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    Qurans-being-handed-over-to-students-at-Mvindeni-Primary-School-14th-July-2022.jpg
    22 July 2022 - Magutu, Kenya
    News Release

    Church Provides New Classrooms, Qurans and Bibles to Kenyan Primary School

    The scriptures and classroom upgrade come as a response to educational needs in the struggling school

    Students at Mvindeni Primary School in southeast coastal Kenya are welcoming new learning facilities and new scriptures to their school.

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has donated five renovated classrooms, 20 newly-built pit latrines, 100 school desks, 100 Bibles and 100 Qurans to the school.

    Mvindeni Primary School, whose student population of 1,700 is half Christian and half Muslim, is the most populous school in Kwale County. The school lacked sufficient classes, latrines, and scriptures to enable the pupils to study in a conducive environment.

    The 100 copies of the Quran and 100 Bibles are to be used by the students while completing the religious curriculum, where Muslim students learn Islamic religious education using the holy Quran as their main guide, and Christian students learn Christian religious education using the Bible as their guide.

       
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      The Church also donated 100 desks. In the past, over 300 students were forced to sit on the floor due to a lack of sufficient desks in the school. Five classrooms were remodeled to help ease overcrowded classrooms and create a conducive learning environment. The Church also constructed 10 pit latrines for boys and 10 pit latrines for girls, as well as a shower room for the girls.

      The head teacher of Mvindeni Primary School, Mr. Matano Yusuf, summarized the challenges the school was going through and how the Church alleviated their suffering.

      “Our students were sitting on the floor. They lacked scriptures to study during religious lessons. They lacked sufficient latrines. Their classes were flooded. It was even hard to train the younger ones to write since it was hard to do so from the floor,” he said. “I promise next time you come the school performance will be better. We really appreciate your help. It's God who sent you here.”

      Mr. Hassan Suleiman, the Area Chief of Mvindeni Location, Kwale County, said that Mr. Yusuf had approached him some time back with a request for more desks. He didn’t know where they would be sourced from.

      “When the head teacher reached out to me and requested desks, I boldly told him that we would have desks. This was purely by faith since I had no idea where we would get such a great number of desks,” Suleiman said. “Then out of nowhere, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivered 100 desks.”

      Self-reliance manager from The Church of Jesus Christ, Dennis Mukasa, explained to the eager parents and the school administration that the funds for the project came from donations made by members of the Church without bias of race or religion.

      “We follow the counsel in [the New Testament] Matthew 22:19 -- to love your neighbor as yourself,” he said. “That's the foundation of our work, to spread the love of God as much as we are from diverse backgrounds.”

      Ms. Mande Mwanakombo, the Parents Representative Chairperson from the school, was overwhelmed with gratitude and remarked, “I’m so grateful for the donations. May God bless you. May God bless you and may God bless you!”

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      A Church leader from the Mombasa District, Alex Maina, appreciates the level of religious tolerance in the community. "We acknowledge both Christians and Muslims and we are so grateful to be here," he said. "Apart from students having their lessons, it’s a government directive and a patriotic duty for these classes to be used as voting centers, hence students, the community, and the country will benefit from this project."
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