We have had more than enough bad news in the last few months, so here comes something positive for a change: thanks to the great support of donors and sponsors of Watoto we were able to reduce the impact of the crisis for Mekaela Academies and the families, as we could collect donations for the Watoto Emergency Fund of more than 20.000 Euros in recent months. And even though many sponsors surely suffer from the economic crisis, too, we received only very few cancellations of sponsorships. Quite the opposite, in fact: during the last couple of months we could welcome 10 new sponsors in our Watoto network.

Still, the situation is serious. The prospects for next year require prudent and conservative planning. The maintenance of the schools, keeping the pupils at school and securing the jobs of our employees enjoy priority before any further expansion or cosmetic refurbishing. Therefore, the new school in Zambia has been put on hold for the time being, and many computers, desks, chairs and roofs will have to hold up for a while until we will be able to replace them. But then, two projects are still being pursued: The Mekaela Farms project which could save the school expenses of a good five digit figure annually is still on the agenda. The total investment required until the first harvest would amount to 70.000 Euros, so this project would be self-sufficient right from the start. Secondly, construction of the MAS/HPS dining hall and kitchen commenced in November thanks to a donation of HelpAlliance e.V., the charitable society of Lufthansa and Condor employees, and a contribution of Eine-Welt-Stiftung. Until the 2nd term of 2009, up to 600 children will be fed in the new canteen.

All prices have gone up but the salaries - this is a situation unbearable for employees of Mekaela Academies on the long run. After consultations with the schools' directors and discussions with the board of Watoto the decision was made to raise staff salaries as well as school fees by approx. 20% in 2009. The increase was less than would have been required to cover the increased expenses, but we tried to achieve a fair share of the burden between the employees and the parents (who will have to bear the increment after all). The parents were consulted about the increase, too, by the way. Very African, we dare say...  For our sponsors this means that sponsor fees will most likely rise by an estimated rate of 10% in 2010. We managed to negotiate a grace period of one year, and we hope the devaluation of the Kenya Shilling will help keeping the increase at 10%.

The year 2008 was not bad in general. The number of pupils has risen to more than 1.300. The schools achieved outstanding results in the KCPE exams for primary schools and the KCSE exams for secondary schools. We are very pleased with the fact that only one student of Lulu High School did not obtain a university qualification, while all other qualified with average grades of C+ or better. Nobody could have expressed it better than the Lulu High School graduates speaker at the graduation day celebration in November: "Mekaela Academies is the best place to be..." (to be viewed as streaming video on our website soon).

We sincerely hope for a better - and in any case happy - new year 2009.

In the face of the economic situation in Kenya Watoto has launched a new sponsorship programme for (recurring and nonrecurring) donations of as little as 50 Euros. The donation can quickly be conducted over the internet and requires no paperwork. The support may even be given a fixed expiration date. Anyone who has been reluctant to contribute so far because of the amounts and obligations that are involved with a full sponsorship can know support a child directly with smaller amounts. The details about the Hamsini programme can be found on http://watoto.de/hamsini_en.htm. We hope that a large number of donations will help us cover at least some of the losses we are expecting for this year. It is out of the question for us to send teachers or children home because of the difficult situation.

In May and June two sportive events took place during which money for our children was collected. Unfortunately participation at our Watoto Open golf tournament in Hohen Wieschendorf was less than expected, but we collected 2500 Euro nevertheless (Thanks, Jörg). Ahrensburger Turn- und Sportverein e.V. (ATSV) conducted its annual basketball tournament for children to raise funds for Watoto, i.e. Brian. Stefan Möller managed to obtain enough money to pay for Brian's boarding school fees and he still has a few coins left for other purposes, e.g. school excursion etc.

More than 1300 pupils plus the staff of Mekaela Academies have to be supplied with food every day. If we want to be less dependent on food deliveries from merchants at prices that have gone ballistic lately (thank you very much, dear hedge-funds) we have launched the "Mekaela Farms" project. On from 2010 we want to harvest maize and beans on a farm sized approx. 15 acres to cover the demand from our schools. The project has a starting budget of 100.000 Euros for the purchase and development of the farm. All current expenses will be covered from the agricultural yields. The project is just in a planning stage (in other words: it is just an idea) but then that was MAS as well some 15 years ago.

