Me to We club remembers Kenya

Times Contributor  

 

Grade 12 student Paige Rist remembers a little girl named Angela when she looks back on her volunteer-based trip to Osenetoi, Kenya from last summer. 

The 10-year-old from Osenetoi walked with her classmates past Rist and other volunteers from Strathmore High School. Angela stopped in front of Rist and said, “You’re going to be my friend.”

“When we got to meet the kids, they all waited in line as we walked up,” said Rist, “as soon as the teacher said it was okay, they literally swarmed us with hugs.”

Rist said Angela had the biggest smile on her face and covered it with her hands —something that she often did. 

“She ran to me and said ‘rafiki’ which means ‘friend’ in Swahili.”

Rist said that Angela was one of the girls she thought of when she raised money for Me to We’s penny drive. The club will be sending donations that will be used to purchase supplies to build classrooms in Osenetoi. 

“Every day that we got to go play with them, she did the same thing. She would light up and run to me. She was amazing,” said Rist

The Me to We club started collecting donations penny by penny. Slowly the money accumulated into over $1,500, which Christine Magill, Strathmore High School teacher and Me to We club organizer said makes a substantial dent in the school’s building project. Magill said the average cost to build a classroom in Osenetoi is $8,500. 

The Me to We club is connected to Free the Children, a charity organization that has made an agreement with the Kenyan government: for every classroom that is built, a Kenyan teacher will be provided, said Magill. 

The group of students from Strathmore who volunteered this past summer helped build two classrooms. Magill said two Kenyan “fundis” who were the foremen in the construction process supervised the group.

“[The work involved] mixing concrete, laying stones for walls, digging—we did a lot of digging to build the walls and put the foundation in.”

The students buried a loonie in the in the foundation of the classroom, just like how they put a loonie in under the ice in the Olympics, said Magill. 

Rist said building the classrooms was difficult, even though the students worked during the Kenyan winter season. 

“It was sort of a physical surprise, it was so worth it because the kids were at the school the whole time,” said Rist, “there was so much motivation. No one really cared how hard it was.”

Back in Canada and into first semester, Rist was given the opportunity to speak at Free the Children’s Alberta We Day on Oct. 24.

Rist said she felt very lucky to be amongst the other speakers that were very famous. The 2012 Alberta We Day’s speakers included talk show host Larry King, pop singer Lights and the musical group Marianas Trench, among others. Rist said she spoke of Angela when she addressed the crowd of over 20,000 people.

“It wasn’t just speaking to a bunch of people, it was speaking to a bunch of people who understood and who were trying to help just like I was.”

Rist said the Me to We’s penny drive was the first fundraiser that she took part in since visiting Kenya, and that it was the first time she felt she understood where the money was going. 

“It changed my life completely. I have a completely different outlook.”

However, Rist said that it does not take going to Africa in order to get involved. 

The Me to We club is planning on hosting a benefit concert at Strathmore High School at the beginning of March, 2013. Magill said the current goal is to raise enough money to be able to buy enough supplies to build one classroom. The club is looking forward to sending letters and photos to the children at the school in Osenetoi, including Angela.