Projects in Kenya

A secondary school for girls from the surrounding community as well as those rescued from early marriage and sex trafficking. The school will provide a safe living and learning environment. The skills-based curriculum will enable the students to become employable, start their own business, or continue to post-secondary school if desired. Our mission is to empower these young women to achieve their dreams and become the best versions of themselves. 

Ololii village predominantly consists of Maasai and Kalenjin people. Approximately 4,000 people live in the village. The community, as a whole, greatly values education. We are grateful for their support from the beginning. Their excitement for this school may rival our own.  

The new school will be located in the beautiful village of Ololii, which is part of Narok-West county in Kenya. Due to generous donations, we were able to purchase 12 acres of land. A hydro-geographical survey revealed an abundant water source in the underground aquifer. There are currently five primary schools within 3 kilometers but no nearby secondary schools. 

We are committed to creating a self-sustaining school. The twelve acres of land will allow for multiple revenue-generating projects which will support the school and allow each girl to receive a partial or full-ride scholarship. The potential projects include growing various crops, establishing a poultry farm, beekeeping, and raising livestock. 

We are also committed to supporting the local economy throughout the construction by purchasing local materials and hiring local laborers to build the structures. Once the school is operational, it will be run by a local headmaster and school board. The students will be taught by local teachers.

The community garden on the campus of the school has already had several successful seasons.  Currently the sale of the harvested produce is funding the next season as well as paying for the groundskeeper and other costs.  Over 200 trees have been planted which will provide a variety of fruit as well as wind protection for the school.  When the school opens, the produce will be used for the school and the excess sold within the community.

The borehole to tap into the underground aquifer was drilled in December 2021. A solar powered pump gets the water to the 10,000L Tank.  As the garden expended, Noel realized additional tanks were needed to help with the watering needs of the garden.  To date, two additional tanks have been placed in the garden.  The water access was life saving for the Masai community near campus.  The severe drought of 2022 left people desperate for water and Noel was grateful to be able to provide water to those in need.  She has a goal of making drinking water available to the community in the future by creating a system to sell water. 

The beekeeping project started off great, but then the honey badger moved to campus.  Turns out they do care about something and now there are no more bees! 

Porter's School is located in Kyekyewere, a village dnear Dunkwa-on-offin in the Central Region of Ghana, West Africa. Due to overpopulation of the only primary school in the village, many children did not have the opportunity to gain an education.

In February 2019, our newly constructed school started admitting students. Now there are over 290 students learning within the walls of these classrooms; classrooms which were built by members of the community. 

The school started with a 5-classroom block, administrative office and latrines.  A 6th classroom was added in 2022.  Two of the classrooms currently hold two classes each which is not ideal for learning. We are planning a new 4 classroom block to allow each grade to have their own space and to allow the students to attend through Grade 6.  In the spring of 2023, we completed leveling the grounds and are in the process of completing retaining walls to prepare for the next block of classrooms.  

Porter's school got a new bus update just in time to start off the 2022 school year.  We had had several generous donors who helped make this happen.   The bus serves as the school's main sustainability project as it allows for consistent attendance which means consistent school fee payments.  The transportation fees alone cover the fuel and maintenance costs and are already helping to pay for new projects.   We are so grateful to our donors for making this happen!       

Thanks to the new bus, the school has been able to save funds to contribute 25% of the cost to build the new classrooms.  The school is now fully self-sustaining and will be able to fund future projects.                           

For thirty-two years, Mama Yaa took in the orphans from her village in Ghana. She cared for them as if they were her own children. Those closest to her, described her as a kind and generous woman. Mama Yaa’s heart overflowed with compassion and her home was always open to those in need.

In late 2019, Mama Yaa was diagnosed with cancer and she died from complications soon after. At the time of her passing, she had 26 orphans in her care. Her death brought great sadness to the village and these children. With Mama Yaa’s death there was uncertainty as to what would happen to the orphans. Thankfully, Janet is just as kind and selfless as her mother, Mama Yaa. Without hesitation, Janet volunteered to take over the care of the orphans. Janet is the wife of Papa, our local director in Ghana. This amazing couple have two daughters of their own and decided to increase the size of their family by 26 overnight.

The task of securing stable housing for Janet, Papa and the children was proving difficult. 

In May, the family was given a few days notice to vacate their home and move their family of 30.  Due to the pandemic, schools in Ghana have been closed since March. The Building Blocks Board encouraged Janet, Papa, and the children to move into Porter’s International School and use it as temporary housing until a more permanent solution could be found. Many of the younger orphans have been students at the school since it opened.  

With the hope of schools reopening in September, the need for a long-term housing solution became a priority. In order to give the children stability and safety while they gain an education, the board decided to build a children’s home on the school campus. 

The home was completed in early 2022.  

Mama Yaa blessed countless children throughout her life. Our greatest hope for this home is to carry on her legacy.