By Kasia Mychajlowycz

Six weeks along, and the building’s form is complete—almost! The wooden beams that will support the roof sheeting now form a skeletal shelter over the now completed plastered rooms. On Tuesday we`ll welcome guests from the Flora Family Foundation on site. We’re excited to show them the great progress that’s been made in less than two months!

Thousands of miles away, but with the same focus and commitment, the organizers of our One Night, One World event in Montreal last Wednesday brought together ROTH supporters, donors and former volunteers for a soirée of fine food, music and fundraising for the Maasai Women Secondary School. Annie, Kasia and Sameena stayed up all night in Arusha updating the online Silent Auction alongside the event. Frédérique joined us via text from Nakuru. The overwhelming generosity of the bidders and our guests in Montreal is the reason we have materials on site this week and the School continues to rise up out of the plain.

At the end of our busy week, two great volunteers, Caitlin and Meredyth, left the ROTH house for a well-deserved holiday starting in Zanzibar (good luck girls!). Also leaving us is our guest Sheila, who took breaks from conducting her master’s research to haul a fair few buckets of sand with the volunteers. Luckily, four more volunteers have joined our ranks; Dermot Kehoe, the architect who donated his time and expertise drawing the plans for the School, has brought friends Patrick, Joe and William, all of Ireland. 

“The lads”, as they’ve quickly been nicknamed, traveled from Nairobi, Kenya, with [ROTH co-founder] Frédérique, who rejoins us after a week distributing mosquito nets in Nakuru, where ROTH erected the Piave Maternity Ward in 2007. The mosquito nets were donated by Sanofi-Aventis as part of their generous 5,000 Euro donation to ROTH and our Nakuru partner, Society for Women and AIDS in Kenya (SWAK). Medical Manager Brigitte Demers and Pharmacologist Loreley, both from Sanofi-Aventis in Paris, assisted in the net distribution and Loreley has also joined us in Arusha for another week of volunteering.