I am typing this month's newsletter in the dark, with only the light from the monitor. Thank heavens for laptop batteries! Fortunately, the power has been on regularly lately. Who knows why it went out tonight? Unfortunately, water in the village has been scarce. I hardly dare type this, but I think after there has been no running water for the past two weeks, it has finally returned for a while. I will take water over power any day. Life in a village! It definitely takes some adjustment.

So much has been taking place this month, I hardly know where to begin. Brian has been doing great watching over the library. It seems every child in the whole region knows him and comes running to greet him when he is outside. He has become very, very popular. Mike has been overseeing the Vuma project where we finally put the roof on the classroom that we began building last year. It looks wonderful, and we know it will immediately be put to good use when school starts back up in September, or maybe even before then. Jenn has been helping to clear the land where the EAC's resource center will be built.

I am thrilled to say that we have met with the Peace Corps this month and starting in December will begin receiving Peace Corps volunteers to help out the EAC's resource center! Typically, EAC volunteers stay for 3 months. Peace Corps volunteers will add to our numbers and offer the EAC more long-term assistance. We've also made contact with the local Rotary in Mombasa and will begin working with them in a joint effort with the West Seattle Rotary, to provide a source of clean water at The Center.

Lastly, I am happy to tell that this month we've had meetings with residents from various parts of the Takaungu region. All of the meetings went wonderfully. The residents of each area decided to volunteer to help at The Center site according to region. On Mondays, residents from Kayanda assist, on Tuesdays people from Vuma come, and on Wednesdays those who live directly in Takaungu Village help. Thus far, we've been surveying, clearing trees and underbrush, and otherwise preparing the land for The Center. I can't believe the way that people can clear land here with only machetes. I thought it would take 5 days to fell 11 trees. It was with happy suprise that I saw all 11 safely cut by 11a.m. the first day. I was speechless! As soon as the land is ready, construction of the resource center will begin.

	What's Happening in Takaungu?
For those of you who don't know, the Takaungu sub- location where the East African Center is working includes an area called Vuma. Vuma is about three or four miles from Takaungu village and consists of a few houses, a couple of small dukas (shops of about 30 square feet) and quarry where coral blocks are cut. Some of the children that live in Vuma walk to Takaungu each day for school; others attend the school in Vuma. The government does not recognize the Vuma Elementary School, and therefore Vuma's school recieves no government funding, because they don't have enough classrooms. To be recognized as a school you need at least eight classrooms. The school is currently run by some of the parents using the community church building for kindergarten and grade one. The higher grades at the elementary school have been sharing two rooms in a stone and mud walled building with a makuti (palm thatch) roof. The EAC has been trying to help Vuma Primary reach the status of a government recognized school. Several months ago, Suzanne met with the Vuma community and found that they wanted to be able to have their kids close to home for education. In response, a new classroom building was started to suplement the two that already existed. The community brought the stones, the EAC brought the cement and the walls were built. Unfortunately at that time there were not enough funds to put the roof on and complete the project. While he was here, Mr. Judd, an EAC volunteer, walked or biked to Vuma each day to teach. When he headed back to the US, he talked to his friends and family about the needs of Vuma's school. With the donations he helped raise, in addition to other generous donors of the EAC, the task has finally been completed. IIt is incredible to see the work of so many people, in such distant places, coming together to create opportunities for these wonderful children. In Kenya, purchasing the supplies for a project like this is not easy. At home, you would just go to the local hardware store and pack the supplies home in your truck, or one borrowed from a friend. Here it is a week-long project: going to the shop that sells only the timbers, another shop, in another town, for the tin and nails. Organizing the delivery of all this material takes several days, and still only gets it as close to the site as passable roads go. Once everything is delivered to Takaungu Village, you load them onto a handcart for the last few miles of the bumpy, narrow, forest track. This week was a lot of fun for me, working with the fundi (construction worker) on the roof. Each day, I would get up and walk or cycle to Vuma and meet with Mohamed and Mohamed, the two men we had hired for the project. The actual construction went far faster than the task of collecting the pieces. In a mere four days the trusses were built and mounted, the tin sheets placed and a usable building was completed. For me, even though I only had a tiny part in making this happen it gave me a real sense of accomplishment. I know that this building will be a part of the Vuma community for many years to come, and that someday this building will be counted as one of the eight so that Vuma can become an official school and the children of Vuma will be able to learn without having to make the hour walk to Takaungu Village, and the hour walk home, each day. - Mike McCarty

