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Deaf children get help from Ulster in remote Bush
Friday, 24 August 2007
She is overseeing the building of two classrooms and dormitories in the
baking heat of the Tharaka Region of the Kenyan bush.
And she
appeals to the people back home to help finance the provision of 62 beds for
the dormitories where some of her pupils will stay.
Her
school-church complex - provided by the Methodist Missions Society in
Ireland - is in an area where temperatures regularly reach 40C, and soon the
monsoons will sweep in.
Helen, the first woman missionary ever to
move there, is known in Swahili as "Makena" - "Bringer of
Happiness".
Originally from Bessbrook in Co Armagh, her
career included teaching in the deaf unit at Tullygally Primary School in
Craigavon, and then general subjects in Lismore Comprehensive.
Last year, with the help of Edenderry Methodist Church in Portadown, she
decided to move to Kenya and initially taught in the town of Meru.
She says in her latest update: "I realised that the deaf children in
the remote bush area had no education whatever, so I moved there and it has
been the most satisfying period of my life."
The contract for
the dormitories has been started, and 62 children are lined up as boarders.
Through the bed appeal, Helen hopes Ulster people can help finance the beds
for the dorm. Belfast man Tim Dunwoody is co-ordinating the effort and he
can be contacted on 028 90320078.
Come those monsoons in
September, Helen won't be able to leave the area for two months.
But she will keep smiling.
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