Bill introduced guests from the Sunrise School for Autistic Learners. Located western Kenya near Lake Victoria

Wanda Salter, cofounder of school in Kenya she is from Saxton River, VT and has a background in speech pathology.  Habel Oumal, co-founder of school and advocate for children with disabilities, dedicated to provide educational opportunities and give hope to autistic children, to help make educational inclusion possible for more of them, and to make lives easier for their families and caregivers.  Eunice is the Cucamonga rotary president and strives to build partnerships to provide supporting service and meaningful change.

Wanda volunteered as speech language pathologist in Kenya, learned about stigma that disabled people in Kenya often endure.  She noted disabled children are often seen as a curse, families experience a huge amount of shame. This prevailing attitude translates into marginalization, neglect and abuse for these children.  Education placements for children with disabilities is very difficult.  This inspired her to work with a group of leaders to start the school.  In Kenya it is common for two teachers to teach 100 or more students.  Conditions are overwhelming for teachers to differentiate instruction with no specialist support.

 Habel spoke about the history of the Sunrise School. In 2021 the school was started with 22 teachers.  On average each teacher supports two autistic students. They offer academic and life skill supports and foster inclusive community family partnered environments.  Challenges include understanding how students feel and difficulty with social interaction.  The school trains and empowers teachers to develop student skills.  Habel shared testimony such as “the school opened our eyes and gave us a place for our children”.  Testimony included “within three months after attending the Sunrise School a child developed practical skills parents did not know was possible”.

Eunice summarized how Rotarians from her club contributed toward construction of the school and helped coordinate other supports from Vermont Rotary clubs such as a washing machine to clean linen, Solar panels to offset frequent blackouts and chickens and eggs for good nutrition and a source of income for school.  These efforts have given students a sense of safety and hope.  Challenges remain; the school has few classrooms which required them to repurpose the dining area into classrooms.  Noise often causes distractions.  They need storage for sewing machines that are used for projects, they do not have a sick bay for kids or meeting rooms for families.  Water sources often go dry. There is no overnight space to support extended programs.  Security is an issue.

Wanda shared some good news regarding plans to remedy many of the challenges.  They are fund raising to construct an administration building, a meeting space, a sick bay, pavilion, playground, basketball court, and a staff/guest house on campus.  There are plans for drilling for water sources and making security improvements.  The campus is expanding from 1 acre to 2 acres.  

Finances:  Recent efforts have raised $100k toward a goal to raise  $200k to implement the plan.  Local Rotary contributions already include the Deerfield Valley club’s donation of a washing machine, and the  solar panels from Bills Stevens Bellows Fall club.  Mark Millar pledged $500 toward the fund raising goal.

A question about Rotary foundation funding was addressed indicating they require a larger scope of project to fund.  Wanda welcomed Rotary members to take pot holders that were made by the Kenyan students and would accept voluntary donations.

For more Information, please refer to the Sunriseschool.org web site.  Donations can be sent to Friends of Sunrise School, 605 Saxtons River Rd., Rockingham VT 05101.  Wanda noted  100% of the donation goes to the school.

Meeting adjourned 1:00pm

Scribe: Frank