Most of the times we are very happy with our committed volunteers who work at Mekaela Academies for free for up to one year. If we are less delighted then something has gone terribly wrong (again) and those situations cost us and Mr. Musili and his team nerves, time and - yes, money to solve the problem. Therefore, volunteers are required to pay 1000 Euros if they want to work at Mekaela Academies on from this year. Half of that money is a mandatory donation, the other 500 Euros will be held as a deposit, for instance if we had to send our lawyers from Mombasa to sort out the mess. Many might be less enthusiastic about this measure, but at least it has helped to reduce inquiries by those shmucks who try to get themselves a cheap holiday trip to Africa by 90%. 

One delightful information we kept for the end: There will be a 5th school under the roof of Mekaela Academies - in Zambia. The project is still in a planning stage, but we have already conducted meetings with government officials from Zambia. During the next several weeks representatives of Mekaela Academies will travel to Lusaka to conduct some field research and all necessary preparations. If all goes well we shall break ground before the end of this year.

...not the one that the other fat guy may now play government, too, after he announced several times to organise "peaceful demonstrations for democracy and justice" (a friendly threat to expect a few hundred more casualties and burning houses more), but...

...this moment we receive the results of the 2007 KCSE results of Lulu High School. LHS managed to achieve position no. 76 among nearly 5000 Secondary Schools in Kenya which beat even our most optimistic assumptions. The "National School Standard" was easily met, many of those National Schools were handily outperformed.

Statistics: The average grade of all candidates sitting for exams was short of 9 (out of 12) points, the equivalent of a "B". Four graduates received a grade of "A-", 13 graduates came in with a "B+", "B-" or "B" and four students received a "C+". Only one girl passed with a "D+" grade. The cut for visiting a university is a "C+", so 21 out of 22 graduates qualified for university. That ratio of 95% compares to the national average of 35% and is the highest in the whole country. Besides, the girl with a "D+" had fallen sick in the middle of exams, her average grades during her secondary career were much better.

OK, we are showing off now, but the feeling is just unbeatable: LHS managed to achieve the best result that was ever recorded in Kwale District, and it was ranked among the top 5 schools in South Coast Province (see article in "Daily Nation"). Mind you that most of the candidates weren't even former primary pupils of Mekaela Academies but had joined Lulu High School from other secondary schools, some of them with very difficult backgrounds (which is why they had to leave the other schools). This year most of the candidates sitting for exams will be "home-grown" at Mekaela Academies, which is why Anderson, the LHS Principal, thinks a positions among the top 20 secondary schools in the country will be within reach.

The development of LPS and LHS had slowed down a bit after Watoto changed the project management of Mekaela Academies. So far, only one project manager had been in charge of one school, now we run the task as a team. In the meantime things have improved a lot: the second storey at LPS is making good progress, and more classrooms and dorms of LHS are being improved or completed. We had experienced some complications due to the fact that the number of students had nearly doubled within a year. Also, time is not on our side as Lulu High will be inspected at the end of the year to see if the school qualifies for National or Provincial standard. The heat is on.

"Heshima Primary School" (HPS) will be school no. 4 under the roof of Mekaela Academies. After a slow start One World Foundation has come up with a sound financial concept for at least one school building, so we can begin the development of the plot and construction activities. Three class rooms should be available before the end of this year, so we will be able to solve the worst space problems. We are very pleased with the cooperation with One World, and after we learned how many advantages a foundation has, Frank has decided it is time to establish our own. We hope to register the "Mekaela Foundation" before Christmas. In the future, the new foundation will be owner of all school plots and properties, which will make life much easier for us.

In Spring, we conducted a second survey among parents of Mekaela Academies. Of course, the questions were identical to the preceding survey to make trends more reliable. The results came in around 3% points worse than last time, although the only points of dissatisfaction were again the level of school fees (no need to wonder) and lunch (we are working on that). While 3% points are not exactly a disaster, we are taking the issues serious and will try to find solutions in time.

