In Isiolo County, Kenya, The Lions Academy, a school and orphanage, stands with the help of Tellico Village benefactors.
Ruth Thornton took her first trip to Africa in 1972 as a part of her college studies. From there, she and husband, Paul, visited every two years with groups on safaris in Nakuru County, Kenya.
“We always went to a school somewhere en route and took pens and pencils and schools supplies and stuff,” Ruth said. “We met Harriet Nkatha, who was the headmistress at a school called Little Angels in the same area, and we corresponded with her and sent her school supplies. … We’ve sent hundreds of pounds of books over there through the years. Then the people there asked her if she would develop a school for the impoverished and orphaned children there. That really was where her heart was. She’s like a Mother Teresa of Kenya. She started (The Lions Academy). It’s very successful.”
Ruth and Paul have visited the academy twice. In 2007, Nkatha found out she was going to lose the lease on the academy building. The Thorntons offered to fund the school. At that point, she had 100 students and 25 orphans.
The Thorntons funded the construction of three new brick buildings after the original, metal building collapsed. They have also funded restroom facilities, water stations and desks for each building.
While the couple provides most of the money out of pocket, they do get some help from private donors, the Kiwanis Club of Tellico Village and the Community Church at Tellico Village.
“We got the support from Kiwanis originally — I was the president of Kiwanis back in 2002, then also the lieutenant governor the former year of the whole division,” Paul said. “So some of the committees have earmarked certain funds for The Lions Academy, and every November they have like a toss in a pot. We don’t get much out of it, but it’s enough to help. Then the church got on board.”
For now, the academy is seeing no income. Kenyan schools are closed until January due to coronavirus. Without students, fees aren’t being paid, but the 25 orphans Nkatha is in charge of are still at the school. Money sent to the school pays for food for the orphans and the monthly bills for operating the building.
Nkatha is keeping the children who remain at the academy busy.
“She’s giving them responsibilities during this time,” Ruth said. “Because they can use their little computers that the Computer Club at Tellico Village has sent over, I guess they have about 15 tablets, they use those. So they’ve been doing some education. They’ve been taking care of the yard. They’ve planted some trees. They’ve done some painting. So she tries to teach them life skills as well as Christian skills as well as being a teacher of subjects.”
While school is shut down, church is as well. In the meantime, Nkatha and the kids have been tuning into CCTV’s Sunday services.
“Their church became quarantined in March, so they just had no place to go,” Ruth said. “I play piano the third Sunday of every month as pre-service music, so she had been tuning into that. So they had been watching at least when ‘mama’ was playing. But now they have been watching every Sunday because there is no church near them or their church is quarantined. So this is their church.”
Ruth and Nkatha even created a presentation to thank the church for their contributions and for the services. The students sang to the congregation and Nkatha spoke to everyone and told them how blessed she feels for having them.
Paul said it was nice for the children to be “instant celebrities” for the day.
“We wanted to … inform the community that there is such a place that people around here are helping to reach out, and if there are people that wanted to support, we would love to have them come on board,” Ruth said. “It’s been a long financial endeavor. We wanted to build the building for the kids, and here we have been supporting the school all these years.”
For more information about the school or how to donate, contact Ruth at ruthpaulmay17@gmail.com or Paul at ruthpaul@bellsouth.net.
