Report by School Chaplain on visit to St Matthew's School, Webuye.

Background
In 2001 the Bishop of Bungorna, Bishop Eliud Wabukala, visited Bishop Stopford School along with other representatives of our link diocese in Kenya. At that time there were discussions about the possibility of Bishop Stopford School forming a link with the St Matthew's School in Webuye. As a result of these conversations I contacted the Revd Clive Evans, the Link Officer for the Diocese of Peterborough, to find out what 1 could do to further this link. I was invited to accompany Clive on a visit to Bungoma from 7th to 21st February. One third of the cost of my trip was met by the Diocese, the school has agreed to pay £300 (plus paid leave of absence) and the rest has been self-financed.

St Matthew's A.C.K. School
St Matthew's School was founded by a committee chaired by Bishop Eliud in 1999. The school is sponsored by the Anglican Church of Kenya and is situated in the Western Province of Kenya in Bungoma District. It is on the edge of Webuye which is a large municipality. The school currently has 356 students and 21 teachers. The buildings have been financed by the diocese but the teachers are paid by the Government of Kenya. It is a district school but, being a day school, the fees are lower than the more prestigious provincial and national schools. St Matthew's, therefore, attracts able students from poor families. The school now has students in Form 1-4 which is the complete range for the four years of secondary schooling in Kenya. After completing the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education students can qualify for Higher Education. The first cohort from St Matthew's will be taking KCSE at the end of this academic year.

Chaplain's Visit
I stayed with the provost of the Cathedral in Webuye which is adjacent to the school field. While 1 was there 1 observed many lessons, taught some Chemistry and Mathematics, preached at the school service in the Cathedral on Ash Wednesday and made many friends among the staff who were very welcoming.

Observations
The school is very poor in material terms. The only resources available to teachers are blackboard and chalk. The science lab has no gas or water. Textbooks have to be provided by students whose families also have to find the money for school fees and uniform. In spiritual terms the school is enormously rich. The teachers are completely dedicated and the students are extremely conscientious. Some of them arrive for early prep at just after 7am and there are usually lights on in the building late at night. Students from poor families have no facilities at home to enable them to do their homework and so they work at school until as late as 1 Ipm. There is no computer or telephone at present but there is no lack of Christian faith and spiritual resources.

School Development Plan
In the next five years the school aims to have fully functioning laboratories for each of the three sciences plus a computer science laboratory, home science block, administration block with interact access and a multipurpose hall. The Principal, Chrispinus Nyongesa Lusakia, and Chairman of Governors, John Wandwas@ are extremely supportive of a link with Bishop Stopford School and are very eager to welcome students and teachers on future visits.

Possible Links
These are threefold. In the short term 1 would recommend that curriculum links and some form of fairly modest finmeial support are put in place. In the longer term it might be possible to have some direct pupil involvement.

* * * Curriculum Links
Curriculum links would be mutually beneficial in many subjects including English Literature, Computer Science and Technology. It would be hoped that our students would gain a valuable new perspective by exchanging ideas with students from a different culture and possibly working on projects involving appropriate technology. Students in Webuye have already travelled to Bungoma to look at the Bishop Stopford Web Site and send E-mails. Internet/E-mail access are vital if this link is to prosper and this might involve some fund raising.

Financial Assistance
would involve help with school fees to give poor students access to secondary education and some help with projects. Maybe we could tithe the-direct giving from our parents so that some went to St Matthews. It would cost about £1200 per year to fund two students in each year group through their secondary education. This is not a huge amount but it does have to be an ongoing commitment. Other help could be on a more ad- hoc basis.

Direct Pupil
Involvement One school in the West Country has had an exchange link with a school in Bungoma but this was suspended in 1994 due to local unrest. They are thinking about a resumption. Kenya is very stable by African standards but there are real problems. If there were an exchange then a huge amount of money would have to be raised at our end to fund any visit to the UK by Kenyan students in addition to the cost of the visit to Webuye by our students. A small group going as part of a gap year experience might work but 1 think there would have to be a staff presence for all or part of the trip. It might be possible to run a short trip for students after the end of their Sixth form course in the hope that they might return after the end of their University course when they would have real skills to offer a developing country. This is a matter for meticulous consultation and careful consideration.

Curriculum Links
Although in some ways English teaching is very formal some quite interesting approaches were observed in Grammar lessons. Although I wasn't able to see any English Literature lessons one of the books they were reading was about a young woman growing up in an African tribal context. There might be scope for some liaison on "Poems from other Cultures.' K.C.S.E. and G.C.S.E. syllabii do not leave a lot of scope for experimentation. Perhaps some work could be done lower down the school.

Computer Science
Valiant efforts to teach I.C.T. without access to computers! The I.C.T. specialist was very interested in establishing a link. A group of students travelled to Bungoma (20 miles away) in the Chair of Governor's car to access the BSS website and send E-mails. We could establish a page relating to St Matthews and invite their students to contribute by E-mail. There is no internet server in Webuye and lines to Bungoma are eccentric at best. Hopefully the situation will improve. Maybe St Matthews could be helped to set up an internet link for the Municipality.

Science and Technology
The use of appropriate technology is a key issue in Kenya. Most agriculture is labour intensive with virtually no machinery. Some manually operated water pumps are used for irrigation. Maybe there could be enhancement projects involving the use of passive solar energy for distilling water in the science lab (which has no running water or electricity.)

Geography
The school has a massive paper works next door polluting the atmosphere but providing the only large scale source of employment in the municipality. The emissions from the factory chimney can be seen from miles away, ceiling tiles disintegrate and the smell is quite noxious. It might be useful to see how citizens in an I.E.D.C. view the problems associated with industrialisation.