2023-12-31-accounts

Osiligi Charity Projects annual report

Registered Charity Number 1135331

Trustees’ report and accounts For the year to 31[st] December 2023

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The photos above shows a child jumping for joy at another hand-pump repaired by the Osiligi charity. The charity repaired over 400 pumps in 2023.

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

Letter from a trustee:

2023 has been another tough year for the Maasai community in Southern Kenya where the charity works. Although, after two and a half years of drought, the rainfall finally came in 2023, nearly all of the livestock, which provide a source of income to the community, sadly died. Compounded by a lack of jobs, little earning potential, and huge rises in food costs, many parents have struggled to feed their families. Nevertheless, the Osiligi Obaya primary school has continued to thrive, providing the children with a safe learning environment, much-needed daily meals, and producing exceptional results in the national exams. 2023 also saw the integration of a new junior secondary school into the Osiligi school, providing these pupils with a new more practical skills-based education.

For the older children who have graduated from the Osiligi school, many sponsors have kindly continued to support their education at external secondary schools. Because of the excellent primary exams results, many are now attending some of the best schools in Kenya. It is hoped that, through an excellent education, some of the these students will eventually help their local community out of poverty, the goal of the Osiligi charity. In 2023, a further 23 students started at secondary school, bringing the total to 70.

The charity has continued its work to support the repair of broken hand and electric water pumps throughout Kenya, thanks to a team of dedicated volunteer Kenyan engineers. More than 400 pumps were repaired in 2023, providing clean drinking water to a further 140,000 Kenyans. Over 2350 pumps have now been repaired, benefitting over 600,000 people.

Also, in 2023 the charity embarked upon a pilot project, funded by Fondation Eagle, to enable four schools to grow their own fruit and vegetables, providing food, nutrition and valuable agricultural skills to the pupils. We eagerly await the outcome of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank the UK volunteers, the Kenyan volunteers and Kenyan staff for providing their valuable time, skills and enthusiasm, and all of the donors and sponsors of the charity for your continued support, making all of the above achievements possible.

Jim Freeth - Trustee

Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

Osiligi Charity Projects

Index to the accounts For the year ended 31[st] Dec 2023

1. Letter from the chair of the trustees.

2. Introduction

1. Legal & Administrative details

2. Trustee, governance and management

   1. Objectives and activities

      1. Operational review

3. Administration and fund raising

    8. Operational costs
   
    9. Financial review
   

10.Accounts - 2023

1. Independent examiners report.

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

2. Introduction

Osiligi Charity Projects has two strands, a school and orphanage in rural Olepolos and the repair or renewal of broken hand pumps all across Kenya.

The school in Olepolos, about 25 miles SW of Nairobi, is in rural Kenya where there are few facilities. Sources of clean water are rare and expensive and any schools, where they exist, are of very poor quality. Life is hard.

The repair of broken hand pumps can be anywhere in Kenya, from Mombasa in the East, Siaya in the West and Olitokitok in the South. These pumps are predominately in rural areas where access can be challenging. We aim to repair around 300-400 broken pumps each year and in total, we have repaired more than 2350 broken pumps giving clean local water to more than 600,000 people. The typical cost of a repair is around £1 per user, so to restore water to 5000 people costs around £5000.

The charity began operations in March 2010. This report concerns the Charity’s fourteenth year of operation.

In January 2012 the Charity opened the Osiligi Obaya School, the primary school it built at the end of 2011. The 230 children at the school are orphans, from single parent families or are from very poor families who would be unable to pay their school fees at other schools. All the children have sponsors who cover the cost of their education. The school has 10 classes of 25-28 children.

The charity was set-up following the work that John Curtin had been doing since 2004 and Jim Wilkie since 2009 in bringing a group of Maasai Warrior performers to the UK yearly.

The charity produces a regular newsletter detailing all the current activities. This is available for download from Osiligi’s website www.osiligi.org. More information on the school is available from the school’s website www.osiligiobaya.com

One of the key principles of the charity is that every penny donated goes to support the projects in Kenya. If a donor is kind enough to support any charity, they should expect that 100% of the money is used for the cause. All running costs of Osiligi and all expenses are paid for by the trustees, the individual incurring the expense, or an outside trust.