The last time we had to increase school fees was in January, 2005. Now it is time again for us to increase the fees, although the rise will be modest. We do not expect the increase to be more than EUR 25 per year and child. Unfortunately, we are no longer able to buffer the hike in terms of Euros, as we did last time. The exchange rate of the Kenyan Shilling has stabilised at 90 per Euro, and we consider it very likely the rate will remain stable in the future, too. The reason for that is that the Kenyan economy is relatively robust, and huge foreign investments are coming into the country. It is not yet as bad as the Canary Islands in the 90s, but construction is booming around Ukunda and Diani Beach. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that Mr. Barak Obama, who could be a presidential candidate for the 2008 election in the US, is half Kenyan? You can't imagine what will happen to Kenya should Obama become the next President of the US.

The girls of Lulu High would love to play hockey. On from a certain age (say, 14 years), football is not what girls get overly excited about, while hockey apparently is more ladylike. That was all Kai, our new president, needed to know. Kai was himself an active hockey player for many years, and during his recent visit in March he committed himself to setting up a hockey field (or more likely: make sure the funds will be available for it). Very fortunate for the girls, and very manly of you, Kai, but now get going! We are 3 months down the road, and the ladies are waiting.

At the end of the 2nd quarter of 2007, Micki recorded 345 sponsorships. She is very delighted that so many sponsors promote our project more actively than ever, and with success. Dear sponsors, if you require brochures for acquiring new sponsors, please don't hesitate to contact Micki.

Shortly before the year 2006 ends, Mekaela Academies needs EUR 20.000 more for further development of Lulu High School as well as the completion of further classrooms for LPS' 2ns stream. Watoto will fund the amount from unallocated donations of this year. Otherwise, school operations will be in jeopardy beginning of next year. Fortunately enough we were quite lucky with this year's exchange rates, so we do have some financial reserves. However next year, it will be a close call. While we have calculated KES 85 to the Euro, the current exchange rate is standing at 89, and it is closing in.

After we had encountered our first contact with a German foundation, we have been appealed by the idea of establishing a foundation ourselves. The Bremer Landesbank will counsel us in the process free of charge. We hope to have completed the task by the end of 2007. The advantages of a foundation are obvious: less fuss with the German tax authorities and easier access to charity funding.

At the end of October we achieved some results as far as the orphans are concerned. After having conducted a thorough investigation together with local professionals we came to the conclusion that primarily orphans should be placed with relatives. That without doubt provides huge advantages for their social and emotional upbringing. Thus we have developed a concept where orphans which have obtained a sponsorship are if possible brought to their relatives, even if they should be very distant. The sponsorship funds will not only be used for school fees, but also to subsides the increased cost of living of the foster family. As orphans are generally borders, the question of accommodation only arises during school holidays. In any case those children should receive more affection from their kin than from employees of an orphanage.

Finally we hold a copy of "Mekaela Times" in our hands. 5.000 copies were supplied for the parents day on Nov. 18th and sold at a price of KES 100 each. If the pupils who run and edit the newspaper on their own should achieve any profit they may use it at their discretion. However the first edition ran a loss of KES 50.000 which has to be attributed to initial investment losses and an uncontrolled recession on the premises of MAS during parents day in November.

Is there still hope for Germany's youth? On parents day we met 4 of those remarkable species, three of them working as volunteers at Mekaela Academies, and one, a boy called Mattis, had seriously come to Lulu High School as an exchange student. Mattis' Diary Blog is worth reading (and sometimes very funny indeed), and the chap is tough, no doubt. Most of the lads from Germany we know could use a piece of that for sure. However we are very proud of all four of them, thanks for your contribution. And Mattis, good luck for your career as a teacher at Mekaela Academies next year.

