Thumps up volunteers!

Mr. Makechi(project founder-on the left) and volunteer Miss
 Lauriane Jacq from France

As Star rays goes on to shine, we recognize and dance to the tune that God works in mysterious ways…I hope you have also snapped your fingers to that tune. I am saying this because Star rays has been assisted in its achievement of set goals by volunteers from all over the world. Some are students who come in to do their fieldwork while others are likeminded volunteers who offer their services and even monetary help, they go that far. Among the students who have really received adulation from the Star rays community is Lauriane Jacq who was a buoyant student from France. She got integrated very well into the community and could speak the local language within 2-3 months….she was such a first learner! She just appreciated the place as it was. Even though she left, her effect remained indelible from the minds of the Star rays community.

Monsieur Claude Chuste rests under a
 tree at Star rays education Center

The new classes under construction

I would be so ungrateful if I just gloss over the works of this magnanimous, good hearted and friendly volunteer Mr. Claude Chuste-from France.  He has worked with and has been a friend of the Star rays community and its inspired management.  He proved to the community that volunteerism and working for a good cause doesn’t take sturdiness. It only calls for willingness of your heart to give a helping hand. Mr. Claude has immensely contributed to the accretion of Star rays education center. He organized for a donation of furniture and books from France (the arriving container in the video above) for the children to use in their classes, has helped raise funds and is overseeing and working together with the committee to sponsor the construction of new classes to help education reach out to more children in the society and is also an excellent ambassador of the institution, which he visits every end of the year-he really loves the institution and understands its problems. Mr. Claude has always tried to muster the little he can afford to stretch out his hands to, in order to succor the center. He came and helped start a new block of classes, laid the foundation and went back to France. Later the following year, he came and continued with the construction to some reasonable height then left. In December 2010, he came back to help finish up the roofing…….that’s the spirit!

As we continue to laud and recognize the input of all volunteers who have contributed to what Star rays is today, we would like to beseech even more people in Kenya, Africa and all around the world to come forward-you can do something so stretch out  your hand and help make Star rays Education Center a better place than it is, for posterity. We are humbled and thank all volunteers who have been to Star rays, May God bless you all.

Star rays Education Center leads, the rest follow

There is always time to work, to sleep, to talk, to keep quiet and listen, to sift, to weigh and so on. To the Star rays community, December 2010 was a time to celebrate . Their own, Mr. Makechi William, who had exemplarily and assiduously served the institution as it’s Director won the highly coveted Volunteer Of the Year Award(VOYA) 2010(certificate pictured on the left hand side). 

This came as a result of analysis of his precedent record in voluntary service as he struggled through a hodgepodge of duties and laborious responsibilities together with the organizing committee in dogged pursuit of improvement of farmers’ production in the area and the provision  of conditions necessary for academic excellence  of the local children who learned there. His efforts were pit up against those of all other related volunteers in the country and Mr. Makechi, an unwaveringly principled embodiment of service to the community, came out outstandingly great, outsmarting all others.  As everyone in the country doffed his/her hat to bestow great honours upon Mr. Makechi, who is also a very humble rounded individual, he remembered and thanked God for the likeminded people he was working with, especially the Star rays organizing committee and the community in general. He encouraged them to keep the fire burning. As we continue to celebrate and welcome a new year, we thank God for the Star rays community, the management and the visiting volunteers that He has blessed the society with. Yes…that was your time to read. 

One of the Many Village Heros!

 There are many people World wide who fit this title but Makechi William(pictured on the right) is quite unique and an innovative extension workers worthy to be scaled-up.

            He started working with farmers more than two decades ago in the larger Trans Nzoia District in Rift Valley parts of Kenya which is a very productive and active area in terms of agricultural activities. He has collaborated with so many projects and organizations like KARI, V.I Agroforestry project, ICIPE, several Agrochemical companies, Agriculture Society of Kenya (ASK), Kenya Dairy Sector Competitive Programme,[ KDSCP], Lions Club of Kitale among others.

            Demand for his participation in several farming information activities led him to found Star Rays Education Centre [SREC](2002) which is an upcoming rural resource centre which has an international recognition. It is a member of Kenya Voluntary Development Association (KVDA) which works with International volunteers, Kilili Self Help project (USA) which promotes organic farming, contributor and distributor of the Organic Farmer Magazine (www.organicfarmersmagazine.org), the Community Eye Magazine.

