Education
The PaleoKids with Dr Patricia Princehouse of SUNY Oswego and Case Western Reserve University, lead scientist for the TRP Topernawi Research Project.
Dr Patricia says: "These kids are phenomenal, an inspiration to everyone who meets them. Not only because they are so smart and hardworking, but because they have met so much hardship with such strength and good humor. They've gone through so much, yet they are the most joyful souls you'll ever meet."
TTOP currently has 2 educational programs underway in partnership with scientists from the Topernawi Research Project (TRP), the Topernawi Fund, and other friends. Formal education has never reached Topernawi, and most residents are illiterate; many speak only Turkana - no English or Swahili. Until now, parents have had only 2 choices, scrabble together funds for tuition and supplies to send the child to boarding school, or have them remain illiterate. Families in Topernawi are tight-knit and worry that sending children away to school risks contact with bad influences. In addition, kids are not allowed to wear traditional attire at school. They must give up their beads, and the concern is that the kids will be tempted to give up many other aspects of traditional culture, and perhaps never return to their ancestral homeland.
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PaleoKids is a scholarship program for bright, science-oriented kids. They attend Erait Academy, the top independent boarding school in the capital city of Lodwar, which emphasizes math and science. Our partners sponsor vehicles that assure all kids return to the valley on school breaks. In addition, the Topernawi Research Project (TRP) does paleontological field work several times a year, and when those field seasons align with school breaks, the students who have proven themselves responsible are invited to join the expedition, working right alongside the scientists -learning science first hand! Something most American kids can only dream about. The program was started with help from Dr Patricia Princehouse and the late Dr Richard Leakey. We are so grateful to them!
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Kids love paleontology! Once they get the bug, they get the habit and are constantly alert for fossils. The PaleoKids even found a fossil in a load of gravel that was brought to their school as fill dirt! TRP is now looking into where that gravel came from. It could lead to an important new site!
Our partners provide each PaleoKid with all they need to perform well at school --supplies, clothing, supplemental fruit at meals, and more. And the PaleoKids perform! All are first in their respective classes (or 2nd to another PaleoKid!) and most are skipping ahead a grade! Kenya has just started to implement a special STEM science curriculum track for outstanding students, and the PaleoKids are digging in!
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TopKids Academy began as an informal "school under a tree" organized by scientists from TRP, and funded by generous donors providing funds for a teacher (who walks 20 kilometers each way), school supplies, and staples like rice and lentils for a hot lunch, which is prepared and served by community volunteers. TopKids takes students as they come. Many children can't come every time due to being needed for chores or other family obligations. What matters is that they learn while they do have the chance --and boy do they ever, these kids are on fire! TopKids offers pre-school level to kids of all ages. And even many of the local teens who never had a chance to go to school are sitting in, learning English, Swahili, math, science, and art. The entire community is being transformed by education.
TopKids academy now has over 100 students. That's a lot of hot lunches, crayons, workbooks and other supplies. And for many students this lunch is their only full meal of the day.
Students at Case Western Reserve University have done yeoman service collecting gently used toys, clothing, sports equipment, and pitching in on water filtration supplies (since the valley has no clean water -see the community project page for more on this issue). But much more is needed. Some of the children are orphans, passed around from relative to relative who share in trying to give these kids what they need; but they often come up short no matter how hard they try --especially hard now given the recent years of drought.
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Please consider contributing to the Topernawi Fund to keep the school running --local volunteers are pitching in, but we need to hire more teachers!
These kids are smart and motivated.
All they need is a fighting chance!
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For more information, please click the "Give" link at the top the page to contribute online, or email Emmanuel Aoron at aoronemmanuel46@gmail.com