Written by:
3/7/2011 2:13 PM 

Our Jubilee School continues as a hub of activity among students, teachers and workers there.  Since Fr. Symon's arrival, he has been able to hire another teacher, meet with many of the students' families on Visiting Day, confer with the Head Teacher, Gideon, on a number of administrative matters and rally construction workers to lay the foundation for a new dormitory. For those who recall from a past post that Narok has been identified as one of the fastest growing cities/areas in Africa, it may simply follow that we are in need of more housing too.  Fr. Symon conferred with the architect and they have decided to begin a new dormitory that will house 72 students, in addition to the two dorms that now have 64 students each. We are still using a classroom for some of the boys to reside in, so when the new dorm is complete we'll be eager to move them there.  Laying the foundation is perhaps the biggest undertaking during construction, because there has to be quite a bit of digging and excavation by hand, which is very time consuming.  The workers had started to lay the foundation stones and Fr. Symon is keen to have all of that complete by the time he leaves.

The other bit of excitement...which was welcome with incredible enthusiasm...is that Fr. Symon purchased a very large television with dvd player, to be enjoyed by the children on special occasions.  It was meant to be a well kept secret until it was all hooked up...but the students' eyes spied the picture of the television on the very large box it came in, and couldn't contain themselves. "Father, Father, what is in that box? May we see? It looks like it may be a television!"  Needless to say, it was hard for Fr. Symon to disguise his excitement too, knowing what a commotion and thrill it would be for the children to actually watch something on it. So, on a weekend evening, the television was 'unveiled' in the new dining hall, where all of the children gathered, very closely, to see what they could see!  The TV did not disappoint and will remain a treat for the children, whose excitement promises not to subside anytiime soon.

Fr. Symon is scheduled to return to his cluster of parishes in Upstate New York within the next couple of days.  He will leave instructions at the school as to where to unload the shipment of donated school furnishings, once they have been cleared through the port of Mombasa. Because of the harsh weather delays, the shipment is expected to arrive in the Port of Mombasa sometime around March 24th.  We will be anxiously awaiting news of its arrival at the Jubilee School.

Well, that's it for now. Perhaps the next time you see this blog, Fr. Symon himself may be reporting! He is going to try and publish updates too, so that all of our many Friends are well informed.  Many thanks for your continued and selfless support!

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