It’s wintertime in Meru, even though we are just three kilometers north of the equator. July is the coldest month of the year here in Kenya, with cold winds that blow up from South Africa, which is a long way south of the equator and where it is really wintertime.

We spent four days at Nambale Magnet School, in Western Kenya, near Busia and the Ugandan border. NMS is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. When it opened in 2009, there were just 35 primary students, and now there are 435.

We and two young friends walked the streets of Meru with lots of supporters of the often hidden children who have cerebral palsy, autism, dyslexia and Downs Syndrome. This Wheel and Walk event was sponsored by Furaha Day Care Centre which offers quality day nursing care, play, meals, sensory integration and occupational therapy for these exceptional children.

We visited a sponsored student at St. James Secondary School in Ruiri. It is an oasis in a semi-desert area. A borehole was drilled there two years ago - and water has been flowing, without a pump, ever since. There are now bananas growing on the school grounds, and lots of maize and beans in the surrounding shambas.

The grandparents of another sponsored student now have electric lights in their home. “The Last Mile” of the Rural Electrification Program has brought power to many people who have lived all their lives without it, on the small plots of land they were given after Kenya won its Independence in 1964.