We met the foundation's founders from the Lahrmann and the Graendorf families soon after and discovered that we had a perfect match. The foundation does not have the financial power to pay for a whole school at once, so we commence with buying a plot first pole pole. The foundation will later finance construction of buildings and infrastructure according to their intake of donations. The whole property will remain in the ownership of the foundation, but Mekaela Academies will have an irrevocable right to use it as a schooling entity and obtain a right of first purchase at book value should the foundation change is focus in the future. The foundation has indicated though that is plans to have the first classroom ready at the beginning of next year. That would help us a lot.

In August we started a contest among the pupils for the new name of the school. The winning entry was "Heshima Primary School", which the foundation's board liked best. Heshima is a word for "dignity", "honour" or "respect" in Suaheli. The lucky winner has won himself a brand new bicycle for his proposal.

A plot was found in the meantime, too. It lies in the neighbourhood of MAS, its size is 4 acres, which are a bit less than 2 ha. Nothing much is to be seen there, everything is covered by thick Kenyan bush, but a tiny mud hut has been erected on the plot, and we need to achieve an agreement with its tenant. The lady who lives there does so without approval, she is a squatter, but those people enjoy certain protection from Kenyan law. That is fine with us, we will find a solution that leaves both sides happy.

In April, Dr. Michael Fretter, Gerd and Simone Blanke and six other equal minded people began developing and running Upendo Children's Home under their own responsibility and with their own concept. Hence, Mekaela Academies and Watoto will no longer be involved in the Upendo project. We wish the initiators of Upendo all the best, a lot of success and pleasure while implementing their plans.

At the end of August, Florence Nganga, Simon Mwachia and Elijah Musili with his wife Phelista arrived in Germany for a two week stay. The four teachers visited several kindergartens, day and boarding schools, including Louisenlund (I know, Your Highness, an unforgivable mistake), to gather ideas and impressions for theirs schools in Kenya. The "base camp" was Gerd's house in Damp, where the team of Watoto joined them for a few days to discuss project and make plans for the future (which plans? Patience!). On their excessive shopping spree no department store was left behind, but most of the time the items were too expensive for Kenyan teachers. However, they still managed to make a few bargains, and after a brief stopover in Hamburg the four teachers returned home heavily packed and with excess luggage.

Their visit to Germany did bear some fruit. Gerd has committed himself to complete the new kindergarten of LPS until the end of 2005. He took personal responsibility for the financing of the project, although he did receive some report from "Jacob Ship owners" in Flensburg which donated EUR 11.000 for the kindergarten. Michael drew the plans for the project, it will be an impressive building. And because money isn't everything, Gerd and Simone went to Kenya with their friends Nicole and Uwe in September and painted 7 classrooms on LPS in less than a week. Not only we are asking ourselves how anyone can endure, much less enjoy such a tiresome and sweat producing activity at 33° in the shade. Probably Simone is just missing her spinning wheel in Kenya, I don't know what!

It may not be a brand new idea, it is derived from the Kurt Hahn principles: In the future, the school heads of our schools (a boy and a girl of each school) will attend the meeting of head teachers and the directors. The first meeting in November was a bit stiff, the students were quite shy in the beginning. At the end of the meeting they relaxed a bit and contributed to our discussions. We are hoping to achieve a positive educational effect not only for the six students, but for all students of our schools. On the evening of our first meeting a father of one of the six called Mr. Musili and applauded the idea. The gentleman might approve as much the establishment of a school newspaper edited by students only. The editors will have a small budget they will have to administer themselves, so they will not only learn about publishing but about running a business, too.

Finally the ladies of Lulu High School have their own dormitory. Gerd and Simone made it possible, with the help of the above mentioned "Jacob Ship owners" (Rolf and Tom, thanks again). Now Gerd has no choice but to sell a mighty lot of tickets for the two tombolas in Damp and in Stralsund so financing of LHS can be maintained. So please, appreciated guests of those events, buy many tickets. And if Gerd should call you, please donated a few nice prizes for his tombola.

The new kindergarten at LPS will make three classrooms available for the new (!) second stream of Upper Primary at LPS. That means that on from next year, the number of students will raise by nearly 160. Demand from parents is overwhelming, sometimes we receive four applications for one available place in class. Three more classrooms will eventually not be enough, of course. Presently Michael is examining possibilities to enhance the two L wings of LPS by adding second storeys.

