Monica Brown with class of students
About 20 years ago Monica Brown and her sister Theresa learned of a school in Kenya serving the needs of refugee children from the war torn conflict in Kenya’s neighbour South Sudan.
Called the Associate Academy the school was supported by CMA (Christian Mission Aid) under the direction of its Director Thomas Obunde who was with us via Zoom from Niarobi, Kenya. Serving ages from grade school to the end of high school students, CMA provided school supplies, warm lunches and uniforms.
Over crowded classrooms and a greedy land lord caused the school’s closing and it was decided to continue by providing the children with scholarships to attend the Kenyan public school system. Currently, the ”Sun Ray Fund” supports up to 30 students.
In February of this year Brown visited three schools in Nairobi serving refugee children and learned that the students dreamed of returning to South Sudan to help to build its society. It was clear that medicine, law and journalism were their predominate goals. They also showed a determination to fight through the language and cultural barriers they faced.
Monica described how the goals of the “Sun Ray Fund” aligned with the goals of Rotary International at which point she introduced CMA director and fellow Rotarian, Thomas Obunde.
Obunde, a member of the Nairobi East RC, made an appeal to the C-K club to consider partnering with CMA to sponsor more students as they do not have the funds to go beyond the 31 already being supported. He appealed for $2 000 dollars to support a student for a year.Brown fielded a number of questions ending with a discussion on how to use a Rotary International Global Grant approach to assisting the Sun Ray Fund operation.
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