View from the back of the Ulungu health clinic.
Rhema students get involved in supporting African health clinic
Ulungu partnership catches on at Christian school
Friday January 15, 2010 -- Jennifer Higgs
Two students at Rhema Christian School recently took initiative to get involved in fundraising to build a health clinic in the Kenyan village of Ulungu.

Instead of asking for presents at their birthday parties, students Brooke Arnou and Evan Manneh asked for a donation towards the building of the clinic, raising a combined $700, says Grade 8 teacher Peter Oussoren.

“I thought that was a very selfless thing to do,” he says, adding it isn’t the amount of money raised but the act that is important to highlight.

The Ulungu project is through the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee and supported by churches in Trenton, Peterborough, Oshawa and Kingston.

The partnership started in 2002 and several community initiatives have taken place in Ulungu, including building a new school building, digging a well, installing a water tower and creating a teaching garden for agriculture.

Oussoren was the chair of the Ulungu Quinte Partnership committee and taught in Kenya from 2006-2008, visiting Ulungu many times.

The Peterborough-based Christian elementary school aims to expand student’s horizons and understanding that the world is large and different than what they experience day-to-day, says Oussoren.

“Part of education is just knowing about the world and knowing what struggles different communities go through,” he says.

In Peterborough, Living Hope and Cephas Christian Reformed Church are involved in the Ulungu partnership, and a pastor and leader from Ulungu visited Rhema in 2005.

Ulungu is a holistic community development project, says Oussoren, with the people of Ulungu doing the strategic planning, setting the priorities and raising some of the resources.

“The community has a stake in all of this as well to make it happen, ultimately community building is building people and building their capacities to be able to accomplish things,” says Oussoren.