A second stream is also under consideration at MAS, although not in the near future. Frank, the project manager of MAS, has given renovation and repair works top priority at MAS. Next year MAS will be operative for 10 years after all, and the old lady has deserved herself a nice and thorough make up over time.

We estimate that 300 parents and relatives of KG2 and Std. 8 graduates attended the 2005 Graduation Day of Mekaela Academies on November 12th. The event lasted nearly 5 hours but was never boring. Frank led the procession of proud midgets to the ceremony where they receive their graduation certificates, just wonderful! It is a pity we will have to wait until December before the Ministry of Education in Nairobi releases the results of the KCPE 2005 for Std. 8. The class teachers however have indicated that the results might not be "no too bad after all". During Graduation Day parents could anonymously fill questionnaires to voice their views and opinions about Mekaela Academies. At least the results of the questionnaire are out already, we published them on our site. We shall submit a questionnaire to parents every year.

It is commonly known that Michael turned his "children's home" into a "children's village this summer (we heard rumours that the reason was he held his own plan the wrong way round, but he is reluctant to confirm this and Jakim refuses to talk). However his bold move must have encouraged or challenged us, and the other day someone mentioned "university" in one sentence with "Mekaela Academies". Admittedly, several Planters Punches were involved that evening, but then: why not? In 1993 it started more or less the same way, and here we are. But come on, a university? Well, it is an impossible project, that is why we like the idea. We will see...

More speeches, performances and dances took place yet again on Easter Monday: Dr. Michael Fretter placed the ceremonial first stone for his project, the Upendo Children's Village (UCV). The UCV will receive its own page within our homepage very soon, on which its progress will be documented with photos. Michael is an architect and will personally plan and follow through the building process. The UCV inauguration ceremony is planned for March 2006 and lots of people are already invited how on earth is he going to manage it, the mad man? In any case the population in and around Ukunda is very happy about the orphanage, as this eases them from worries for the future of their children.

After more than 6 years of assistance and a lot of personal support for our project, Andrea and Markus Lange declared their leaving Watoto in April. Both of them however still wish to use their energy supporting African children, so they will pursue their aims in different ways. The children, their families and the Watoto Team would like to thank Andrea and Markus for their support and their huge achievements; for example we have the Likunda Primary School (LPS) to thank them for.

During the general assembly of Watoto on the 23rd April it was therefore decided that Simone should become the project manager for LPS in place of Markus. (Congratulations, Simone, Florence is looking forward to the teamwork). Andrea's project the kindergarten is returning to each school and the responsibility will be taken care of by the appropriate project manager. Furthermore a decision was made to apply for an official German seal from the "Deutschen Zentral Institut für soziale Fragen" in Berlin, the "DZI Donation Seal." Presently less than 200 organisations are able to display this seal within Germany. We hope this Award Seal will make things a little easier and help us when trying to raise money and collect donations for the actual projects. Our top priorities at present are the building of a new Kindergarten next to the LPS and the completion of the dorms for the Lulu High.

In any case we will not have time to become lax and rest. Within almost 10 years and since the first building of the "L Wing" in the MAS was completed, our project has become much larger than the founders could have ever imagined. Naturally, the problems became bigger and we had to find new ways and means to appeal to people with our project and explain the idealism behind it. The best form of advertising for the children and Watoto come from our supportive sponsors. Thanks to several promotions and events we have managed to make people aware of our project, which enables us to collect donations as well making sponsorships possible. Stefan's idea for the Donation Telephone Hotline went totally down the drain (he was obviously the only caller!) whereas other activities have been successful. In June, for example, the "Watoto Open" golf tournament will take place in Hohen Wieschendorf. A week later, the Ahrensburger Turn und Sportverein will support a child of Mekaela Academies with its anual basketball tournament for kids. Shortly, the Willy Brandt Schule in Übach Palenberg will conduct once again a charity run for the benefit of Watoto. Many people and institution provide valuable support to our project, and we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to them (also to those I failed to mention here).

