About Haller
The Haller Foundation was established as a charity in 2004, after Louise Piper (founding director) met Dr Rene Haller, a land rehabilitation expert and an inspirational pioneering force in Kenya. Haller takes a unique
approach to community development through its belief that the economy and the environment should always be in balance if communities are to be truly self-sufficient. This ensures that they don’t help a community through one problem only to find that it is held back by another
.
Sevenoaks Prep and Haller work together to build a sustainable community in Kenya
In 2008, when bringing in its new school uniform, Sevenoaks Prep donated the old clothing to the Haller Foundation to see if it could make use of them in Kenya.
As a result, school dresses and football shirts were flown out to Kenya, free of charge by British Airways. Later, we received some amazing photographs of the smiling children of a small Kenyan community wearing our uniforms and became determined to get involved further.
We decided to try to raise money to build a school. Education is “free” in Kenya but parents must pay for uniform, books and the children often have to walk for hours to the local school. Most Government schools are ill equipped at best and nonexistent in remote areas. Often there will be 800 children crammed into a few classrooms with no desks or books and sharing a single toilet. In January 2009 we started an appeal to “build-a-school”. Haller identified a remote community that needed our help, that of Mdengerekeni about 20km north of Mombassa.
To make the goal of building a school and education outreach centre more manageable, we split
the costs into their component parts (walls, floors, water butts) and made a ‘totaliser’ to enable the children, teachers and parents to monitor progress towards the target. We raised an amazing £10,000 through a number of fundraising events and sponsorship.
The foundations of the school were started in late June and by September 2009 the structure of the school and outreach centre were built. The guttering, water butts and desks and chairs were added next.
The school is solar powered and equipped with desks and chairs. The first children were welcomed to the school in January 2010.
Water butts now provide adequate water for drink and crops, enabling the children to attend school rather than having to fetch and carry water (previously a 4 hour round trip). And, it’s not only the children who are educated. Haller provides environmental lessons at the school to teach both parents and children how plants grow and how to become self-sufficient.
This is a long term commitment and Sevenoaks Prep continues to raise money to help maintain the school in Mdengerekeni and to pay its teachers.
Working closely with the Haller Foundation, staff and parents at Sevenoaks Prep launched an appeal to support the community in Mdengerekeni - The Lime Green Lace Appeal. Now run by Haller, the Lime Green Lace Appeal encourages schools in the UK to take part in fun and educational fundraising activities to help children in Kenya.
An educational pack can be ordered by schools wishing to start their own mini campaign through Haller’s web site
www.haller.org.uk/lime-green-lace/
For more please visit
www.haller.org.uk
Updated photographs of the classroom with teacher and pupils
