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Minutes from Trustees Meeting
16/08/2021

Present:



Minutes:

Minutes of meeting at Loldia Primary School, Head teacher’s office, 16th of August 2021.

Present:

·        Head Teacher:  Mr. Joseph Njeru.

·        Chairman of Board of Management (BOM) for Loldia Primary School (LPS): Jackson Kateri

·        Builder: MbuguaKimani

·        Trustees: Wanja and Ben Arentz

Introduction to new participant (Chairman of BOM).

Ben &Wanja explained the role of Trustees to the Chairman emphasizing that we are representatives of TAS (Trustees for African Schools), based in London. As such we coordinate all projects at LPS funded through TAS. We agree with the school management which projects have highest priority, we prepare tender documents for these projects, get quotes from various potential builders, select which builder should be awarded a contract (based on quality/reliability and price) for a project and try to secure funds from TAS for each of these projects. Once approved by TAS and received commitment for the funds, we administer the funds on behalf of TAS and pay direct to the builder whenever agreed milestones of the project have been reached. During the project we visit the building activities to ensure that the activities are carried out as agreed in the contract (no shortcuts). Upon completion of a contract, we retain a certain percentage of the funds (usually 10%) for a period of a month or more till convinced that the project was delivered as agreed and everything is working fine.

Projects completed so far include rainwater harvesting from all buildings on the school’s compound, new water supply line from Shalimar farm to provide lake water to the school, fencing of the playground, grass planting on the same playground, building additional class rooms and toilets, repairs of windows and floors in classrooms, additional furniture for the classes, teaching materials (books and sporting materials), computers, new staffroom extension to the office block to cater for the increased number of teachers, new long drop/showers combination for the teachers’ accommodations on site etc, etc.

The latest project we are now involved with is the construction of a kitchen plus dining hall for the students. This project was initiated by the County Development Fund (CDF) and initially funded by donations from the Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Martha Wangari for the kitchen (completed) and again the MP Martha plus Kenya’s deputy president (DP) MrRuto for the dining hall. These funds resulted in the dining hall foundation and walls being erected up to some 1.5 meters high. That is when the funding money ran out.  We were then requested to get involved to see if through any funding from TAS, the dining hall could be completed. We agreed to assist, however insisted that the project would be dealt with like all previous projects sponsored by TAS. That meant no money changes hands other than direct from the LPS trust account to the builders and no administration fees or other ‘miscellaneous’ payments to other parties involved. This was eventually agreed by all. We reiterated that we as Trustees work totally on a voluntary basis on these projects and pay for any incurred costs and time spent.

The Kitchen cost a total of Ksh 2,000,000 and the initial funding for the dining hall amounted to 2,500,000. It is now estimated, that the completion of the dining Hall will require an additional Ksh 4,500,000.

Meanwhile we have received big donations from a lady in the UK. Her name is Grace Gray. This donation has been supplemented by funds from TAS and identified for projects at LPS. We now have sufficient funds to complete the building of the dining hall in due course.

MrNjeru mentioned that he was very pleased to see building activities restarted, after a period of no activity due to the lack of funds.

The dining hall is scheduled to be completed by the end of October.

MrNjeru and MrMbugua have been requested to come up with an estimate of what will be required as furniture for the hall and utensils for feeding the students. We have already some potential sponsors locally who may be willing and able to take care of these requirements for the hall.

Ben and Wanja suggested that for a fee, the dining hall could also be used as a community hall for the township of Kasarani. It should be made available for big events like meetings, weddings, social gatherings etc. with the idea that it generates some funds for the school.

It was agreed that the dining hall will be named: ‘AMAZING GRACE  HALL’. This is a name with different connotations for different people. As far as we are concerned, we show great appreciation to Grace Gray from the UK for her very generous donations for this project. Others will see it as a reference to a gift from God.Mbugua will arrange for a big sign to be put up, showing the name of the hall and reference to the various sponsors for the project like MP MarthaWangari, DP Ruto, Ms Grace Gray and TAS.

We also discussed the presence of goats and sheep always seen on the playing field. This is obviously not a good development as these creatures are known to damage grass fieldsuprooting  and leaving everything bare. MrNjeru promised he will look into this and try and prevent reoccurrence for the future.

We also discussed another ongoing rain water collection project. The last two classrooms built and sponsored by Bilashaka farm, have no water collection included. The Great Rift Valley Lodge (GRVL) pledged that they would provide materials and manpower for this to happen. Unfortunately, the project was not completed and the GRVL is at the moment not capable of providing funds to make it happen. The plastic tank for water collection and the concrete basis for the tank have been done. All that is required now are gutters on the roof. We (Trustees) will try and find funds to make this happen as a small project.

MrNjeru thanked everyone for attending the meeting and stressed the need for close cooperation and communication between all involved.

Recorded by Ben &Wanja

Trustees