Minutes:
MINUTES OF MEETING OF TRUSTEES
ON 13 OCTOBER 2023
VIA TEAMS HOSTED BY BEN TAYLOR E
& Y
Present:
Norma
Empringham, Ben Taylor, Sangdeep Bakhshi,
Lissa Campbell, Tom
Marshall-Andrews, Douglas Pinto, Johnnie Morris, Gill Marshall-Andrews
Apologies: Will Jones, Luke Morris
In attendance: Stephen Kameti
1.. Minutes of the meeting on 27 June 2023 were agreed.
2. School update
Stephen presented
his report giving an update on Kenya and the schools.
Of special note
were:
El Rar Primary
The new borehole
which is yielding a good quanitity of water but not of a potable quality. However the water can be used for washing,
cleaning, cooking and watering trees and vegetables. Drinking water can be captured by 3 x 10k
litre tanks and renewed guttering. It is
expected that El Nino rains will be sufficient
to fill the tanks and that it will last if it’ only used for
drinking. SK will check the guttering
etc. Are properly in place.
SK reported
that there is a possibility the borehole water quality may improve as more is
drawn but LC was sceptical about this.
GMA will send
the water report to LC.
The recruitment
programme of sports and goat lunches seems to be working. Also the Ministry of Education is organising
an Education Day to reach out to the elders of the community with the message
that children must attend school and parents will be fined if this
doesn’t happen.
Mitamysi Secondary School is thriving . It is expected that over 100 students will be
enrolled by January 24. The headteacher
will be moving on. The library is
completed and in use. The dining hall is
expected to be finished in 2/3 weeks.
Funding is in place for the remaining projects funded by PRD which
should be completed by mid summer 2024.
3. Working with
GAWPT
Stephen
outlined the outreach work being undertaken by GAWPT including a new kitchen in
Kamaguru Primary School which is the
only remaining primary school not being supported by TAS on the eastern side of
Kora NP.
The
conservation debate took place in July and was attended by HE Stephen Kalonzo Musyoko, former Vice
President. The debate motion in support
of conservation was won narrowly – and it is recognised that future debates
need to ensure that the result is not anti-conservation!
SK is now
funded by GAWPT and is continuing to support the TAS schools until the funds
are spent. He has undertaken to produce
figures for student retention as there is some indication that girls may still
be leaving school before their exams.
GMA has worked
with Lucy Fitzjohn on an application to PRD for funding for their outreach work
in new schools in the area.
4. Banking and
accounts
Sangdeep presented the accounts which showed a balance
of £60k in the UK account. Of this only
around £19k is unrestricted. The audit and submission to the CC is
complete. Thank you Sangdeep.
It is probable
that there will be a surplus of PRD funding when all the agreed projects are
completed. It was agreed that we would
then apply to the PRD committee to vire the remaining funds into other projects
in other schools. Bandas were mentioned
as possible ‘legacy’ projects since they
have been a unique development by TAS and are relatively cheap.
5. Proposals
for funding
Proposals were
considered and agreed. Funding of £8388
will be sent to Karui for library furniture etc, and another educational trip
for Mitamysi, and the solar pump for El
Rar. Douglas is happy to continue to send funds via Barclays and to initiate
payments to contractors as required.
6. Party and visit
GMA suggested
that we might consider a party of some sort next June when TAS is being wound
down and maybe a pictorial book of some sort for each trustee as a reminder of
what has been achieved. She also
offered trustees the opportunity to visit schools in early February. DP expressed an interest and will contact
Gill directly.
7. Next meeting
to be arranged in March 2024.
