Shepherd school & Regreening in Marsabit, Kenya
education, 1st jobs, regreening and rainwater chatchments from the power of youngsters and communities!
2022
for
Augustine Lenamoe August
NPYDO & project leader
I am Augustine (Orengo) Olenamoe, the Founder of NPYDO & youth leader of more than 200 youngsters in Marsabit County. During my project I created teams of youngsters who are helping me with the projects we organize in the UBUNTU Centre, like giving education and working on regreening and rainwater catchment with different groups of young women, men and youth.
Why the project
In Marsabit, 80% of the people have no access to education and jobs. People live as Pastoralists, moving around the region with their cattle. As food security by their meat and milk. As income generation by selling their milk and skins.
Immense drought, caused by climate change, puts the lives and future of the people, cattle and nature of Marsabit at stake.
The youngest generations of Marsabit see the change they can make to bring education, jobs and future perspective to Marsabit!
That’s why we started the UBUNTU Centre in 2019:
● To start the Shepherd School for Education
● To do regreening projects on growing seedlings, planting trees and take care of them
● To organize water for the trees and people by rain water catchments.
The UBUNTU Centre will contribute to a positive change in the lives of an average of 500 young adults (mostly young moms) directly and 2000 (their children) indirectly per year.
Access to education in the UBUNTU Centre will directly contribute to the
UBUNTU: I am because We are
This is the philosophy & mindset of the UBUNTU Centre
How the projects work
The project is undertaken by NPYDO as youth development organisation in collaboration with ONE WORLD Citizens (Nethrelands), SRIC (Nepal), Necessary Generation (Rwanda) and the department of education.
The focus in 2021 - 2023 is completion of the UBUNTU Centre activities:
● Education in the Shepherd School
● Planting and nursing trees
● Organising water for the trees and people by rain water catchments
● Creating the first jobs for women and youth who attend the Shepherd School.
Good to know:
● The elders of the community donated a big piece of land to NPYDO to start the UBUNTU Centre
● The education is given in the Shepherd school during weekly days to young women, youth and during evenings to the
People are moving around with their livestock for water and green
Project activities: Education on English and Math in the Shepherd School
This project provides 2 main activities: education in the Shepherd school and job creation from local resources.
● The education program is given by young adults who were able to study in Nairobi and returned to Marsabit after study. But also by women who became expert in different life-, household-, and small business skills.
● The education program is to help them to read and write, to learn English and Math. But also to prove skills to make high-quality products from milk and skins, to make cloths and to create small scale agriculture and regreening. So that Shepherd School students can create small jobs and more income in Marsabit, while contributing to economic growth with no one left behind.
Education in the UBUNTU Centre will ontribute directly to peace which plays an important role in Marasbit, because the different tribes are in conflict more often. Due to drougth and poverty. By lack of education they miss the ability to find and create solutions for this in daily life by which the conflicts
The previous (first) Shepherd school classroomImpact
The education program in the Shepherd school has a big impact on the youth and adults in Hulahula and other communities.
In 2018 the first group of 40 women started the education program. By this we saw:
● The mindset of people will change because they read books, write and get access to al kind of school subject such as math, but also agriculture, renewable energy, regreening. By which the can start solving the problems they are facing now in their daily lives.
● The first education program that has been given to groups of young women enabled them to start small businesses and improve the income and lives of 40 famlies.
● By a donation of 4 sewing machines and tailoring courses the first group of women already started producing cloth that can be sold on the local markets.
The trade that will improve the income of many people and enable them to create more high-quality products that are hand made and can be sold on
The first women group who graduated in the Shepherd schoolShepherd School building
2021
By donation of 2500 euro’s from the City of ‘s Hertogenbosch in
2021 we were able to build the Ahepherd School building with 2 class rooms.
2022
By the groups of young women who took part in the Shepherd School program they decided that their children should have to go to school too.
● In August 2022 96 children and a new group of 60 women are registered.
● Children will be educated 5 days per week from 8 am to 1 om
● Two women groups of 30 women will attend the school 5 days per week from 2 to 4 pm.
The biggest challenge:
Project activities: Regreening Marsabit by trees and food forests
Ending the immense drought in Marsabit can start from 2 project activities in the UBUNTU Centre:
1. Growing seedlings & planting trees
a. In combination with fencing the area to prevent animals to damage the trees
b. And education about how to nurse trees
2. Making rain water catch ments to collect water during the raining seasons.
2021 - 2022
● Augustine and his team planted 500 trees in the UBUNTU Centre, 240 trees survived due to lach of water
● Smart solutions were found to water the trees while efficiently use the remaining water of the rain water catchment and to urse the trees while protecting them against the wild animals.
The biggest challenges: Finding enough budget for fencing the UBUNTU Centre area by
Fencing to keep the Elephants away from the school
Project activities: making simple rain water catchments
Trees need water to grow
2021 - 2022
Marsabit has 2 raining seasons during the year. During a couple of weeks rain will fall and has to be catched to collect and save water for the months without rain.
In 2021 and 2022 there was NO RAIN during the raining seasons! Imagine …. No water to grow trees and NO water to drink.
Aware of climate change and it’s effects related to severe drought, Augustine start making a simple rainwater catchment in the UBUNTU Centre. It’s still there, but of course: without rain no water to catch.
The biggest current challenges:
Finding a budget of 175 euro’s per 2 months to order a truck with water to fill the rain water catchment to water the trees. at the UBUNTU Centre .
Simple rain water catchments, made by hand and use of a big nylon
Thanks to the basic income donated by
Achievements 2022
small activity budgets from OWC, Wicked Water and other partners
the time could be spend on organizing and starting
trees are growing bugger
children
most important activities
women
getting
the
Centre in
young moms and women go access to skills and entrepreneurship training towards income & jobs!
245
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and 60
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access to education in the Shepherd School! 40
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UBUNTU
2022!
Future perspective
The dream and need to initialize this project was driven by the high illiteracy and poverty in Marsabit
The motivation arose from the great interest in education of the women and later also men from the various communities. Many of them are parents and through their own participation, they now also see the great importance of education for their children. As a result, they are also prepared to send their children to school!
The main reason for organizing education in Marsabit is higher marginalization and discrimination by the successive regimes in Kenya. As a result, the population has been excluded for too long from education and all basic needs that enable employment, personal development and economic growth.
One of my dreams is to ensure optimal access to education, trade and employment, especially in the nomadic herding communities by 2030.
My other dream to achieve by the UBUNTU Centre is to plant 10.000
The first seedlings to start regreening Marsabit at school