The Bumala Trust was set up in 2002 by Janet Weyama from Newton Abbot after having visited the area of Bumala in N.W. Kenya and seeing the great need of so many people, young and old, with her own eyes. The Bumala Trust works to relieve the sickness of orphans and widows suffering from HIV/AIDS in and around the village of Bumala in North West Kenya, to advance the education of orphans and to relieve the poverty of orphans, their carers and widows in the area.
Absolutely no expenses are drawn from the UK.
100% of donations are used in BUMALA.
Bumala Trust - The Story so far…
2003
Obtained Charitable Status on 4th November
Sponsored 10 orphans
2004
Sponsored 21 orphans (one died)
Donations received to purchase land for training workshops
2005
Sponsored 35 orphans
Started Sunday Club for orphans
Weekly visit to orphans by nurse
Bradley Barton Primary School sponsoring an orphan (currently 4 years old) right through school (£5,000)
Bradley Barton Primary School twinning with Namwitsula School.
Decoy Primary School twinned with Masebula Primary School and funding a classroom
Land purchased!
2006
Offered training to widows
Looked into obtaining planning permissions for borehole and workshops on newly acquired land
Trustees attended fact finding trip to Bumala in March 2006
Looking for sponsor for transport of donated goods
Continue fundraising activities in UK
Devon Peace Group started Borehole Project with an aim to raise £10,000 in 12 months - Water to be readily available on the field already purchased. This will enable clean water to be provided which will help to prevent disease, improve general health and save the time walking to the river. Also it will enable crops to be grown and sold to further self-sufficiency of the widows and orphans. Once clean water is 'on tap' , planning permission for the training workshops can be obtained and built
2007
Continue to support 40 orphans
Fact finding trip back to Bumala by two Trustees together with the Headmaster and 4 Teachers from Decoy Primary School who visited Masebula Primary School. Decoy Primary School has worked hard over the last few years and is funding a classroom being built. By the time they visit, the roof should be on!
The classroom were almost completed by the end of the year.
2008
Due to the political unrest following the government elections, no trustees visited Bumala, and food was very scarce and expensive.
A feeding programme was instigated to provide for the many starving children and adults in the Bumala area.
Tree saplings were transplanted to begin the reforestation programme. The Bumala Trust received financial help and advice from Paul Keeley representative of SGG (Sustainable Global Gardens) and local help from John Kwoba OWDF(One World Development Foundation).
Water Borehole was successfully drilled and awaits suitable pump, header tank, piping and electricity. All our projects rely on a safe, supply of clean water.
Local business man visited the Tree nursery he sponsors, also met "Bumala Family" and visited Bukhakhala Primary School.
It became apparent (due to theft) that the priority project is to fence the area as soon as possible for safety and security reasons.
2009
Janet, Anne and Karen have recently returned from 3 hectic weeks in Kenya of fact-finding, meetings and greetings with those involved with the orphans and widows supported by our charity. It was also an opportunity to see how the charities funding is being used.
They found it a very tiring and humbling trip where they found that the price of food had increased far beyond the accessibility of the local ‘bush’ population. Peter, in his wisdom, had purchased, as a reserve, a large amount of dried maize and beans whilst there was food available so that they can still operate a ‘food programme’ for the starving as well as feeding our orphans and widows.
It was wonderful to see all the children again, they have so much love to give and welcomed us with respect. Austine our Blind boy is doing so well at school, he laughs and smiles when with us, he is such a special boy. The children often get ill due to varying reasons, but we do try to ensure that they get enough food to eat and are taken to hospital and are provided medication (especially our HIV children).
Everything has more than doubled in price and we seriously question how the country will manage. There is so much corruption amongst the highest paid and political factions. HIV/AIDS is rampant together with all the tropical diseases. We are so fortunate to have Peter there to take care of our costs and carry out the work with compassion and fairness - most of the ‘petty’ expenses are paid by him.
After many discussions with Peter and Esnas( our trusted social worker/teacher) it was decided that some of our proposed projects (such as Cows) must be put on hold until we can provide enough food for all, and to pay for the escalating school fees to educate the children. The most important project we must complete is to install the pump for the borehole, so that everyone has access to fresh clean water. They will also be able to irrigate their land all year round instead of waiting for the rains to come, hopefully this will be installed within the next two months.
We also decided that the Bee project should go ahead in order to provide honey for our families. (Surplus honey can be sold to boost funds in Bumala.- another vital and encouraging step towards self-sufficiency). The flowers will also be pollinated in the vegetable and fruit garden. We have bananas, avocados, mangoes, jack fruit, maize, kale,beans, cassava, sweet potato, millet and other fruit and vegetables.
All these projects must be protected by fencing as, in these desperate times, theft is common. We were fortunate to take out a donation of £1000 towards the chain-link wire fencing which will, together with the Kayappa (thorn) seedlings from the tree nursery, provide some of the security needed.
We met with the widows and discussed their needs and were delighted to see that they have formed their own committee with more widows joining so that they can be a help and support to each other. The 16 widows plots that we ploughed and planted last year have produced enough maize and beans to feed them during the year. We visited several of the widow's homes and found a lot of them in a near state of collapse. One widow's house was so bad that we decided that we would build her a new home and when enough funds were available start a re-building programme for other widows' homes.
Click here - to see our Charity Commission Registration
