JEREMY ACADEMY 2011 UPDATE
When we last reported on Jeremy Academy, Charlie and Teresia were in the early stages of building out the second wing of the new school building. The funds contributed by many of you (the “Friends of Charlie Waigi”) were routed through our U.S. non-profit partner, Asante Africa Foundation, and matched by their own funds to help Jeremy Academy accomplish this first phase of expansion. We are grateful to the foundation for their ongoing assistance in our efforts to support the school. And we especially want to thank their CEO, Erna Grasz, for her additional reports following visits to Kenya and for engaging Charlie and Teresia as valued advisors in the foundation’s broader efforts to support education in East Africa.
During 2010 and 2011, Charlie completed the first phases of his new building. Using other local and personal funds, as well as his never-ending ingenuity, he has continued to add other features and amenities to help the school function better for the students.
In addition to the expanded classroom capacity, the school has added a small dormitory for some boarding students, new bathroom facilities and a kitchen and a dining room capable of serving students a hot lunch during the school day. Charlie’s ingenuity has resulted in a source of biogas for cooking in the kitchen thanks to a couple of (purple?) cows in the back shed producing sufficient quantities of manure (you know, that stuff we relied on occasionally when called on in class at Williams).
The expanded classrooms and other amenities have allowed Jeremy Academy to serve a growing student population. But beyond the growing enrollment made possible by larger facilities, Jeremy Academy’s real report card is being measured by remarkable results in student academic achievement and advancement.
We also are happy to report that Jeremy Academy has hosted recent visits by fellow Purple Cows, Paul Grossberg, Ned Palmer and their wives. Diane Shawan Luken, sister of the late Dave “Tank” Shawan and an honorary ‘72, also visited last summer during travels with her family. Ned Palmer also made a recent return visit last month and reports that Charlie and Teresia remain busy on continuing plans to enlarge and improve the school and to achieve greater student outcomes.
We invite you to visit the new webpage dedicated to Jeremy Academy on Asante Africa Foundation’s website for a more complete discussion of these important results, made possible by your past generosity. We are grateful to Asante Africa Foundation for their assistance in creating this special webpage about Charlie and the school.
We also invite you to make an additional donation to the school, via Asante Africa Foundation, to help Charlie finish the final two phases of the building project. Through the generosity of an anonymous Williams friend, a $15,000 matching gift has been pledged to help raise funds. If you choose to contribute online through the foundation’s website, please note the designated box especially for Jeremy Academy. If you choose to mail a check to the foundation, simply attach a note to your contribution designating it for Jeremy Academy. So if you can, please make Charlie, Teresia and Jeremy Academy one of your additional priorities this year and let’s keep the Purple Cow flag flying in Limuru, Kenya.
October 2012 Update to the Update....
We exceeded our goal of raising the $6,000 required to complete the roof on the new clasroom building! The tally as of 10/8/12 stands at $7,497!! What a terrific outpouring of support for Charlie and Teresia Waigi's work to provide a quality education for the children of their community. Any funds not needed for the roof project will be used for other school priorities at Charlie and Teresia's discretion. This great news was given to Charlie at a party at Paul Grossberg's house in Berkeley (while Charlie was in the states, following the Bicentennial Award celebration in Williamstown). Pictured gathering for the party are Paul, Karl Mertz, Brad Paul, Charlie, Bob Hermann and Gregg Peterson (Lew Steele was there by phone from NY).