We have come a step further with our "orphanage" project. Thanks to Dr. Michael Fretter from Berlin who is determined to have the "Upendo Children's Village" (UCV) completed by April 2006. The plot for UCV, which is close to LPS, shall be acquired within the next few days, then we will gradually begin building a house and getting the furniture and fittings for approx. 25 orphans. During the second phase the capacity shall be raised to home 50 children, which will sum the whole project budget up to around EUR 135.000. The children of the orphanage will attend Mekaela Academies schools, a sponsorship for an orphan will include the cost of clothing, medical costs, etc. which will amount to approx. EUR 1.000 per year. That is really not too much, considering that a child will be saved from a miserable future.

With great anticipation we awaited the results of the first time round class 8 of Likunda Primary School (LPS) with their K.C.P.E. exams and we have to say that the results were way above our most optimistic expectations. From the best 100 pupils within the Coast Province for the year 2004, 3 were from the LPS and 2 more from MAS. Overall, MAS (once again) became best Primary School, while LPS became no. 2. Musili was jumping for joy and naturally Florence is now our superstar, as LPS has done so well in its first graduations. Congratulations, we are very proud of our team.

We are looking forward to our joint pilot project with Deutsche Telekom. Beginning on January 3rd, Telekom will install 09001 221166 as a donation hotline for Watoto. When calling this number, after an according announcement and a short grace period of 3 seconds, the caller donates 5 Euros to Watoto through his telephone bill. The service only works within Germany, though. The pilot phase will last a few months, we shall see how the response will be. (NB: the project was terminated at the end of 2005)

The number of sponsorship is steadily increasing. Although we had to digest quite a few "losses" from our sponsors' side (thank God we have our Emergency Fund), sponsored children counted nearly 280 by the end of 2004, and we expect at least 300 for this year. We were assisted by articles in "Hamburger Abendblatt", "Eckernförder Zeitung" and "Bild der Frau". We are getting the best marketing from existing sponsors, though, who keep promoting our project.

So, is that good news, or what?

In March, 2004 the foundation stone for Lulu High School was laid. If all goes well, the school will open its doors in 2005. All this was made possible due to contributions made by Simone and Gerd, both financially and personally. The laying of the stone was celebrated during a huge ceremony in the presence of many parents. The mothers were especially very grateful that their children consequently may avoid schooling at far away secondary schools throughout Kenya..

Manuel Alexander School is shining again, as it has been recently renovated. The school was not only painted, but the T wing also received a complete new roof. At last the power supply for MAS has been secured, although there are still difficulties with a neighbour to be sorted out. The neighbour has so far refused to allow power lines to cross his plot, as he fears the spirits of his buried ancestors may get agitated. At least he deems a possible appeasement for those spirits with money, so we do have some common ground.

As expected, the graduation class of 2003 once again earned MAS the first place among the schools of the district. The only school that could jeopardize MAS dominance in that field would be LPS, which is conducting its first K.C.P.E. graduation in 2004. Teachers as well as pupils are eager to snatch the crown off MAS, the competition is fierce. However, we expect a huge graduation ceremony (and party) in mid of November, and the Watoto Team will be there.

Slowly, Likunda Primary School achieves a state of completion. The sanitary installations have nearly been completed, and additional beds for the boarding section were provided. The playing ground and the sports field should be completed in the course of this year. LPS now has approx. 350 children, as many as MAS. The next bigger problem for LPS will be its own (missing) computer class. Presently, the children are transported to MAS by school bus to receive computer training in their PC lab. The procedure is quite inefficient and the MAS PC lab is far too small to host computer lessons for pupils of both schools.

The Sponsorship Program has experienced a new dynamic. Micki is targeting 300 sponsorships until 2005, presently she has 265 sponsored children on record. That number was achieved although an institutional sponsor cancelled nearly 20 sponsorships due to financial problems.

Watoto has a new project in planning: an orphanage for Ukunda. The reason why we are pursuing this idea is due to the number of orphans in the community around Mekaela Academies is rising at a steady pace. The problem strikes families of pupils and of teachers alike. By establishing an orphanage in the area we intend to avoid that orphaned children have to cease their education because they are homeless. Compared to the school projects the orphanage requires a relatively small budget. We are estimating that "only" EUR 50.000 to EUR 75.000 will be needed to complete the project.

