Ikonzo and the Millennium

Today we visited the second Pangea project in the Kisumu area, Ikonzo Self Help Group. The village of Ikonzo is about an hour from Kisumu. Most of the ride was on a paved road. We were met by members of the Ikonzo executive committee, teachers, students and parents at the primary/secondary school. The primary school has been in the village of Ikonzo since 1938 and recently, teachers and parents donated 7 acres of to be used for the school and a community library. Pangea's 2005 grant funded the construction of a secondary school classroom. A community library is also planned and construction will begin in the near future. There are 33 student's enrolled in the 1st class including 16 girls. Approximately half of the students are orphans or come from single parent households. The student's recited poems and sang for us. Claire, stands out in my mind as an exceptional student. She is the oldest child of a single parent. Her father died two years ago. She was recruited by the teachers for her strong academic performance in primary school. She lead the class in their song and dance. Claire hopes to be a doctor. Most of the students at Ikonzo come from very poor families and are unable to pay school fees. This is a challenge for the Ikonzo group in trying to meet ongoing expenses at the school. I got a real sense the students are a bit anxious and at the same time excited about being in the first secondary class. Government officials are scheduled to visit the school in July. If the school passes this inspection they will receive certification and eventually paid teachers.

In the afternoon we had the opportunity to visit a Millineum Village Project in the village of Sauri. This was the first MVP in Africa. We were able to tour the health center, a village phone, an agricultural area and a spring fed water source before the afternoon rains threatened to close the road. We were most impressed with the community organizing around the 8 areas of the millineum goals and how successful they were at implementing their objectives very quickly. It was an excellent model of how community moblilization and adequate (lots of) resources improve the likelihood of success. It would be great fun to come back near the end of the 5 year grant cycle to see all they have accomplished.