The update from our CARDPARTNER program revealed the benefits to Expanding Opportunities are enough this year to pay for one term of High School Boarding fees for a student! To learn about this program visit http://ping.fm/JvX8m or www.exop.org right side bar

National AIDS Day is December 1. Here at the Joseph Waweru Home School in Mangu, Kenya we have a young man named Job. He is one of "our boys". He is bright, quiet, and polite. He can speak honestly, openly and with a great deal of insight for his age. He plays soccer and studies hard. He has aging loving grandparents and several uncles and aunts that keep in touch. We are blessed to have him in our Home. By the way he just so happens to be HIV+ from birth. Praise for him. Praise for Antiretrovirals, with self care he can live a full life. Let us pray for the cure!

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Forgotten People

Northern Kenya is a land of vast expanses of dry acacia bush, and dusty clay, with a rugged, mountainous rocky backdrop. Hidden in its seemingly deserted and wild immensity lie many small villages, a thousand or so people in each living in small mud houses; living close to the land; in harmony and agony with the forces of nature. They are pastoralists, no longer roaming the length and breath of Africa but confined to smaller and drier spaces. In many cases they are a forgotten people. The road to their land is a crumbling hint at days long gone when there was a tar road. Now there is a small twisted and pitted path of tar in the middle of the road, more treacherous to traverse than the dirt trucking trails along the sides but beware of the deep erosion that can catapult you down the side of the mountain to be found in pieces at the bottom of the ravine.

But let us return to the people. In most areas of Kenya, you see signs of development. Buildings being built or repaired, roads being repaired and constructed, houses, people, vehicles. But in some areas, the people gather in the main building of the village, the church. Dressed in a mix of western second hand clothes or more traditional kanga and blanket, they laugh and sing and chat and cry. They are drawn close for protection, drawn close for support. The effects of global warming have reached those whose lives for centuries have been close to the land and in harmony with it. Now they suffer.

Most seek hope in their young people, in education. But where are the school? These forgotten people have little or no access to education. They are proud of the school the Red Cross came to build and struggle to find the funds to send their child to school.

“Madam, this boy would like to speak to you”. He is 13 and in Class 5. His English is perfect. Please help me, my mother is going to take me from school to help with the younger children. Top in his class and performing better than many in more developed schools, he desires education.

Primary children walk at least 6 kilometers one way to go to school each day! Lucky to make it through Class 8, your hope
dies. After Class 8 there is nowhere to go. The closest high school is 23 kilometers away! The cows and goats need to be grazed for survival. The cost of transportation and boarding school fees is beyond the means of most. The economy is in goats.

In some areas, the government Community Development Funds are active. Schools, dispensaries, and roads are being constructed and large signboards announcing the construction through CDF Funds and the constituency. In other areas live the forgotten people. Many of those who have traveled beyond their village, return to state, “We do not live in Kenya”.

The reasons for forgotten people are many: sensitive, political and remote but a key to the solution lies in education. A literate population is an empowered population. As global warming, country boundaries, governmental regulations, and even tourism have forced them to enter the larger world, so they need the tools to defend, protect and control their village. Education will allow their lifestyle choices to be theirs.

If you would like more information or to help contact us.
www.expandingopportunities.org -- info@expandingopportunities.org

returned from bringing relief food to Northwestern Kenya. Oh my, it is a forgotten place. There was so much hunger-our help seemed so small, but it was help and appreciated. Thanks to AGI (Alternative Gifts International) we were able to assist. More later with pics

Expanding Opportunities is deepening its work withthe GIRL CHILD! Just returned from Ariamet, near Isiolo, Kenya. Seems there is a great deal of need and support for the Kulea Girl's Rescue Center. They are deciding on the request for allotment of 5 acres for us next Wednesday!

YEAH! Today is the last day of exams for our Standard Eight students. This exam means a lot - Samwel, Maina and Mbogwa all completed their exams today and all three felt good about their performance. They are now free. At the end of December, we find out the results and see which High Schools will take the boys next year. YEAH!! congratulations to them and all the other Standard Eight examinees!

Heading to Isiolo this weekend for a meeting with the chief and other leaders to garner their support for the Kulea Girl's Rescue Home. Will be out of touch for a while. If you are interested in helping rescue girls from FGM and early marriage and encouraging the education of the girl child send an email to info@expandingopportunities.org for more information.

Time to plan for the perfect CABIN FEVER RELIEVER Volunteering vacation. Take a look at http://ping.fm/8n1W7 Join us in Kenya!

YEAH!! Yesterday after a long and confusing day - we met with the land board - a wonderful group of people who granted us the TITLE DEED. We can pick it up at the office on Monday!! YEAH!!

YEAH!! Yesterday after a long and confusing day - we met with the land board - a wonderful group of people who granted us the TITLE DEED. We can pick it up at the office on Monday!! YEAH!!

YEAH!! Yesterday after a long and confusing day - we met with the land board - a wonderful group of people who granted us the TITLE DEED. We can pick it up at the office on Monday!! YEAH!!