Unnecessary misunderstandings

ak. In March of this year, in order to release from customs the recently received container of school supplies donated by the Swiss organization Kids to Kids, the Rhein-Valley Hospital recruited the help of four local elementary schools. The headmaster of each was asked to write a letter to the Minister of Education with the promise that each of the four schools would receive a portion of the supplies from the container. A portion was also to be donated to the Tegla Loroupe Foundation and on Wednesday, the representative from the Tegla Loroupe Foundation collected their portion. The headmaster of the neighbouring secondary school misconstrued this pick up, thinking that the supplies were being given away and that the four schools who had written letters to the Minister of Education would not receive theirs.

As a result, upon arriving at the hospital this morning, Ruth Schaefer received a letter from the headmaster, which accused the Rhein-Valley Hospital of having used the schools’ names to release the container and then distributing the supplies to another recipient. The headmaster had also copied several high ranking government officials in the distribution of the letter. Since these matters are highly sensitive in Kenya, we immediately rushed to the offices of the Nakuru District Minister of Education to clear the hospital’s name. Luckily, the situation was resolved by day’s end, but the headmaster was highly reprimanded for his letter. Such correspondence can easily cost an NGO its license in Kenya due to corruption amongst many others. A close call, but the Rhein-Valley Hospital survives another day! Such is daily life for Mama Matata (Ruth Schaefer), translated: she who solves problems.

The truck for the Tegla Loroupe Foundation is loaded