“I invested in Many Hopes last year.
Since then, WHAT HAS BEEN DONE?”
GIRLS’ HOMES
Our first building containing four girls’ homes has been completed, and we
are gradually increasing the number of girls in our families to capacity of 15 in
each home. As of October 15th 2012, we are home to 45 children. We will be
at capacity of 60 in our first set of homes by late 2013. Additionally we have
provided temporary housing to other abused girls while advocating for their
rights in court and seeking long term care for them.
SCHOOL
We are on schedule to open our first classrooms in mid-2013 as planned. All of the preparatory work has
been completed despite significant delays due to land acquisition and government approval. Large-scale
building projects and land purchases in Kenya are extremely complicated and heavily bureaucratic. It has
been a frustrating and testing year, but, having built time into our construction schedule from the start for
predictable delays, we are now ready to start full-scale construction this fall. The major areas of focus since
last year have been:

HEADMASTER HIRED

In August 2012, we interviewed 7 candidates
and hired one of the two ‘stand out’ performers.


We have been making bricks for several months.
Making our own bricks is 80% cheaper than purchasing,
and it provides local employment and enhances our
reputation locally. We need to make 200,000 bricks.
In October 2012, we designed a new machine that can
produce 800 per day instead of the 200 per day that
the existing machine did.
EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM
The foundation for our curriculum, drawing
the best from the US, UK and German systems,
has been completed by US/UK consultants
and handed over to the Kenyan headmaster
to finalize and make distinctly Kenyan.

LAND PURCHASE
Land has been the most challenging area of work and the primary cause
of delay in full construction. We need five acres and, having purchased
the first 2.5 acres for $40,000, were being held to ransom by owners
of two adjacent 2.5 acre plots. They were asking for $80,000 per acre
($200,000 for 2.5 acres) but we refused to allow haste to push us into
overspend. The third adjacent plot had no clear owner, so we engaged
local help to trace him while we explored other separate 5 acre plots as a
precaution. In June 2012, we traced a family with legitimate claim but no
legal title on paper, and so we are helping them through the legal process
with their commitment to sell us the 2.5 acres at market price. Knowing
this plot is coming means we can now start to build on the 2.5 acres we
have as soon as government approval is granted.
TRUCK
In August 2012 we
purchased a truck for
deliveries of materials.
It can be 4-5 times
more
expensive
to buy and have
materials
delivered
than to collect them
at the point of production. For example, on October
10th, we collected 31 tons of rubble for making the
road to the school. That one load saved us $400
on the price of delivery. The truck will pay for itself
during construction, and we’ll have a truck afterwards
for selling or renting out by the day.
ARCHITECTURAL PLANS
Plans have been completed by a pro bono
architect and were submitted for approval in
late August 2012. Government approval for a
project of this size requires plans submitted
to six separate government departments (e.g.
planning registry, health and public works,
county authorities), and we are using friends in our network to expedite
these approvals. We expect them by year’s end when full construction
can commence.

CONSTRUCTION

WELL & DRAINAGE
In late October 2012, we began drilling the school well
and laying drainage for the school site.

ROAD
The rains have been very bad, thus building the
road to the school has been challenging. We are
delivering tons of rubble in our new truck to make a
solid road that will withstand the anticipated traffic of
constructing and operating a school of this size.
“I invested in Many Hopes last year.
Since then, WHAT HAS BEEN DONE?”
FIRST COLLEGE-BOUND GRADUATE
We recently celebrated our first high school
graduate, Brendah. In the first video we ever made,
way back in 2007, Brendah said, “I hope that I can
become a lawyer so as I can fight for the rights
of children because also someone fought for my
rights.” Brendah has been accepted into law school
and will start in January. We are very proud of her.
ACADEMIC SUCCESSES
Several of our girls excelled at school, with
one scoring a staggering 499/500, and two
getting to skip grades this academic year.
ENERGY
We have designed and constructed our own
biogas digester to use the manure from our
cows to provide fuel for our girls’ homes. As
of October 1st 2012, we are producing more
fuel than we need. The same system will be
employed for the school.
SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH REVENUE
We have reduced mortality to zero in our tilapia
fish farm by solving the long-standing problems of
oxidizing the water and cleaning the water for reuse.
We have established business relationships with local
hotels who will buy as much as we produce when we
get production up to our desired level of 9 ponds
replenishing with 5000 fish at 600-800g every six
months. That rate is sufficient to sustain four girls’
homes. The remaining challenge is sourcing quality
and affordable feed to deliver these growth rates.
We are in talks with international and domestic feed
producers.
m a nyh o p es .o rg