ABW eNEWS March, 2023

ABW eNews March 2023

Greetings!

As I write this I am travelling in Kenya with 20 students and four sponsors from Parkview Adventist Academy (PAA) in Lacombe, Alberta. The PAA students helped raise funds for a classroom, and today we opened that classroom at the Mau Summit Primary School. ABW has completed 12 classrooms and is constructing more at this site. You can see their blogs here. It is rewarding to engage young people at this stage of my life to help make this world a better place.

I am pleased to welcome Carl Hahn as general manager. Carl has volunteered for ABW in several roles for 18 years. This will allow me to focus on donor relations, donor trips and provide oversight to the finances.

Thank you again for the generosity.

With gratitude,

Eric Rajah

Co-Founder and Executive Director

Project updates

Segera Mission Hospital

After $80,000 invested, the Segera Mission Health Clinic is no more. The good news is that it has been replaced with the Segera Mission Hospital.

The clinic, which operated for years in the Segera Mission residence hall, was relocated and expanded in a more publicly accessible location, with the partnership of ABW.

Because of its improved facilities and independent location, the former clinic has now been redesignated as a full hospital. The new hospital was opened in early March, with Kenya’s First Lady Rachel Ruto cutting the ribbon and touring the facility.

Mazashai Primary School

In Tanzania, Mazashai Primary School now has four new classrooms and 16 toilets. The school was in very rough shape last year, with dirt floors, crumbling walls, and especially bad toilets. The school serves a local population of more than 2600.

On tour of Kenya, ABW is now scouting out plenty more schools for development this year.

Trenching day

One of ABW’s fundamental principles is community partnership, to ensure local communities support the structures and services we offer. This video beautifully demonstrates how eagerly the Kiamaina community embraced its new primary school classrooms, as local families dug trenches for the foundations. This project is now complete.

New faces

If you stopped in at the ABW office recently, you will have noticed new faces. Longtime volunteer Carl Hahn has stepped into the Lacombe office as general manager, following the retirement of incumbent Julie Stegmaier.

Carl is in the office weekdays and is the voice you will hear answering the phone. He’s responsible for managing projects and donations under the mentorship of Executive Director Eric Rajah.

You might also bump into new accounting assistant Brenda Potorieko. Brenda, a CPA, drops in weekly to handle overseas funds transfers and make sure the numbers add up.

Progress as of March, 2023

A Better World's big goal is to have 75,000 students enrolled in our schools —with access to clean water, toilets, and healthcare — by 2030. To get there, we have specific annual goals.