Mwanzo Education Center, Kenya

Three clubs (Edmonds Noon CLub, Edmonds Daybreakers, and Lynnwood Rotary Club) collaborated in a grant proposal that resulted in a $10,000 grant from District 5030.

Mwanzo Education Center is located in Rabuor, a rural village of Kenya near Kisumu which is near Lake Victoria. The school currently serves over 140 children daily ages 2-7 years in preschool through grade 1; 10% of the children are AIDS orphans, and the rest are children of young families who were orphaned by HIV/AIDS. These families do not have the resources to financially equip the school. This project will fund the purchase of two large commercial stoves that do not use wood, thus curtailing the cutting of trees and reducing carbon emission. In addition it will fund the purchase 2 heavy duty commercial pots for use with the stoves. Plans are to purchase 140 chairs and 70 tables for the classrooms. In addition textbooks will be purchased. The existing two older stoves are outdated; they emit too much smoke and are unsafe for the already compromised health of the MEC children and cooks.

In 2016, the school plans to open its doors to grade 2; MEC provides two nutritious meals to enable the children to successfully take their antiretroviral medication. The other schools do not provide any meals, a great concern for the community—a very pressing need. Ultimately, the community would like to grow to a total of 16 classrooms, serving 640 children from preschool through grade 8.

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