Alex Adam was a CanAssist Board member, friend to many in Canada and East Africa, and a driving force to build the Nkuyan Primary School in rural Kenya. Alex passed away in December 2009. The Nkuyan School will henceforth bear his name.
Adam Nkuyan Primary School
The remote community of Enkuyan, in the heart of the Rift Valley, is miles from a highway, electricity, water supply and schools. The Maasai children who live in the community have needed to walk several kilometers to the nearest school.
Education for both boys and girls has been identified as an important priority by the community.
Working with the Mainyoito Pastoralist Integrated Development Organization (MPIDO) Canadian donors have supported the construction of a three-classroom school in this village, the beginnings of a school that will eventually be able to serve the education needs of the community.
CanAssist provided funding in 2008 to construct five Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines in permanent cement block structures at a cost of approximately $8000. The remoteness of this location makes all construction more expensive. On February 20, 2009, representatives of CanAssist joined with the community to celebrate the official opening of the school.
In January 2011, we forwarded 985,000 Kenyan Shillings (about $12,500) to build an administrative building for the school - a requirement before the school can be registered with the Ministry of Education.
This community is quite literally in the "middle of nowhere" and the people here are most appreciative that their children will get the opportunity to go to school. Education has been shown to be an important element of improving the human capital in a community. Better educated children become informed adults that can lead their community forward out of impoverishment.
CanAssist will continue to fundraise to improve this school, being sure that as it gradually grows it continues to serve this community's needs. The recent drought in this region has caused much hardship. Our next project for the school is to explore a Rainwater Catchment system and storage tanks that will be able to supply and store clean water for the students. The cost of this project will be about $6500 Can.
