The team
Will Tudor-Evans and Ollie Webb
Will Tudor-Evans is the co-founder of the Saramek Trust. He takes an active role in the fundraising, money management and communications side of the Trust. Will starts work with Deloitte in London in October 2009 having previously graduated from Bristol with a degree in Economics. He went back to Kenya in 2006 after his Gap Year and hopes it will not be long before he returns there again to meet up with the sponsored children.
Ollie Webb is the Trust’s other founder. He undertook a great deal of groundwork in Kenya in the summer of 2006 and is delighted to see the progress of their first student (Moses). He has also assisted with fundraising, and is keen to further the Trust’s potential with some exciting ideas for the future.
Ollie has spent some more time travelling after graduating from York University with a degree in Linguistics, and intends to leave his and Will’s native Cheshire to start work in London soon. Like Will, he hopes very much to go out to Kenya again before long to visit the children and the schools involved with the Saramek Trust.
Roger Hollingworth
None of this would have been possible without Roger Hollingworth, a retired UK physics teacher who spends part of the year out in Kenya, most recently teaching in a new secondary school. He keeps an eye on the boys’ progress and arranges the payment of the school fees etc. He is currently in touch with the headmistress of Saramek Primary who has identified next year’s short list of candidates.
He already sponsors several children himself and his quiet but infectious enthusiasm has encouraged others from his UK home area near Sheffield to help with fundraising too. He has a house at Londiani not far from Kericho where he spends some of the year but is usually called upon to help out with some teaching locally - so it seems that ‘retirement’ is still some way off!
We are enormously grateful to him.
Sarah Njambi
Sarah had a good position as Headmistress of Saramek Primary. She is a Kikuyu and in the middle of January 2008 received a warning 'to leave or else'. She slept outside in the fields with the boys to avoid being caught and the next day they left to stay with her aunt at Ngecha. The bus journey took 7 days because of the hold-ups on the road. Her own son followed later as he was waiting for his KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) results from Kericho High School. It is very unlikely that they will be able to return to the Kericho area as she says: 'the place is not safe especially for Kikuyu men and boys'.
Sarah now teaches at Kabuku Primary School at Ngecha and Simon and Jeremiah spend their holidays with her. She sends the boys' reports and letters to Roger who in turn sends them to Will and Ollie. She also has a mobile and is good at her text messaging so a good way to keep in touch!