Greetings friends of St. Tabitha. As some of you know, I recently spent 2 weeks in Western Kenya with Fr. Agapios as my host. I was blessed to spend time with the children, teachers and staff, to see the progress on the new building and property, and to visit the additional students Father Agapios supports at schools throughout Kakamega County.
My visit to the school took place during exams week. I was able to see first hand the teachers helping students prepare. I also was present when a representative from the Ministry of Education came to evaluate the teachers. The teachers and staff are very dedicated and have provided me a list of needs which I’ll publish soon on the Website. We really need to make sure they are consistently paid and at a rate commensurate with what other teachers there are making ($150 to $200 US/month).
We also visited Pokot, a tribe that lives in a remote desert tundra about a 4 hour drive from Malava. Their living conditions are beyond poor and their traditions make the lives of girls especially difficult. Father has a few Pokot children at St. Tabitha whom we baptized while I was there. We brought them with us so they could visit their families and friends. Father works with the chief, parents and the local school to bring children back to St. Tabitha to provide them with a higher quality of life along with a great education. There are additional children he hopes to bring to St. Tabitha including a young orphan boy, and a fifteen-year-old rape victim and her newborn child.
I have never seen anyone work as hard as Fr. Agapios and everyone at St. Tabitha to provide children with a higher quality of life and good education. The school has more space now. The nearly completed home and school on the new property looks really impressive and well thought out. Vegetation is growing on the land and Father hopes to purchase a pump to irrigate the soil from a nearby creek. There are plans to harvest sugar cane as well.
Our donations and contributions are helping! Let’s keep it up!
– Fr. Peter Tobias