            SREC – Community Library receive journals and other teaching aids from the Bee for Development, Kilimo endelevu Africa (www.alin.net), Steps, Spore among others. SREC promotes energy saving technologies, water and environment conservation, organic farming, value addition especially livestock industry e.g. SREC are members of Kenya Livestock Breeders Organization[ KLBO] with a breed inspector licensed to register animals to Kenya Stud Book. He’s been a steward and assisted in judging livestock in several shows or business fairs.

He has participated in many local and regional workshops pertaining to farming technologies and information dissemination including online e.g. ‘infonet’ as promoted by www.biovision.ch. Currently, he is undertaking further studies in Animal Sciences in faculty of Agriculture at Egerton University Main Campus, which will go a long way to boost his starring work with farmers.

This work and project has been visited, appraised or highlighted and documented by the then British High Commissioner to Kenya Sir, Jeffrey James, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) both radio and T.V several local print media and one from France including International Workshop. Soft copies of some of the documentaries are available in CDs.

We have Early Childhood Development Centre, Primary School with meetings and conference facilities at SREC.

At SREC we train farmers regularly on different technologies we also train farmers from far from their own venues. God is not left out in tapping the potential in him as Makechi  is also a church minister.

This is one person in a million you must meet as an individual or corporate and see how he can energize other extension workers and farmers and also empower him by sharing his vision and mission. Please get in touch with him through email: starehe2@yahoo.com or +254721 245443 / 0771178805.

                                                 Most welcome.

Impact on the Youth....

We have all heard of the saying that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop…..could we now pose for some time and think of a situation whereby the youth are idle in a village….so disgusting. This would be an incentive to social evils like rape and would generally be a security threat especially in the evening and night. I hope we all accede to the fact that this is what used to happen to the Star rays community in Nangili before the management came up with an innovative idea to keep the youth occupied ina bid to avert their participation in crime activities that could drive them into a bleak future. Among the most expedient things that the management decided was to establish football clubs in the community and avail their small games pitch for use by the youth in the evenings. Though seen as a minute step, its salutary influence is just outstanding. The youth have been able to discover their sporting talent and young vibrant boys teams are putting up majestic performances in tournaments in Lugari.

The Star rays team consists of two football teams, A with more experienced players and B with upcoming youngsters. The youth are organized and managed by their focused leadership team led by ‘Ambu’-Ambrose Makechi, Mr.  Makechi’s son. Their football training session, which is scheduled to take place every evening  from 4 pm at the Star rays pitch, follows a day to day alternation as they share the single venue. If team A comes today, team B would come the next day and so on. What a brilliant way to keep the youth busy!

Training programmes-we are on track

Star rays education Center started in 2002 as a nursery school.  The initiation of the institution was received with due formality by the local community at Nangili in Lugari. However, as a nursery school alone, the institution could not satiate the needs of the local community that was then engulfed in penury while clutching at their only straw-farming, to preclude their sinking into a welter of hunger and poverty.

This meant that the institution, under the tutelage of the Director and founder, Mr. Makechi William, who really understood the gravity of the situation, had to transmute it into a community center to do something that would forestall the worst from happening. Mr. Makechi, working with an amenable team of committee members who were ready to serve the community benevolently with sacrifice and diligence, took a piecemeal approach to establish a community educational center from which farmers in the area could all benefit. This came as a boon to the community as many local farmers, eagerly desirous of knowledge and good harvest were greatly impressed with the move and came out in large numbers during the weekend to gain from the venture.

This is shown clearly by their consistent presence in attendance of the meetings which are nowadays organized in the first week of every month. In the meetings, the institution invites agricultural specialists from various regions in the country to talk to farmers about a specific topic in farming and technological improvements in the economic activity. This has accoutered the farmers with the best skills and practices that they can put in place to ensure maximum harvest with the current environmental conditions in the area. This is evinced in a visit to the village, it can be seen that most farmers are doing well and can even be able to cater to the needs of their families and education of their children just from their little earnings as farmers. We cannot gainsay the fact that a lot still needs to be done to achieve more, but the community is grateful for the little they have-Star rays Education Center.