Priceless Impact: Guest Post by Ken Wightman

During the month of May we were fortunate to be able to visit Africa for the first time. We traveled to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Zanzibar, Tanzania, and then finished up in Kenya. It was a very special trip highlighted by unbelievable scenery, storied animals in their environs, but especially by a visit to Taru and the good work that Kenya Keys is doing. Seeing all of the schools, libraries, and wonderful people made those days the most memorable of our trip.Our days and evenings in Taru were jammed with activities that ranged from meeting with educational and political leadership of the Samburu and Taru townships to visiting distant schools where students are traveling 6-10 miles each day to attend classes. The warmth and welcome was uniform and most of all we were so impressed with the respect and appreciation that all of the people we met felt for Mama Rinda, Baba Brent and the rest of the interns that were part of the Kenya Keys group.As an engineer I was very impressed with the construction that is going on with the 80-bed dormitory at the Samburu High School. It is nearing completion and all are so excited about having a safe place for the young girls to stay and not have to travel back and forth to their homes in the dark. There is also such a need for the second phase of this project to be completed. As always these things are only held back by the need for capital contributions.On our last day we visited Joseph Mwengea’s elementary school and the micro-finance group of women who are making aloe vera soap for a source of income for their families. What a thrill to spend time with the students, faculty and see the many improvements that have been made because of the hard work and diligence of Kenya Keys. The women initiated us into the Duruma tribe and Patty left her heart there with those amazing strong women.As the students bade us a good bye and sang us farewell, it was a bittersweet time as we drove off. We had made friends and felt there was more that we could have been doing to help their situation. In a lot of ways that is the sign of a good vacation as we for sure want to be more involved with the Kenya Keys programs in the future.Thanks Rinda and Brent for making our visit so memorable and also for all you are doing to help these wonderful kids get a strong and meaningful education.