We are pleased to share with you our latest newsletter highlighting the changes to our Charity under our new name Pepo La Tumaini along with recent developments.
 
As we have previously informed you in our earlier Newsletter, the Trustees of Tumaini Education Trust have decided to enlarge the charity to incorporate the entire Pepo La Tumaini programme in order to achieve a more comprehensive approach to providing education and healthcare to women and children affected by HIV.
 
After consulting with its advisors, the Trustees concluded the best way to move forward would be to create a new charity corporation authorised by and registered with the UK Charity Commission to reflect the new aim and scope of the Charity. Going forward, the Charity is to be re-named, Pepo La Tumaini and will combine the provision of education through the Tumaini Senior School, the ECD (nursery) and Graduate Programme together with the provision of healthcare through the Medical Centre (Clinic), the rehabilitation facility and home-based care initiative. In this way we are confident we will meet the twin needs of health and education for all our children and effected women.
 
To re-cap, Pepo La Tumaini is a registered charity in Kenya, UK and the US, with a certified funding arm in Switzerland. Administration costs are kept to the absolute minimum with virtually all the money raised by the foundation going directly to the programme. Projects are governed on the ground by two local steering committees, which meet quarterly to manage the progress of the health and education projects. The steering committees take responsibility for the approval of budgetary strategy, scope and the monitoring of risks, quality and timeliness. Local leaders in health and education are involved in overseeing project delivery and safeguarding the values of Pepo La Tumaini.
 
You can find out more about the charity on our new website www.pepolatumaini.org and follow our activities and achievements on Facebook and Instagram @pepolatumaini.
 

TUMAINI SENIOR SCHOOL

The academic status of the school has registered a positive increment during this second term. All the three classes have improved on the mean standard scores with the girls performing better than boys in all three classes. This is due to the Tumaini campaign for ‘girl education,’ which began in 2012 and continues to give the boys in the school a big challenge. Class 8 are now beginning their revision in preparation for their final Kenya Certificate of Primay Education Exams (KCPE). This will be the school's 5th group of students to sit for the national examinations.

ATHLETICS
On 20^th May, pupils from TSS participated in athletics at cluster level. 4 pupils were selected to perform at zonal level. They were: Betty Nekesa, Risper Eninio, Dolly Murugi and Nyfah Kerubo. On 22^nd May, the selected team entered the zonal level competition and Betty Nekesa  was selected to compete at the sub- county level.

Music Festival
Tumaini Senior School joined the annual schools music competition on 24^th June. They participated at county level to win with four performances: Kisi, Meru and Sudanese dances and Sacred song. They then proceeded to regional level where they came overall winner with their Sudanese dance and were invited to Kisumu for the national music festival on 4^th August. The team of 21 dancers performed exceptionally well and came second with a commendable 89%, 1 point away from the number 1 position.

Vocational Training
In addition to existing courses in dress-making and design, masonry and agriculture, pupils were selected to join special design projects in metal-work and fibre glass moulding. Under the leadership of trained instructors, groups learnt how to make metal objects such as buckets, boxes, feeding troughs for livestock and home cooking equipment. Others learnt how to mould items such as pillars, home furnishing items. Vocational training continues to improve both the academic and practical learning skills of the children, while significantly improving their confidence and boosting their self-esteem.

School Trip
During the holidays a group of students enjoyed a trip to Sunland Roses farm in Timau. They learnt about how roses are farmed and prepared for export. It was their first time visiting a large-scale production farm and understand how it operates, learning first hand from the farmers who work there. Thank you to Harry and the Sunland Team for welcoming the children and inspiring them to work hard and achieve positive results.

We are currently supporting 4 boys at Kagaa Boys and 4 girls at Lumar Girls Secondary School in Meru in partnership with Education Is Power who are paying the school fees for 2 of our girls Brandy and Leah; Brandy was raised by her grandparents, while her mother struggled with ill-health. Unable to attend school due to lack of school fees, Brandy became accustomed to a life on the streets before joining Tumaini Senior School in 2012. She successfully achieved 282 marks in her final KCP exams. Leah comes from a very poor family who could not afford to pay her school fees, her father works as a casual farm worker and struggles to support his other 2 children. Leah was supported by Pepo La Tumaini for 3 years and scored 291 marks in her final KCP exams.

The Tumaini graduate programme ensures that students receive a full spectrum of support including food, clothes, extra tuition and counselling as well as family support at household level. During their school breaks students return to the programme to join in community support activities and to spend time with Tumaini Senior School pupils who have no safe homes to go to during the holidays. In total the Tumaini Graduate programme has supported over 30 children through further education, many of whom stay connected to the programme making regular visits and advocating for the youth.
 
You can read the students letters and reports on our website graduate page.

The Early Childhood Development and Education centre is flourishing with over 76 day pupils from baby class up to class 3, ages between 3 and 9 years old, thanks to the partnership with Tara House Montessori Nursery School in Chiswick, London. The outdoor feeding programme of porridge and sweet potatoes has substantially uplifted the attendance and motivation for mothers sending their young children to the centre. Pupils continue to skype with children from Tara House nursery in London exchanging songs, poems and artwork over the internet.

Mama Tumaini Clinic continues to work in conjunction with Isiolo District Hospital and KEMSA who provide monthly support with basic drugs, anti malarials, micronutrient powder and HIV test kits. The clinic continues to offer low cost and non-discriminatory services in maternal and child healthcare, HIV testing and counselling, family planning and treatment of common infections as well as accidents and emergencies. Mama Tumaini sees on average 500 clients a month. In addition to daily operations, the clinic holds free medical days that target those most hard to reach and in May it attracted over 100 people who received full check ups, including HIV testing and counselling. During the last quarter the clinic treated a total of 1,494 patients and carried out over 218 HIV tests, 15 of which gave positive results. We are still working on our goal of becoming a treatment centre in 2016 to help alleviate the number of people accessing ARV drugs from the district hospital.

Thanks to donations from the British High Commission via BATUK Battalion of the British Army in Nanyuki as well as additional support from friends in particular Andrew Riley and David and Lisa Lubbock, the second phase of the security wall around Tumaini Senior School is nearing completion. On-going building works include new sanitation facilities at the camp funded by Amanah Bank in Isiolo and completing work on the volunteer house donated by Sofia and Claude Marion.