Build.Create.Kenya’s main Project for 2013 was to build a library for St. Winners. We had the supplies and the motivation. What we seemed to lack were people that felt comfortable in the actual construction of shelves with the building materials and budget that we had. This responsibility fell upon myself and eighteen year old team member Cody.
Cody had just graduated from high school literally a week before finding himself in the slums of Nairobi. Being asked to take upon this project, with everything else his was dealing with, ( being in a foreign country for the first time, especially in slum condition as we were) the word “overwhelming” would be an understatement for how he must have felt.
Yet Cody was a calm rock star. We bounced ideas off each other, trying to figure out the best way to get the shelves built, and then once assembled how to safely and securely attach them to the walls….
without electricity or power tools.
Amazingly, with the help of the Kenyan community, through trial and error, we completed the library. We also found the time to make a table and some stools so the children could sit and read a book in their new library.
On our last day at the Project we stocked the library shelves full of books, school supplies, learning games and some soccer balls and other games for the children to play with. Each of us signed our name with a little thought on the bottom of the shelves. I wrote two notes, one the the beautiful children and teachers at St. Winners, and another to thank Cody, to whom this project could not have happened with out.
