Arkansas Clergy Starts School in His Native Kenya

[cs_content][cs_section parallax="false" separator_top_type="none" separator_top_height="50px" separator_top_angle_point="50" separator_bottom_type="none" separator_bottom_height="50px" separator_bottom_angle_point="50" style="margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;"][cs_row inner_container="true" marginless_columns="false" style="margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;"][cs_column fade="false" fade_animation="in" fade_animation_offset="45px" fade_duration="750" type="1/2" style="padding: 0px;"][cs_text]The Rev. Dr. Samson Gitau, vicar of Christ Episcopal Church in Forrest City, Ark., is originally from Matharite Village in central Kenya. When it came time for high school there, he had to walk 12 miles to the nearest school."I promised myself," said Gitau, "that God willing and blessing me, I would start a high school in the community so that no young adults would have to go through what I went through."In 2007, Gitau took a group of college students from the University of Memphis, where he was college chaplain, and they built the first two classrooms of a new school in Matharite. The school opened later that year, and today the school has four classrooms, an office, a dining room, and about 120 students, both boys and girls. The community named the school in Gitau's honor – Dr. Gitau High School.More recently, in 2015, they completed a science lab and have begun building a school library. Last year, we received $4,000 from the Keller Fund, which enabled them to build the walls.All work is being done through donations to the Dr. Gitau High School Matharite Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Email the Rev. Samson Gitau for more information.[/cs_text][/cs_column][cs_column fade="false" fade_animation="in" fade_animation_offset="45px" fade_duration="750" type="1/2" style="padding: 0px;"][x_image type="none" src="http://episcopalarkansas.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Dr.-Gitau-High-school-library-project-Copy.jpg" alt="" link="false" href="#" title="" target="" info="none" info_place="top" info_trigger="hover" info_content=""][x_image type="none" src="http://episcopalarkansas.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMG-20161017-WA0005.jpg" alt="" link="false" href="#" title="" target="" info="none" info_place="top" info_trigger="hover" info_content=""][cs_text style="font-size:80%;"]The new library at Dr. Gitau School currently under construction.[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]