Though Primary School in partially subsidized by the Kenyan government, Secondary School however, is not.  For this reason, most Kenyan children must discontinue their education after the eighth grade.  Harrison is no exception.  He was separated from his brothers and sisters after his mother died of AIDS a year ago and moved in with his aunt in Piave.  Struggling to support her own children a Secondary Education for Harrison was simply not an option.

During the fall of 2006 ROTH members served as volunteer teachers at “The Walk” nursery school in Nakuru, Kenya. The children at “The Walk” are all residents of the Hilton slum, a small community built within the local garbage dump.  Previous to its opening in April 2005, children did not attend school and would often have no choice but to eat whatever food they could find in the garbage.

During October 2006 ROTH completed a water project for the MELON Orphanage within the Nakuru district.  One hundred and seventy meters of pipe was installed to direct water from a potable source to a reserve tank placed within the orphanage. MELON now collects this water and is able to sell it to the community for a small profit, which helps to cover the cost of running the orphanage.

The Muturi family lives a particularly difficult life in the Piave community due to their special needs.  They have no means of a consistent income and often have to rely on various NGOs in Kenya for their food and monthly livelihood.  When ROTH visited the family in mid-June, we noticed that their home was falling apart and had become unliveable.  With funds raised, ROTH was able to build the Muturi family a larger and more stable mud-brick house for the fine remaining members of the family. 

Many Kenyans suffer from impaired vision and cannot afford the luxury of prescription eyeglasses.  They therefore must carry on with their daily tasks without being able to see properly.  The See Humanity project began in December of 2006 when a ROTH founder was able to give an older woman the gift of vision by offering her a pair of her spare glasses.

Most fundamentally, water is essential for life. In July 2007, ROTH had a borehole dug in order to service both the Community and the Piave Health Center. Special machinery was brought in to dig an impressive 167 meters underground. The well yields an average of 5000 litres per hour of exploitable water.

    Though it is wonderful to see it all come together it means the end is near and we'll have to be on our way.  The last week was a rush to finish everything on time for the opening ceremony on August 24th.  Over three hundred people showed up to the event with people lining up all afternoon for a peek inside.

By the beginning of week 10, all of the mud blocks we were going to use to erect the walls on the Muturi home, were dry and ready to be laid. With the foundations dug, our labourers and fundis were now starting to build the sub-structure wall, and eventually pour the floor.