Dear Sponsors and Friends,

I do hope that you are all safe and coping with these dreadful times. I know that we are all distracted by the risks and consequences of the moment, but I am writing to update you on the impact on our scholars and to explain some of the other changes that have taken place in recent months.

The first few cases of COVID-19 were reported in Kenya in mid-March and soon afterwards a decision was made to suspend learning in all educational institutions on 15 March. With a few exceptions, all our scholars (7 in secondary schools and 52 in various stages of further education) have returned to be with parents, family, guardians or friends in their rural homes. We provided a small additional allowance to enable individuals to pack up their belongings and pay the costs of transferring them home or into storage. We also confirmed a commitment to meet their full allowance until the end of May. This is under review for June and beyond since the great majority of scholars do not any longer pay accommodation fees whilst schools and universities are closed.  We remain in touch regularly with the scholar leadership team and are told that all scholars are safe and well.

Previous months have been eventful. In 2019 some responsibilities transferred over from the Kariandusi School Trust on its closure and in light of this expansion of objectives we have renamed the charity ‘The Langalanga Trust’ with a new logo. We have also just created a new website, which you can find at:  https://www.langalangatrust.org.uk/. This uses a modern platform and is suitable for all devices. Please have a look at it and register your interest. It sets out the detail behind all our activities, celebrates recent academic successes and, among other things, provides a few fascinating personal stories of our scholars. One of the key developments has been to re-open the scholarship scheme for secondary school children and 7 new scholars started in January. There is still much to do to develop the website, but it will now become one of our principal means of communicating to sponsors and friends, building support for campaigns and in these difficult times in messaging our scholars. We do welcome any comments on how it can be improved and so please let us have your views to our new email address: [email protected]

Finally, I, Trustees, scholars and other beneficiaries remain enormously grateful for your support and generosity.  Your donations continue to make a huge difference to the lives of our scholars and to others who benefit from your kindness.  

In the meantime, stay safe and I wish you, your families and friends good health.

Very best wishes,

Geoff Nield

Chairman LLT