Hi to all our Nobelity Project friends and supporters,
It’s been a rough ride the past few weeks. We hope you and your loved ones are all well and getting through this till the world can find some semblance of normal. We are sending love to all of you, along with our deep appreciation for your support of our education work.
Just after our February Feed the Peace awards, I traveled to Kenya to open some new school projects and launch construction on more. It was an inspiring trip, even with a shadow rising on the world, and I was happy to get back safely to Austin in early March.
The virus has not hit Kenya as hard as here at home and we are hoping for the best. The Kenyan government has closed schools and issued more strict controls on commerce and movement, and there will likely be economic hardships on all. But schools will reopen, and when they do, many kids will be going back into new facilities. Staying warm and dry in classes, and having clean water for hand-washing at school have never been more important.
Here are a few photos of newly-completed projects:
Kiambogo Primary, Turk and Mr. Turkey
Thanks to 4 x 4 artists and audience, we built and opened a new preschool at Kiambogo Primary, a remote community at a 9,000ft elevation. The community turned out in full force to say thanks to all of us. (I did not bring home the turkey a woman gave me as her personal thanks.) I was also able to open many other new school projects funded at the 2019 Feed the Peace Awards, and break ground on some new projects funded at this year’s big night.
These are the final 3 new classrooms at Nyambugichi Primary (special thanks to Louisiana Charities Trust and the Beebe Family). We hope to build a new preschool here to complete the new infrastructure.
This is the final classroom at Mugaka Primary, where a handful of students in a wood and cardboard classroom has grown into a top-scoring school of 300+ students in all modern classes.
Kanyoni Preschool Dining Hall - a partnership with Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club - is a favorite visit, and with the new kitchen and dining hall, is now fully built.
The finished first floor and three classrooms (of what will be an impressive, 3-story, 9-classroom building at Mwangaza Primary)! Now the top-scoring public school in a very large district, construction is underway on the second floor. Construction jobs like this and our other partner schools, are a strong boost to stressed local economies.
We were so happy to present the 2020 Feed the Peace Award to Ray Benson Those of you who were with us at the gala know what a great night that was. Together we were able to fund new construction in Kenya on a library, preschool and classrooms, plus a new high school library in Macheros, Mexico - our base camp for filming the Monarch butterflies. That is great news, and I hope we can all get together for the official Asleep at the Wheel 50th Anniversary Concert in the Fall.
When schools open in Texas we will continue our work with CapCityKids, UIL (for our statewide Social Impact Film Awards), Austin's Paramount Theatre, Austin Bat Cave and all our local partners working towards education for all.
Rather than asking our supporters for funding in this turbulent time, we’re cutting expenses wherever possible while continuing our work for Education for All. When the time is right, I hope we can all get back together to lift our spirits while making some good things happen. Until then, we are sending our love, and more love. Turk Pipkin
p.s. Christy, Liz, Gibson, Beatrice and the rest of the team say hello!