Letter from Fr. Martin Martiny OP to Friends of Fr. Tom’s Kids

Dear Friends of Fr. Tom’s Kids,

A belated Happy Thanksgiving and an early Seasons Greetings for a Blessed Christmas from Kisumu, Kenya! We send a special greeting to Fr. Benedict Croell who left us last August to pursue further studies in the US or Europe. He is missed; but has remained strikingly busy in assisting us in maintaining contact with our sponsors and donors.

When I first sat down to write this letter a few days ago, we could stand on the Dominican compound at night and see the Southern Cross and then look north to see the Big Dipper pointing towards a hidden Polaris, the North Star. Shooting stars danced through the constellations.  During this same three days, we could watch the US dollar plummet from 64 shillings per greenback to 59. America’s subprime tremors send shock waves through the third world economies.
Fr. Tom’s Kids, nevertheless, has just seen 20 primary school students and 19 secondary school students take the national academic exams. This is our largest number to sit the exams since we started. The results for the primary students will be out on December 29th; those for secondary students in February. Twelve tailoring students completed our basic tailoring course in our makeshift warehouse. Seven of the tailoring ladies will take the national certification exam early next year.
Above are some of the Fr. Tom’s kids who just finished grade school and will be getting into high school come next year.

From Left: Mary Auma Ochieng, Gladys Ouko Awino, Linnet Ochieng and Ruth Aoko Okong’o.

Now we are instituting a student government for those living on the Dominican compound. The girls voted for their council of three.  Veronica Atieno Owino (who just completed Grade 8) was elected the President of the Board, Dorothy Mbata (High School Senior) and Doreen Achieng (Fashion and Design graduate) are board members.  The boys have chosen a head boy system, Joseph Aura is their choice and Maurice Ouma Ochola is his deputy. 

These representatives look, listen, and propose rules, practices, and changes for all the Fr. Tom’s Kids who stay here. They can bring any subject or suggestion to the attention of the matrons (house mothers) or office administrators. We are challenging them to reinforce the principles of virtuous, good character and personal responsibility stressed by Fr. Tom’s Kids. The student reps will also sit as a board to handle squabbles, quarrels, and rule violations. The kids are enthusiastic about the opportunity to govern themselves.

Above are the Fr. Tom’s student-leaders: From left, Veronica Atieno Owino (President), Doreen Achieng and Dorothy Mbata who are board members.

Another new wrinkle which we have added this year is the introduction of tether ball. We have put up four poles and attached the balls donated from the US. The sport caught on immediately. Kids have to be dragged away to school, dinner, and studies. It has proven to be good, popular, healthy, and inexpensive exercise and fun for all ages.

As I write this letter, I can see the workers building an elevated water tank with a capacity of 60,000 liters (15,000 gallons). In Africa, water is life. We have been chasing the price tag on the water tank for some time now.  As I mentioned earlier, the US dollar has dropped in value substantially in the past five years. When I arrived in Kenya in 2000, we could get 79 Kenyan Shillings for a dollar. Now the rate is about 59 Kenya shillings/ per dollar. In addition to the falling value of the greenback, the prices of fuel, steel, cement, wood and just about everything else in the construction business have risen. On the other hand, through the generosity of donors like you, we were able to catch up with the cost of the water tank long enough to sign a contract and to lock in the price.
We laid the foundation three weeks ago, and today the steel workers are piecing the tower together like elements of an erector set. Depending upon the weather, (not the rain so much as the lightning), we should have a completed water tower and tank in the next ten to fourteen days. Because we have had sustained rains throughout 2007, we expect to have no trouble pumping good quality and substantial quantities of water to the tower and then distributing it around our compound to the Dominicans and the children. We are also looking to join the Hawthorne Dominican Sisters in offering water to the local villagers, particularly once the dry season is upon us.

Side Picture shows the water tower construction process at the Friars here in Kisumu.

Speaking of the Hawthorne Dominican Sisters, they have opened their hospice for destitute victims of terminal cancer. As you know, the sisters care for these cases from the poorest of the poor and accept no payment from anyone---patient, family, or friend. They do not even do fundraising. They trust in unsolicited donations and they have been living this charism for over a hundred years. The sisters will celebrate the official dedication of St. Catherine of Siena Home on November 29th. This will be the formal blessing of their first missionary institution. Please keep them in your prayers.

Just as a reminder to all of our faithful sponsors and donors, the Kenyan school year begins in January and the school fees and other expenses are front loaded. So when it comes to our expenses, January is the most challenging month of the year. It promises to be particularly challenging this year because our medical expenses have risen steadily as our students move into their teen years. We have had a number of kids in the emergency room and one in a short stay in the Aga Khan Hospital intensive care unit. On the average this year we are spending just above Kenya Shillings 5,000 ($80) per student. Our total medical expenses to date in 2007 are Kenyan Shillings 1,300,000 ($20,300). This may seem small potatoes in the US for 270 or so students; but it is a substantial drain on our resources here in Kisumu. We have to date been blessed with undesignated, out of the blue, donations which have covered these expenses.

For all the same reasons that we are suffering with the rising costs of medical treatment and construction, we are also encountering rising costs in student fees and tuition. In the past we have asked for $500 for primary school boarding students and $600 for secondary students. Now that the US dollar has lost a lot of its purchasing power (almost 25% since 2000, 20% in two years), we can no longer afford to send the kids to boarding schools without an increase in the sponsorship donations. We are now asking for $600 for primary school boarders and $700 for secondary boarders. Actually, these increases will not catch up with the exchange rate losses; but we do not want to over tax the sponsors. We are hoping the undesignated donations will continue to help us fill in the gaps. We would welcome the assistance, however, any sponsors who feel they can donate more than the amounts we seek per student.

We have recently decided to register Fr. Tom’s Kids as a community based organization (CBO).  This should enable us to enroll the kids in the National Health Insurance Fund and thereby reduce the costs of individual hospital visit. It would likewise give us an independent but affiliated organization to acquire land for local primary, secondary, and trade schools and orphanage.  We are working our way through the bureaucratic necessities at the moment.

Finally, we are most grateful to all of you for making the education of the children and youths of Fr. Tom’s Kids possible. It is particularly gratifying to see students, who would otherwise be at home, completing their primary, secondary, and trade school educations. Please rest assured that you are all in our thoughts, prayers and Mass intentions this Christmas Season.
May God bless and protect you and your whole family,

Fr. L. Martin Martiny, OP
E-mail: Martinyop@gmail.com