From Deseret News archives:
Lindon school assists African village in Kenya
Generosity amazes organizer, but more help is needed
But the generosity amazed organizer and teacher Kerri Park.
"We raised $1,200," she said.
The academy sent the money to Bernadine Angalusha, a former villager who broke out of the poverty that grips the village and today tries to help.
Ron and Maurine Hatfield of Lindon served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany and started the effort two years ago when they met Angalusha.
Able to attend a Catholic school with the support of her father who paid her tuition, Angalusha learned English and other basic skills. Then she was hired as a nanny where she learned German. Angalusha now works as a postal carrier with the DeutschesPost, Maurine Hatfield said.
Angalusha and her mother are the only survivors of a poor family stricken with malaria. Her three siblings and her father died of the disease. (Hospital policies in Kenya require payment up front or no services are given. Since her family was poor, the policy was their death sentence. Her mother now has malaria, which Angalusha also contracted on her last visit to the village, said Hatfield. Angalusha is being treated in Germany.
With her meager earnings as a postal worker, Angalusha paid to ship a donated well pump so her village wouldn't have to depend on water from a muddy river.
On her trip to see the well, Angalusha filled her backpack with pens and paper for each student in the elementary school.
To reach the village, she must travel part-way by four-wheel drive, then walk the rest of the way.
Children attend school free if they have a government-approved uniform but must supply their own pencils and paper. Most children don't attend because they can't afford the uniform or pencils. Each class of 60 students shared one pencil, said Hatfield.
Angalusha also brought a nursing student and medicine and bolts of cloth. She arranged to have as many as half a dozen school uniforms sewn for some of the children.
She then came up with a plan to assist the villagers mostly a group of 16 women to get themselves out of subsistence living and foraging in the jungle for food.
The women formed a co-op to grow vegetables and sold the surplus to the school district in Nairobi. Several orphans were hired to work on the property. They are fed a meal in payment.
Comments
- Funeral today for Utah soldier 11:16 a.m.
- Vaccination clinic set in St. George 11:15 a.m.
- $47B paid in suspect Medicare claims 11:11 a.m.
- 3 dead in Reno helicopter crash 11:02 a.m.
- Galaxy headed to MLS Cup 10:45 a.m.
- Veteran climber dies in Himalayas 10:36 a.m.
- Slovakia beats U.S. 1-0 10:30 a.m.
- Suicide attack kills 11 in Pakistan 10:28 a.m.
- A president of Europe? 10:18 a.m.
- Riesch edges Vonn in WCup slalom 10:13 a.m.
- Williams leaves, won't play tonight
- Attack meant to kill apostle
- Short-handed Jazz fly past Sixers
- Can BYU root for (ick) Utah Utes?
- Man killed during 3rd I-15 crash
- Bench proves fruitful for Y.
- Trial begins in toddler death
- D-Will home for daughter
- Unga family is making its mark
- ESPN suddenly loves MWC
- SLC council OKs gay rights policies
348 - Editorial: Mormons and gay rights
199 - Senators want food tax restored
162 - Will state consider gay rights law?
145 - Letters: Strange breed in Utah
129 - Utes remain silent about BCS
120 - S.L. vote pending on gay protections
113 - Celtics crush Jazz
104 - Pratt pleads not guilty to sex charges
103 - Can BYU root for (ick) Utah Utes?
95
If you are looking for a bird on the cheap, the following specials from...
How do you handle kids and contests? Our oldest daughter, 7, is of the...
Bingham's got a lot of talent for having a bunch of Juniors and sophomores....
Ben Cahoon is a class act!!
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge,...
There is a VERY special place in hell for guys like this...Even ANIMALS know...
RE:Joe & Exactly. I tend to see the opposite way. I think that when Dwill...
Joe & Exactly are typical people who don't understand the game of basketball,...
I guess we only see what we want to see. But, the fact is that if BYU had...
It would be great if BYU could pull this off. Never count out a team that...
That's what i heard too!
Washington and Franklin believed in Providence, not Got. Franklin started to...


You can be the first to comment on this story.