Children of Bukati
PHOTO GALLERY PAGE 20 - 2010
Gymnastics

One of the Bukati-Project Goals is:

Educate all AIDS orphans in Butula, Western Kenya

• In 2006, the children were starving and not going to school.
• In 2008 they were attending school and eating 3 days a week.
• In 2009 they were singing about the rights of children that included food, a home and an education.
• In 2010, they asked if they could have school gymnastics teams.

Teams are made of 16 boys or 16 girls. They have a series of required routines and must use specific pieces of equipment. The school staff and children built home made equipment and began training.

The school used the uniforms that were donated to them from the Guelph, Ontario soccer clubs, some of which had been sponsored by Tim Hortons coffee shops, as you can see from the photos. 

The girl's team won the local competition and then went to regionals. They then needed to rent music equipment and put the routine to music. They won at regionals and went on to the provincial championships.

The amazing result - the girls gymnastics team came in second-place in the province-wide tournament. They almost made it to nationals! That is pretty good for a team that was only recently put together. For next year, they would like white and black striped tops to complete the leopard look.

It says a lot, to show that they are now beyond the basics of not starving, and getting a basic education.

This has provided not only confidence in the children, but also pride from the whole community; this is something the community has rallied around.

Above: Going through a training session.
From this view, you can see that the uniforms do not match

Above: Nick is congratulating the coach of the teams.
She is a teacher at Bukati Primary school.