The Oronkai Primary School is situated in a small town in the Maasai Mara, approximately 300 kilometers from Nairobi, Kenya. It serves hundreds students, ranging from kindergarten through the twelfth grade.

The school itself is composed of sticks and cow dung, with no electricity or running water. Each classroom has enough room for about twenty students, but currently holds over 100. There is no library or even textbooks, and the students learn from pamphlets written in English.

Global Colors was given the opportunity to visit The Oronkai Primary in July 2006.

In coordination with Emmanual Tasur, Namunyak Welfare, and our friend Scott Greenberg, we spent our time building a latrine (out-house) for the school, while learning about their current needs. Most of the students participated in the project by bringing bricks to our area (with a lot of moral support), and it was great to see how excited they were just having us there. After we completed the project, the students provided us with some songs and a theatrical performance. It was a humbling experience to see how appreciative they were, and made us all wish we could do more.

With the introduction of free primary education in Kenya over the past few years, student enrollment has increased by over 1.3 million. Unfortunately, there have not been any additional classrooms added to accommodate such an increase, and therefore they are overloaded with students.

Currently, a proposed new school is half built in the Oronkai District - construction stopped due to lack of funds. There are walls, but no roof or floor in the structure, and no electricity available. With only $13,000 - the roof and floor could be constructed, textbooks could be purchased, as well as a wind generator for electricity could create a wonderful school for these children.

We want to help this school! For more information on donating books, helping pay for the floor, roof, or wind generator – please contact us.

As we drove off, we noticed the sign for the school’s exit. Written underneath the address, was the school’s motto, and it was there that made us better understand our objective----Together we succeed.