	Volunteers in Takaungu
We opened the library July 14th, one week after hours of sweeping, dusting, painting, and reorganizing the existing building. On the first day, students came in large numbers to look at and to read the books provided through the EAC bookplate program. Children were climbing over desks and each other, excited to get to the books. Some fights broke out and children were hitting each other. It is, ironically, a beautiful sight to see children literally fighting to read. Their screams, laughter, and shrieks of excitement validate my work here in Takaungu and the work of the EAC. The excitement continued through the end of the first we--even through the first month. Each day of the first week there was a little girl from grade two who ran everywhere, so excited about the library. She runs as fast as she can from her classroom to the library during break time or the lunch hour. Jumping into the library, she bolts for the shelves and picks out a book, usually an encyclopedia. Grasping the prize text, she runs to a desk and flips through the book as fast as she can. I am not sure she actually sees what is on the page before she turns it. She then runs the book back to where she got it, then to the other end of the library, knocking people out of her way (including me), to get another book and repeats this wonderfully deranged behavior. Not only are the students excited about the library, but teachers and parents, too, have stopped by and showed their appreciation and gratitude, saying the library was "beautiful". We painted a globe and handprints on one wall, and the alphabet is placed nicely above the windows along another. The white-washed walls will only last a few weeks, soon to be covered with some history. This history is told by the small brown handprints and scuff marks from the thick flip-flops students wear.--Brian Carhart Volunteers make the EAC possible. If you are interested in volunteering, please email our Volunteer Coordinator, Jenn Holmes, at volunteer@eastafricancenter.org (she is currently with us in Kenya but is reachable by email), or call Summer Starr at the EAC's Seattle headquarters at 206-271-9557. Read letters from past volunteers »

	The EAC Appreciates.....
Thank you to the donors of the wall calendars and hard drives for our laptops. I can't wait to receive the goods. The items should be here in Kenya in about 1 month. Thank you to all who have made monetary contributions throughout the past few months. All the progress that takes place over the next year will be because of your donations. Every one of us is volunteering our time to this organization, but without the funds we just can't move forward. Your monetary assistance has not only helped the people of Takaungu, but has also created tremendous growth opportunities for those sixteen individuals who have so far come from the US to spend time in Takaungu. Thank you to Lon Fox and his wonderful students who donated to the EAC numerous school supplies (see picture above). The children of Takaungu Primary School have been thrilled to use calculators and we have been having a great time playing word and math games in the library where winning students receive pencils, pens and erasers. These items have been a great help. More about the EAC »

	Wish List
As we are about to embark on the construction of the East African Center's resource center, we are asking you to please sponsor bricks, and/or bags of cement. One bag of cement is $6.50, and each block will cost 14 cents. Our goal for August is to purchase 40 bags of cement and 4000 blocks. If you would like to sponsor either blocks and/or bags, please send a (tax deductible) donation to the East African Center at 109 West Mercer St. Seattle, WA 98119. On the memo line write: # bags, # blocks A year or so ago, the EAC arranged for the surgery of a young boy with clubfeet. His name is Baraka and he lives near Takaungu Village. Baraka is still on the road to recovery and needs just a bit more money to finish his hospital stay and to continue with his physical therapy. We have had two wonderful donors who have made all the difference for this child; however, the money has since run out. We think that just about $150.00 more will take care of his final medical expenses. If you can donate all or part of this amount it would truly be appreciated. Last Sunday I went to visit the mother of Baraka and in thanks for assisting her son she gave me two chickens. So to those donors, who have assisted Baraka so far, know that you each have a chicken with your name on it in Africa. My husband, however, prefers to call them "Lunch" and "Dinner". I will do my best to keep them alive. Make a donation »

	Note to past Takaungu Volunteers
Tuma had her baby! She was approximately 7 pounds and is absolutely beautiful. She looks a lot like Ryanni, but with lighter skin and almost mazungu hair. Tuma had the baby with less than 2 hours of labor. Her comment to the other volunteers was that lunch might be a little late that day. The baby was born on July 14th and her name is Suhaila.