In September, the international Round Square conference took place in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Around 50 schools from all over the world took part, Mekaela Academies right in between (*proud*). The event was a complete success, and in January next year, two delegates of Round Square will travel to Ukunda to prepare the first steps for a membership with the organization. Thanks again to Prince Alexander (I wonder if he will ever read this).

One month later we all met again in Kenya. Simone and Gerd spent the whole month of October in Diani Beach and, among other tasks, completed the painting of the LPS Dining Hall. Markus and Andrea conducted their second wedding (the first one was still valid, though) on the beach of Baobab Beach Hotel, just to return to Germany a few days later where they collected a huge amount of money on the annual Stuttgart trade fair. Without doubt, the two have sorted out the LPS project on their own. It was about time to honour that.

Gerd and Simone were not idle either and officially christened "Lulu High School", the newest project of Mekaela Academies. Lulu is not only the name of Simone's cat (coincidental), but the word for "diamond" in Swaheli (intentional). It is supposed to be a telling name for the school. Presently, the new compound is cleared and fenced. We will need an enormous amount of support for this project still desperate to submit a donation, anybody?...

Micki counted 250 sponsored children today. Many of the new sponsorships were initiated through the promotional work of "old" sponsors, thanks to them for their support. On average, we receive two enquiries per month for sponsorships, donations or other sorts of assistance through the internet, which we appreciate a lot. The shop is busy, one could say.

The team of Watoto wishes everyone a merry Christmas and a happy year 2004.

During the general assembly of Watoto e.V. in May we welcomed two new members in our midst. Including Gerd and Simone Blanke from Damp, our society now has 11 members. Gerd and Simone will be in charge for the construction and further development of our new Secondary School which will be set up in the neighbourhood of LPS. The project has a total volume of EUR 375.000, and construction is supposed to commence next year. By all means Gerd and Simone have set themselves a very ambitious goal. The new secondary school will enable us to maintain the high standards the children experienced during primary school up to their A levels. It will also spare the families from having to send their children to one of the far distant secondary schools in the country, which saves them a lot of money and avoids the long periods of separation.

The tax authorities of Kassel were playing it tough. They told us that photocopies of all bank statements and letters from the schools were no longer enough to prove that A) our schools really exist, B) that we send the donors' funds to the schools only and C) that the schools use the money for schooling purposes. Fortunately, we were assisted by the German Consul in Mombasa Mr. Ghalia, a very nice and supportive gentleman. With his help we managed to collect all required documents.

In November, the company School Data and its volunteers from Logitech collected more than EUR 40.000 at the trade fair "Heim + Elektronik" in Stuttgart. With those funds we were able to continue construction of the LPS boarding section.

At MAS, the Computer Lab went into service with 9 PCs, connected in a network. The room was enhanced with glass windows, a concrete ceiling and air condition. A new teacher was hired to teach the most common application programmes to the children and the other teachers. Some software games were installed to make the lab attractive for the younger ones, too. A German teacher was employed, too, and the children are rapidly picking up the language (unfortunately not Musili & Co.).

The graduation class 8. of MAS won the 1. place in the KPCE exams in Kwale District. A remarkable success, considering that some 200 Primary Schools are registered in the district. For the current year, the teachers are confident to win even the 1. place in the province, where the competitors number more than a thousand schools. We shall see.

In February, we contacted Starehe Boys Centre in Nairobi, the only member school of the "Round Square" organization (RS) in Kenya. We hope to be able to send a delegate as an associated school of Starehe Boys to the next conference in South Africa as early as September. The connection to RS will have a very positive impact on our schools, the teachers and the pupils. Let us hope it all works out as planned.

Also in February, the boarding section of LPS was officially opened with a great ceremony. During the first weeks of the year, approx. 70 pupils had enrolled for the 100 available places in the boarding school, so we will soon run out of capacity again. During the opening ceremony the parents inspected the dormitories and were very satisfied. Still, a lot is left to be done, the boarding section lacks desks, chairs and shelves, among other things.

