Linda's Library — Gituamba Girls’ Secondary School in Kenya

Stu and Linda Ross spent many years in Kenya working with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) in a ministry of building schools, churches, and orphanages as well as managing water projects. Linda passed away on March 17, 2016. Because of Linda’s particular love for educating young school girls, Stu began a memorial to build a library at Grace Girls’ High School in Maasailand. Stu notes, “Linda loved books and I know it broadened her view of the world. She wanted the same for the children of Kenya as well as the local communities.” Since that time, several additional Linda’s Libraries have been built. Stu sent news of the most recent one:

Dear friends,

Today we dedicated our fifth Linda’s Library. It was at Gituamba Girls’ Secondary School in Limuru. The occasion was moderated by the Moderator of Lari Presbytery, Rev. Karanga. The celebration was filled with dancing and singing by the girls along with many speeches.

Libraries take students to a new level of learning. They open up new worlds, new ideas, and new opportunities. Libraries positively affect language and reading skills and help to improve students’ grades. This library is fully equipped with reading tables and chairs along with over 3,000 books. The books are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal System, and we have books in every category: reference, religion, social science, geography, history, science, technology, biographies, business, education, and careers. The library also comes with two offices.

We connected with Gituamba School about 18 months ago. It is a school with 1,000 boarding girls. The library is the first project we have done with this school but not the last. They have one science lab for 1,000 students. We will try and build two more labs. The dorm facilities are overcrowded, I would like to build two more dorms to relieve the congestion. They could also use two more classrooms. I think making these improvements will move the school upward and make it a friendlier place to learn.

The principal is excellent and really connects with the students. The teachers are great and are very devoted. The students perform well and grades have improved dramatically over the last three years. So I think with a little work, we can make this school a real performer.

Blessings,

Stu