Lakewood fourth-graders learn about students in Kenya
connecting students

Sentinel staff report

By Marcia Buck


Margaret Kimosop, wearing clothing from her homeland Kenya.

When fourth-graders at West Ottawa's Lakewood Elementary School learned about Kenyan children, and their need for clean water, "they had eager minds, generous hearts and loving spirits," said Marcia Buck, a Holland representative of the Aqua Clara program.

On Nov. 7, Margaret Kimosop from Kenya addressed the group in her traditional Kenyan dress, while Bettie Visscher of Holland told the group of her experiences as a teacher in one of the schools in Kenya.

Earlier, with their teachers, Jamila Jawahir, Ken Arthurs and Amy VanAllsburg, the Lakewood students had learned about the children in five elementary schools around Eldoret, Kenya, and elected to contribute some of their limited funds to help these Kenyan children.

Visscher told the students that the Kenyan children would walk to school, sometimes an hour away, and that they would sit for four hours straight without a break, sometimes with little brothers and sisters on their lap, for morning classes and then again in the afternoon.

For breakfast they would have a cup of tea, for lunch, corn gruel (like cream of wheat in texture) and the same for dinner, but maybe with a little goat meat. The Lakewood students asked whether there were snacks or a cafeteria where they could get other food. The answer was no.

A doctoral student in Public Administration at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Kimosop told the students that the Kenyan children love to learn. They want to learn English and know everything they can about the United States, because that can get them a job. She told the students that the children of Kenya wear uniforms to school, and politeness is very important. Their lessons are at a table made of planks of wood in a large room where all the children are seated. When the teacher enters, the children all rise and say, "Good Morning, Miss Kimosop," sit and begin lessons for the day.

The Lakewood students asked what kind of sports or games the children played. Kimosop said although recesses are few, they love to play outside, just as American students do, but there they would make balls out of paper and string and make up games to play.

To foster cross-cultural communication, this month the Lakewood students are writing letters and short stories with pictures for the children in Kenya. The principal of schools at Eldoret has promised that the Kenyan children will respond with letters. However, they have a limited supply of paper and pencils, so when the letters are sent from Holland, paper, pencils, erasers and sharpeners will be included. Mrs. Jawahir's class has already collected 683 pencils. Collectively, it is the intention of all the children to establish longer-term communications with each other.

"Last year, Lakewood Elementary students collected $460 to help buy water purifiers for the children in each of the grades in five schools around Eldoret. These water purifiers, as developed by Aqua Clara using age-old technologies, provide clean water from fecally polluted water at $0.0003 per liter," Buck said. "At that time, we made the promise to the Lakewood children to establish a linkage between these groups of children so everyone could talk to everyone, which is now happening."

"So at this meeting, John Hesselink III of Holland, who will expand the training of the Kenyan teams in producing these water purifiers, also shared some of his experiences with the children. He described the condition of the water from the local stream, where the children bathe and the wild animals defecate, as being the same water the children and their families have for drinking. Such water often makes the children chronically sick and sometimes die. He explained the new, locally made water purifiers provide clean water at a price their families can afford. John went on to describe the high interest of the Kenyan children in having clean water and sharing that with their families. In January he will also help in expanding the linkage between the schools and share with the Kenyan children the greetings from the children from the Lakewood Schools."

For more information, visit www.aquaclara.us or call Marcia Buck at (616) 396-8511.