The girls of our schools managed to reach the hearts of many guests with their to performances at the Baobab Beach Resort in November 2002 and February 2003. Therefore, we were able to raise the number of sponsorships to above 200. Even in these times of recession and war fears, people still are prepared to assist others. That makes us very happy, indeed.

We discussed details of the further development with Mr. Musili and Mr. Mwachia during their visit to Germany in August. We decided that representatives of the Watoto team should be on site from October through to December to support the construction of the LPS dorms and the MAS computer class.

Gerd and Simone Blanke have initiated a huge tombola for the benefit of our project. 10.000 tickets will be sold at a price of EUR 5,00 each. Prizes with a total value of EUR 45.000,00 will be available. H.R.H. Marie Alix Duchess of Schleswig Holstein has the patronage of the tombola, she will draw the main prizes in Damp on 13th December, 2002.

Micki reports that we now have more than 175 sponsorships, twice as many as three years ago. So far this year, around ten sponsors contacted Watoto through the internet, without having seen the schools themselves. We have good reason to believe that we will be able to reach our planned goal of 200 sponsorships next year.

We have planned to invite Elijah Musili (again) and Simon Mwachia to Germany later this summer. They will spend a few days each in Munich and in Hamburg. A lot has to be discussed: Further planning for the LPS Boarding School and the new Secondary School has to be conducted, and in Msambweni a huge, established school wants to join our Mekaela Academies for Kinder system. We would certainly like to expand our reach into that area, too.

One quick update: last year, we had promised the school to accept last years price increases for several services. Fortunately, the exchange rate for the Kenya Shilling has developed in our favour, so there have been no changes in the sponsor fees in D Mark.

The school spared no effort to celebrate the end of the school year on "Graduation Day". Since last summer, the school has made some leaps of progress. The 2nd building has been completed (ok, the toilets are still missing), and the walls of the 3rd building were erected. The best news of all: the German subsidiary of Logitech (the mouse company) will finance its completion, which will take a lot of pressure from us. Since December 1st, 100 children out of 360 pupils receive sponsorships, that is impressive. A new project for Watoto is the conception of a boarding school in the area of Msambweni. Next spring, the first preparations will commence.

A little Nikolaustag (German holiday) joy! New commitments for donations funds have risen to a total of DM 15.000. The second building can continue to be built with this amount. Unfortunately, we will have to take over a "small" deficit of nearly KShs 150.000/= which is about DM 4.000. This deficit is partially self made and can partially be blamed on the drop in tourism during the summer. The B.O.G. has therefore granted an increase of the school fees from KShs 3.000/= to KShs 3.750/=. We are pleased to hear that those involved in the project have found a solution to a financial problem on their own initiative. Due to the increase of the school fees the budget for 1999 remains balanced. That is more than Oscar Lafontaine can claim for himself. The increase of school fees does not affect the donors for the time being, as the Kenya Shilling has lost value and we have only accepted an increase of KShs 500/= to a total of KShs 3,500/= per sponsored child.

Well, it appears that the greater part of the crisis is over. Frank once again brought in large amounts of donations last month and we received several thousands of Deutschmark from many donors. (people who have never even been to Kenya!)  We may therefore presume that until the Summer of 1999 the school's operations are secured. Oh, by the way four more donors have just offered their support.

Going by the latest information from Kenya, tourism is slowly on the gain again. Even the bomb attack in Nairobi hasn't changed anything (Nairobi! Which stupid imbeciles come across such ideas?) According to Jeremiah Murungi the hotels along the South Coast are well booked again. The Robinson Club will merely open at the beginning of December, somewhat delayed due to renovation.

Today's report is rather depressing. The headmaster Mr. Musili informed us that several parents are not able to keep up their payments and are having to remove their children from the school. This is due to the heavy recession in the tourist industry. If the trend continues the school will soon experience financial woes, and Mr. Musili will have no choice but to make one or two teachers redundant.