The Lemong’o Primary School was started in 1991 under a tree and the school buildings were not completed until 2013.

When Grand Circle Foundation began supporting the school in 2014, the school was in desperate need for all the basics to provide an education. Typically the school receives about $195 annually from the government to run the school. There were no school textbooks, only teachers copies. There were no pencils, one class had 3 pencils for 8 students, one piece of chalk was being shared among 5 teachers.

Grand Circle funding has helped the school to expand through Grade 7; providing all the basics needed to run a school.  From individual textbooks, to exercise books for homework and pencils to write with.

The school politely requested a small kitchen so they can cook lunches for the kids, which we funded. They were cooking outside under a thorn tree and all sorts of material ended up in the food, such as dust, stones, grass, and seeds. We’ve also supplied them with kitchen utensils to ensure that each child had their own cup/plate rather than sharing and to further ensure health and safety, we constructed and maintain a solar powered fence since wildlife is in the area and trying to access the water storage tank we installed (along with water filters).

After a failed attempt at providing a greenhouse to support a feeding program, children are now eating vegetables from the garden and waiting for the trees to bear fruit.

The school has grown significantly since our partnership began, resulting in the need for additional classrooms, teachers housing, and dormitories (fully outfitted).  And the continued growth has us now building even more classrooms.

And since children should also get to read for fun, we were able to establish a pleasure reading library through a generous donation of an OAT traveler: we’re not sure who was more excited, the students or the teachers.