December 2020 Newsletter

Hello!

Greetings this holiday season!

We are delighted to be able to reach out in this new electronic format. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I feared that we would no longer to be able to continue to support the 450 learners at the Nambale Magnet School that have prospered with our help. There were many sleepless nights until we as a group reinvented ourselves and challenged ourselves to do things differently.

We went digital and all of you responded with resounding support. It is because of you that we are still relevant and still making a difference. We are humbled and grateful for your support.

When the Nambale Magnet school was faced with a five day notice to partially reopen for the 4th and 8th grade classes with no assistance with PPE, you all were there. Together we moved mountains to be able to open up on time and start to care for our learners again. The student who have returned to school are eating 3 meals a day again and learning and growing.

Please reach deep into your hearts this holiday season for the students who, if it were not for their school/home, would be forced to maintain an existence of near starvation, lack of sanitation and child labor for survival.

Wishing you the best for this holiday season with your loved ones near at hand or near in heart. Health and safety to you all. A heartfelt thank you from the Cornerstone Project and the students and staff at the Nambale Magnet School and of course, the school’s founder, Rev. Evalyn Wakhusama.

Sincerely,
Martine Nolletti
Cornerstone Project Chairperson
A Glimpse of Life at the Nambale Magnet School
The children who attend the Nambale Magnet School have suffered greatly since its forced closing in April. Below are student stories to help you understand what being at the Nambale Magnet School means to their survival:
Student Stories
HIV Positive and Orphaned in Africa
Wendy, age 11, is one of thousands of orphaned children in Africa but she has also been HIV positive since birth. Until the pandemic hit, Wendy not only attended the Nambale Magnet School but she also lived there. She was admitted as a preschooler, and thanks to the Namable staff’s love, care and a steady administration of anti-viral drugs, she’s grown to be a happy and healthy youngster.
Living in Poverty During the Pandemic
Jonas, is a day student at Nambale Magnet School and while his parents are alive, his family is living below poverty level. Like many of his fellow learners, his father and mother both lost their jobs due to the pandemic and Jonas is forced to work as child laborer in order to receive the one small meal a day he is able to collect by his own means. 

Transforming Lives --Thanks to Your Help

Generous friends like you have helped children and their community in western Kenya who are in urgent need- even more so now during the pandemic. As you know, the Cornerstone Project has provided support for the education, care and housing of vulnerable and AIDS-orphaned children in Kenya. I'm asking for your continued help on behalf of the struggling students at the Nambale Magnet School who have been so drastically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The children's stories in the segment above give you a glimpse of how dire their situation has become since the School closed. Many are forced to work as child laborers, surviving on scarce food, very little fresh water with no way to afford expensive masks and sanitizers to stay safe from COVID-19.

Because the School provides not just an education for its students but a means for their survival, we need your help now more than ever to fully reopen and restore the lives of these children.
Fall Festival: A Wonderful Success!
Our Fall Festival fundraiser was a great success thanks to our sponsors and our amazingly talented musicians Ari Hest and Bobby Jo Valentine. After the concert thanks to the wonders of Zoom, we were even able to visit with Evalyn the school’s founder in Kenya! Thanks for supporting our first online auction via Clearing House Auctions with your item donations and biddings and purchases.

Thanks to the event's success, we will be doing it again next year and even bigger and better!