OUR SUPPORT/SUCCESS STORIES
OUR LAST PLACE OF VISIT
Wasini Island lies southeast of Kenya and is approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) long and 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) across.
Its name, “Wasini Mpunguti”, came from the early Chinese inhabitants, hence the name Wasini Mpunguti which, to the locals, means short Chinese.
Today the Island is inhabited by Kenyans who live a humble life. The Island has two Primary Schools with approximately 1800 residents (2021 polls).
The island footpaths are of sharp old coral or sand. There are no cars, carts or bicycles. Instead, the cargo transports by sea from the mainland.
Whilst Mohammed and I were travelling in 2020; we visited the Island via a boat tour. The local restaurants would sell small educational materials such as exercise books, pencils, pens, colouring pencils and, of course, sweets.
We were still waiting to experience a tour of the Island and wanted to understand what to expect regarding what we should bring. We were humbled when we met the children and realised that our gifts would only impact 5% of the children we saw. In addition, we noticed the impoverished state of the schools and facilities and that these children were content with what they had, as that is all they knew.
The excitement and gratitude moved us from the children on receiving the few items we had bought, and to be frank. We were not impressed with the books as they looked old with very few pages. However, they loved the pens and pencils more and, of course, the sweets.
Mohammed and I promised to revisit the Island, God willing, and buy gifts from the UK to take with us. We were aware of our challenges, such as extra luggage with the airline and hiring a boat to get our cargo to the Island, but we were determined to do it!
In 2021, we booked our flights and set out to local shops in Lewisham and Catford, London. We bought drawing books, colouring books, exercise books, pens, pencils, erasers, pencil cases, math sets, reading books and, of course, sweets (loads of sweets). We may need to include some items.
It was unique and beautiful when we finally got the items onto Wasini Island and gave them to the children. They loved it. We needed crowd control, and one of the School’s Head mistresses assisted with the distribution.
What was moving was that these items did not cost a lot to us but meant so much to them, and it goes a long way to support them educationally.
We now want to help the Island on a much bigger scale. Our thoughts were to put together a charitable concert where all donations go directly to the course.
We believe the Island will benefit from the following:
Refurbishment of schools
Bicycles/scooters to commute,
Clothing for the children
Medication
Easy access to the mainland
Possible scholarship
Wasini Island is dear to us, and we hope you can help us support these children and their parents to bring a little light to their world.
You can help by donating whatever you can, be it stationary, clothing/shoes, bicycles/scooters or funds. Anything to help our children on Wasini Island would be appreciated.
