We Failed. Hard.
Hi everyone, this is cofounder Tay Ross. We know there’s been some silence on our part since December 31st and we wanted to finally explain why. As most of you know, we were up against the clock to get the Tumaini School - our first school build at an orphanage in Kenya - funded before the end of the year. When the day hit, we failed. Hard. At this point, we need to basically double the amount we’ve put towards the build of $56,200. We didn’t announce our failure right away because we had a few last hopes, but we’ve recently found out they’ve fallen through.
Due of the lack of funds going over to Tumaini right now, Rose - Tumaini’s founder and our project partner on the ground - had to take the last construction material delivery on credit. That bought us a couple more weeks, but now we’re approaching the end of that timeframe. As of this week, the construction workers haven’t been able to be paid and have left the site to look for other work.
As it stands, the Tumaini kids will stay in their temporary classrooms that present dangerous conditions. For example, once a week, administration to smear cow dung on the walls to keep the dust out. Beyond that, the Tumaini orphanage is still a construction site which poses as a threat to the young kids there. Come April - Kenya’s rainy season - the temporary classrooms made of mud, will be completely unusable.
Trying to navigate the waters of this build has been one of the biggest challenges of our lives. We’ve come so far but some days, the idea of us getting this done feels legitimately impossible. We are happy to let you know though that funds we have accumulated to date - through the sale of our soccer goals and insanely fun campaigns - have been fully utilized on the first three phases of the build, allowing us to get this far:
PHOTOS RECIEVED FEBUARY 1, 2020
Jordan and I are continuing in full force to make sure the Tumaini build gets completed. We have made so much progress thanks to our supporters and we want to keep going. You can read more in detail and find out exactly how you can help on our new Tumaini Project page.
With love,
Taylor