Oloile, home of the Eagles

One of Staff of Hope's co-founders, Pastor Jeff Spainhour, travels to East Africa every August, where he meets up with the director of Staff of Hope East Africa (Tyson, Image 1) and others from our organization. Upon his return to the United States, and after a week of well-earned rest, Pastor Jeff was happy to report that a lot was accomplished during his stay.

Most of what kept Pastor Jeff and others at Staff of Hope busy was helping to make needed updates to Oloile Secondary School, the school we planted in Kimana, Kenya, in 2007. Oloile is co-ed and now has 150 students enrolled. This August, the front gate of the school was freshly painted, as were the classrooms and restrooms. A rare, high-tech new projector was also installed in Oloile's computer lab. The computer lab is now one of the nicest in the county. Old plants around the property were trimmed away to make way for new plants called Kayaba (Kai Apple in English). These Kayaba plants, when fully grown, will weave themselves together to form a type of living fence. This will help with safety as well as soil erosion, which is often a problem in that dusty region of Kenya.

Staff of Hope is also partnering with Africa Untamed Wilderness Adventures to help bring the sport of baseball to Oloile. As part of his vision to see baseball grow in popularity in Africa, a man named Elphas Ongon'o from Africa Untamed has been working to get a baseball team up and running at Oloile. Hopefully by this time next year, Pastor Jeff will be reporting back about a brand new baseball team.

The last major update from Oloile comes with a dash of school pride. Staff of Hope helped the school pick a new mascot and design a unique logo (Image 2): our students are now Oloile Eagles! The school colors are blue and gold, while the name of the school was painted proudly on its water tower for all to see. We hope these changes will only serve to strengthen Oloile's school pride.

Staff of Hope was also involved in a few things not relating to Oloile. It is often difficult for farmers to compete at local markets due to production costs, so Staff of Hope spent some time in Uganda to help develop new produce and farming techniques that could reduce production costs and help alleviate the poverty many of these farmers face. Additionally, Staff of Hope is planning to restart a Pastor's Seminar next August to help local Kenyan pastors better minister to their own communities.

And last, but certainly not least, we will leave you with a short tale: Pastor Jeff preached a sermon while in Kenya. Two workers promised Pastor Jeff they would come listen. Those two workers were so moved by the experience that they committed to come to church every week, and bring their families too. True to their word, both of those families have now been attending church every Sunday!

Since our founding in 2001, Staff of Hope has helped communities in Kenya become more self-sufficient. By God's grace, we have been blessed to see that happen. We believe God has called us all to not withhold good when it is in our power to act (Proverbs 3:27). Staff of Hope truly is grateful for all of your prayers and financial support, which, through God's strength, has helped the people in this Kenyan village to grow in their love for Jesus and in their ability to care for themselves.

Please browse www.staffofhope.org, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Please also prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible gift. Thank you! Together we are making an impact!

 4711 Hope Valley Road, #114 Durham, NC 27707 919-627-8142 

Teaching Today, Preparing for Tomorrow

December 2018 

Staff of Hope opened Oloile Secondary School in rural Kenya in 2007. Everything from the design of buildings to what and how we teach is intended to help our students have a successful future. Our girl’s dorm has mirrors, running water, and is guided by Kristen, who helps these young ladies grow in their Christian faith as she helps to prepare them for life in the city. Our dining hall and soccer field are the largest in the area, so we are the host school for many events.

Now in his second year, our Principal, Mr. Kiseu, has a vision to help our students improve their experiences at school. He wants the students to be involved in clubs such as the Christian club, environment club, farm club, dance and drama club, science club and computer club, all in addition to athletics and regular classroom work. Mr. Kiseu leads a group of young teachers that are excited to be a part of helping their community grow and prosper. Two of our teachers are graduates of Oloile. They went on to get their teaching degrees and have returned.

How can you prepare for a successful future without computers? Although it is currently housed temporarily in a regular classroom, Oloile Secondary has the largest computer lab in three counties. Our fifteen laptops enable us to teach these students from the rural areas how to use a computer. We hope to eventually have a permanent computer lab with double the capacity. Computer science is now a required course for our school.

