The Cost of Success

December 3, 2006
 

Another headline you might not see in America:

I know it may be hard to read, but there are rewards in this article besides the headlines. (Note especially the last paragraph of the first column.)

This is my crazy time of year, where I am writing recommendations and sending out college applications. Because we are a boarding school and because many of our families do not have access to the internet or secure mailings, I am working day and night trying to get everything done. (Nancy has come in and been such a huge help that I don’t know how it would get done without her)

We can’t mail direct; too much gets stolen, So, I wait until someone is returning to the states and they mail from the states. It doesn’t seem like it should feel like a lot of pressure, but it feels that way. There are so many papers, so much to write, and so much at stake that it is easy to feel stressed out over it all.

In it all, there are rewards. A young girl came to me in August very concerned about how she would get into college. She told me that her sister had not gotten much financial aid, and she was scared. I reminded her that her sister had taken her senior year off, and taken the least amount of classes she could. She had taken a tough course load; she had sown, and I was praying that she would reap.

She came up to me a few weeks ago with a teary smile and a whisper: `Mr. Peifer, I think I’m reaping.’ She had received the presidential scholarship to a good college, and suddenly it seemed all worth it.

The school year is over in Kenya, and you guys fed ten thousand children for a year. There has been amazing fruit in it all; no drop outs reported, some schools with no truancies in the year, grades up substantially.

But there is a cost to success; read this email:

Dear Mr. Peifer

Thanks you very much for the support you have continued to give my school in providing meals to our children. As you may be aware Namuncha Primary School is in drier parts of Mai-Mahiu. It serves children from Maasai and Turkan communities. Due to the feeding programme there is a tremedius increase in enrollment e.g.

2003 - 196
2004- 219
2005 - 263
2006 - 324

In Addition we have 160 pupils in our Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD

The figure cleary shows the steady increase in school population. I once again wish to thank you very much for the gesture. We have just concluded our class 8 Exams where we registered 14 candidates. The school faces many problems and iam requesting you to assist us with chairs and all lockers and tables.

 Or this letter:

Our problem (besides rats eating the oil boxes) lies in our success; the food has brought many more students to each school. We finished in the black this year, but we don’t have enough money to cover the schools we support currently.

There are so many needs in the world that a wise person will ignore need and listen to what God wants them to do. It may be the food program shouldn’t continue, or continue at a lower level. But we need to make some decisions soon.

Also, we have four computer centers operating; a fifth one built and awaiting computers; and a sixth one ready to go as soon as I get done with college applications and talk to headmasters. All in all, an amazing year.

But again, it costs us $100 to pay each teacher, and by the end of the year I will have six teachers. I pay the head teacher $200 a month, because she supervises each teacher. So by the end of the year I will be paying $700 a month to teachers. The question is: do we grow or do we sustain? I don’t know the answer, but we will need to make some choices soon.

It has been a great year. Thanks to all of you, and may He bless you and keep your underwear safe from radio active material this holiday season.

Your pal
 
PS. A rude friend from Kansas told me that he had purchased four copies of our book and was sending them to the four people he hated the most. You can find “Your Pal Steve” on Amazon (http://amazon.com/), so you can irritate YOUR friends! All profits go to the computer and food program.

Steve and Nancy Peifer

Rift Valley Academy PO Box 80 Kijabe, Kenya 00220

Stateside Address: AIM PO Box 178 Pearl River, NY 10965

Home Number: 011-254-20-3246-458

Office Number: 011-254-20-3246-170

Steve's Cell: 011-254-0734-124292

Nancy's Cell: 011-254-0734-124291

Website: http://peifer.kijabe.org/index.html?intro.html&1

Foundation: http://www.solutionbeaconfoundation.org/programs.htm

Webcam: http://www.kijabe.org/longocam/