 per month) to a lot. Almost any private school is an improvement.
We have found that children exit our excellent preschools and sometimes are found at home, not attending school anywhere. Parents have no money for school fees, for uniforms, for supplies, etc and some parents cannot put three meals on the table each day. While our goal is to build a childcare village in Tanzania and one in Kenya, we cannot turn away from vulnerable children who need help today. We've set up a selection process to help a few of the most vulnerable children with food and school fees as needed for private school. Children in this program need one or two sponsors (at $35 per month). We currently need one sponsor each for Musa, Michele, Mercy and Dorcas. Children on our waiting list can then be added to our website, children waiting to go to school and not receiving adequate food -- their need of a sponsor is urgent.
The vision for Kulea Childcare Villages is big -- so big it's often hard to describe -- but we try! We are thankful for each of our Kulea children. What a privilege it is to have a small part in their lives, whether feeding them, educating them, or taking care of all of their needs. We look forward to what God will do through them in the future. What a journey . . . what an honor, serving the "least of these."