Staff of Hope is excited Oloile has grown to 150 students. We believe a quality education is key to the success of a developing country. With that in mind, we are planning on re-starting our Pastors training seminar to help local pastors lead their communities in deeper ways. We are excited about 2019 and beyond. We are thankful for your partnership in prayer and in your generous financial giving.

Please prayerfully consider making a financial gift, to help our neighbors in East Africa to be more self-sufficient. Monetary contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by the law.

Please consider giving not only an annual gift but also making a recurring gift online. Please share this letter about Staff of Hope with your church, school, or business.

Please consider the impact your gift will make:

$10 Plants, trees, grass at our school

$20 School supplies (science equipment, books, paper, pencils, etc.)

$40 Goat helps a family to be self-sustaining $100 Cow helps a family to be self-sustaining

$120 Teacher’s salary for a month

$200 Additional lighting at school

$400 Board a student at our school for a year

$1,000 New Security measures at our school

$5,000 Construct girls’ restroom

$7,000 Painting all of school (except Dinning Hall - done in 2018)

$_______ General Donation (any amount where most needed)

Please browse www.staffofhope.org, “Like” us on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter.

Thank you! Together we are making an impact!

Sincerely,

The Staff of Hope Board of Directors

4711 Hope Valley Road, #114 Durham, NC 27707 919-627-8142 www.staffofhope.org 

Updates from Oloile!

According to Staff of Hope co-founder, Pastor Jeff Spainhour, there is a lot to be excited about in the future for our nonprofit and the Oloile Secondary School. Pastor Jeff returned from his month-long trip to East Africa reporting a number of positive developments. The electricity is better, the teachers are young and eager and the second-year headmaster is excelling in his role. Just like the lush vegetation surrounding Oloile, the school itself is becoming more and more a place where similar growth happens in the hearts and minds of young students.

Pastor Jeff’s said that Oloile is making progress toward reaching its goal of 200 students. Currently, Oloile has around 155, but the school appears well prepared for future growth. It is expected to meet its goal early next year. Getting to 200 students would be beneficial for a number of reasons. The facilities would be operating at 100 percent capacity and there will be more opportunities to offer courses in a variety of subjects. In addition, it should result in a good balance of kids on scholarship and it will move the school closer to being entirely self-sufficient. By 2019, Staff of Hope wants to have 25 percent of kids on scholarship. Right now that number is 40 percent but it is trending downward.

The Kenyan government has issued a number of regulations for private schools, and a lot of time was devoted to ensuring compliance with them. Many of the regulations are intended to keep the children safer, so Oloile has been busy setting up extra lighting and fire extinguishers. The metal bars that once covered the windows were removed so the children can escape through the windows if needed. A big point of emphasis for the school and for Pastor Jeff was to inspect the new computer lab. Happily, all computers were working and the school has a new computer teacher teaching an approved curriculum. Things are going so well with the computer lab that there are plans to expand it at some point in the future.

Pastor Jeff was also pleased to see the success of the medical clinic we started. Staff of Hope turned it over to the Kenyan government a couple of years ago and it has blossomed into a very effective medical clinic. Before Staff of Hope, access to quality medical care in that region was difficult. Pastor Jeff said he sees the clinic as a shining example of what nonprofits should strive to do. “We don’t want to create a place where people are dependent on us,” he said. “We would rather they take things and grow it themselves.” That has happened with the medical clinic, and now Staff of Hope can focus its efforts on other areas like education and clean water.

The future is looking bright for Staff of Hope and for Oloile. “Our hope is that this specific school, Oloile, will be the best school in that district and will serve as an example for other rural private schools and what they could be,” Pastor Jeff said. We are thrilled to serve this region in the name of Jesus and we are thankful for your support throughout these wonderful years.

We invite you to continue to partner with us so that, together, we may walk with the teachers, students and staff of Oloile Secondary School.

Please consider the impact your gift will make:

$10                                  Plants, trees, grass at our school                               

$25                                  Clean water to a family for a month

$35                                  School supplies

$50                                  Goat which helps a family be self-sustaining

$100                               Teacher’s salary for a month

$120                               Cow which helps a family be self-sustaining

$200                               Computer desks at Oloile School

$400                               Boarding a student at our school for a year

$1,000                          Fresh coat of paint for Oloile School

$5,000                          Constructing Computer Lab at our school

$_______                      General Donation (any amount where most needed)