19/01/2024
From the Director's Desk
WE ARE INTENTIONAL ABOUT GETTING at Sortedlife International School
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If it wasn't for education, you wouldn't be reading this post from me! That's the plain fact!
I was raised in a rural village that many of you haven't heard of and wouldn't even pronounce the name right if I asked you to repeat after me...
But education opened doors for me. Doors that I couldn't have imagined. The doors that led me to the pool of information that for many years have slowly but surely transformed my thinking, understanding, and perception about many things. The information that have given me the freedom and the wings to fly as high and as wide as I would like to. The freedom that has given me the realization of the dominion I can have.
So for the longest time I have admired schools, and exalted those who own them. I have seen them as the lucky stewards having the keys to very important doors that many people need access to. I had asked God to entrust me with such keys too, one day.
So, when God took me out of the capital City, Nairobi to the middle of nowhere, literally, where there wasn't a school for my kids, or a library or a resource center for me to exercise and jog my mind, I asked God what he was up to with me.
He reminded me that I have always desired to open doors for others to experience the beauty of life through education; and that was his will too, and this was the opportunity. Immediately, it clicked.
And with my four children (in the poster) I started Sortedlife International School with nothing. I called Pastor Kithi Rajab from a mjengo site in Malindi, and asked him to come tutor my kids, but my vision was bigger than just tutoring my kids. I had had many conversations with Rajab, and I knew he was passionate about teaching, but poverty limited him, so that he did not go to university, instead he retreated to mjengo to try make ends meet - something that was also hurting me so deeply and I was looking forward to help him turn it around. (Well, Rajab is now at Egerton University, taking Bachelor of Education. Makofi.... (I will tell you how he got there another day - but it's an inspiring story of faith and determination).
So Rajab agreed to abandon his hustle in town and returned to Chakama, to take up a job as a tutor. He asked me to give him a week to prepare. He called some of his teacher friends, got some color pencils, lesson plan, etc., and one day, an early Monday, he walked to our center, dressed like a headmaster. And just like that, Sortedlife International School was birthed!
That term period the school grew to 10 pupils.
And as they say, the rest is history... The school now has 80 pupils ranging from Play Group to Grade 4; with 4 teachers, and a 1 support staff... Makofi ingine!
Our mission and vision is as you see on the poster. And the best thing is that we can't do and achieve this alone! and that's where you come in! Hallelujah!
Our pupils are from very very poor families. Chakama is poor! Children go without meals more times than they eat, most have Kwashiorkor, and skin diseases due to poor diet, etc., So they don't pay school fees, apart from a monthly contribution of a hundred shillings that's suppose to buy toiletry, and that some have never brought since we started in 2020.
But we pay our teachers, and try to do so monthly without defaulting, we provide nutritious breakfast and lunch, and offer the best that we can, holistically. This has made our school the best in the area, No Lie!
These happens through the generosity of folks like you; who support us with 100, 300, 400, 1000, 10,000, etc. once, once in a while, or regularly.
As the schools open next week, we are expecting more pupils. That's means more resources are needed; teachers, food, additional classrooms, toilets, etc. I'm therefore inviting you to be part of this amazing work we are doing in Chakama. Please partner with us in any small or big way, we appreciate much. Our cause offers equal opportunity to be part of God's Mission and be a blessing to his people.
If you feel your heart telling you to do something, please obey, that's the Holy Spirit of God speaking to you. You can honor that voice by calling/whatsapping/texting/e-mailing us through the contacts on the poster, and we'll gladly share more info as per your query.
Thank you so much and lets do this together.
Reverend RevBantu
Lead, Sortedlife Group,
Chakama, Kilifi County.
