Eric’s Blog – January 27
We set out by boat to the town of Mkowe to visit the Lamu Special Needs school. It is an inspiring and emotional place to visit. The Bontje family has been the major financial supporters of this project. Gord and Mr. Omar, chair of the school, chat as we travel to...
Eric’s Blog – January 26
Today we explored the island a bit and visited some friends in the area. Gord started in the morning with a tour of Lamu Town. After lunch the highlight was sailing on a Dhow to the Takwa Ruins. The original site of the people that came from Oman in the...
Eric’s Blog – January 25
We left Nakuru early in the morning to visit Gilgil School. This school’s construction was a gift from Gord Bontje to mark his 60th birthday. A typical visit to a school involves a review of past projects, future needs, enrollment stats, national exam results of the...
Eric’s Blog – January 24
We spent our entire day in schools. Evaluating new school projects, inspecting projects in progress and reviewing completed projects. Our first stop was at Koige Primary School which we plan to develop over the next several years. We looked at the needs of this...
Eric’s Blog – January 23
We did more visiting and seeing projects before our 4 hour drive to the Kilimanjaro airport. We visited schools that need assistance. Parents do what they can and then we partner with them. Parents have taken more than 5 years to get these classrooms to this stage....
Eric’s Blog – January 22
Our day again today was very long. The rain didn’t help. We were not able to visit some of the schools on mountain roads. We met with the District Director for Secondary Education today and learned that there are 11,000 students in the district. The government is...
Eric’s Blog – January 21
Our day started at the Mombo Health Centre (MHC). We were pleased to see how well the renovations were done and how much it has helped the whole community and improved the attitude of the workers. Every part of the hospital was checked and evaluated. Gord...
Eric’s Blog – January 20
Today was a long travel day from Maasai Mara to Nairobi to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania in this little plane. Dr. Comeau will fly from Tanzania to Canada in a few days so it was time to say goodbye to Lawrence. Gord and I will return to Kenya at the...
Eric’s Blog – January 19
As expected our day was long and the bad roads made it even harder. We have been working in the Naikarra community for a few years now. This year we are planning on providing educational opportunities for children with disabilities in the school by...
Eric’s Blog – January 18
We thought we might have a slack day until we picked up Gord Bontje this morning at the Mara airstrip. Gord is an ABW board member and philanthropist. Him and his wife Kathy, their family, Laebon Homes and the employees have been champions of making this...
Eric’s Blog – January 17
It rained all night and we had to change our route to Juma’s clinic near Sopa. We are glad we did as the roadblocks we encountered were worth the route change. 22 giraffes decided to cross the road one at a time. Then there was an elephant and her calf....
Eric’s Blog – January 16
January 16, 2020 Our day started off at the Talek Heath Centre where A Better World Canada has been working for more than 17 years. Dr. Ray Comeau can be seen in this photo with Daniel, the local director of the centre. Our main goal here was to see...
Eric’s Blog – January 15
January 15, 2020 We left early from Kendu Bay to make the almost seven-hour drive to the Mara. Three things have happened that I never thought would happen in my lifetime: three roads are getting paved and will be completed in a few months. The road from...
Eric’s Blog – January 14
We began our day with a visit to the bridge that A Better World built. People were walking through the river when it was low and the bridge has prevented many drowning deaths each year. The bridge is in good condition. Our function today at the Kendu Bay Hospital was...
Eric’s Blog – January 13
It was exactly 30 years ago in January 1990 that the first project of A Better World was started here. It was 20 years ago that my outlook on life took a drastic turn because of what I witnessed and who I met. What I saw were children with physical...
Eric’s Blog – January 12
Dr. Ray Comeau and I arrived in Kenya last night and began our journey towards Kericho. We stopped in Nakuru to see our friend Janet at her business. We also stopped to see our new health centre near Kericho, awaiting inspection. At Kipkerimwo, we saw the...