As in previous years, this governing principle has been adhered to in 2023.

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

The only costs not covered by the trustees are the fees charged by the banks or the credit card companies (see 6. Administration and fund raising for more details). The cheapest way for the Charity to receive money is via cheque or a direct transfer.

A second governing principle is that all projects should be for the long term and sustainable. Every investment must be effective long term. Over the years, the Charity has put much effort into ensuring that the school and other projects have a solid local management committee to guarantee the long-term success of the school and its other projects.

3. Legal and Administrative Details:

Trust Deed The charity is governed by the charitable trust deed of 1[st] March 2010

Charity Registration The trust was registered with the charity commission on 31[st] March 2010 under registration number 1135331

Registered Address: The Huddle Unit 5 High Peak Business Park Buxton Road Chinley High Peak SK23 6FJ

Website www.osiligi.org

Email [e-mail]

Phone [phone]

Bank Accounts: UK – Co-operative Bank, P.O. Box 250, Delf House, Southway, Skelmersdale, WN8 6WT

Deposit Account:

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

Virgin Money Jubilee House Gosforth Newcastle Upon Tyne NE3 4PL

Paypal: PayPal UK Ltd. Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey TW9 1EH Company Number: 14741686

Equals Money: 3rd Floor, Vintners' Place 68 Upper Thames Street London EC4V 3BJ

Independent Examiner: Mark Birchall FCCA MBA Gandalf Springs 30 Aveley Way Maldon Essex CM9 6YQ

4. Trustees, governance and management

Charity Information

During 2023, the following trustee changes were made:

Dr James Freeth, PhD – appointed as Trustee on 14[th] June 2023, chair as from 10[th] July 2023

Mr Roger Pannell MSc C Eng MIET – Remained as Trustee, but stepped down as chair on 10[th] July 2023.

Mr Jim Wilkie – resigned as Trustee on 14[th] June 2023

Mr John Curtin – Former Trustee, sadly passed away in December 2023

As of 31[st] December 2023, the trustees are:

Mrs Helen Pannell B.Ed (secretary) Mr Roger Pannell MSc C Eng MIET Dr James Freeth, PhD (chair)

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The charity trustees are responsible for the general control and management of the charity. The trustees give their time freely and receive no remuneration or other rewards or other financial benefits. The trustees do not charge for any expenses incurred.

Trustee selection methods

The trustees are responsible for selecting new trustees, subject to the provisions given in the charity trust document.

During 2023, all three continuing Trustees visited the Maasai area of Olepolos in April, and Jim Freeth visited again in August. The trustees paid for the costs for the trips themselves.

5. Objectives and activities

The objects of Osiligi Charity Projects are to apply all the income for exclusively charitable purposes for the prevention of poverty amongst the areas of East Africa, having regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit and the charity object clauses set out in the trust document.

To this end, in the year to 31[st] December 2023, the trustees have applied funds for the provision of clean water, the education of children, the repair of broken hand pumps and the funding of an orphanage. All of these funds have been applied in and around Kenya.

Any income not so used in this accounting year has been held on reserve for use on the charitable objectives in subsequent years.

Reserves policy

The charity has no running costs so the reserves required for the charity are small. The charity aims to have a minimum of £10,000 in reserves to accommodate unexpected projects. It does not have a policy for the maximum reserves as it recognises that all the projects are long term projects so there may be times when money is being held back from a project whilst local issues are being resolved.

At the end of 2023, the Charity held reserves for pump repairs during 2024 and for the running costs for the school and orphanage.

6. Operational review

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

Osiligi Obaya School

The school is managed by a team of 5 governors, 3 from the local area and 2 from the Charity. During 2023, Jim Freeth replaced Roger Pannell as one of the governors from the charity.

The governors continue to turn the school from bricks and mortar into a working school by employing the head teacher who in turn employs the teachers and ancillary staff. A new head teacher was appointed in May 2023 – Rispa Yano (the previous deputy) - who made an immediate and positive start in her new position.

In January 2023, the Osiligi Obaya school was also chosen to host a Junior Secondary school, which comes with a new, much more practical curriculum. In 2023, this comprised on one year group of 24 pupils. Due to the new curriculum, the charity funded the purchase of practical resources, including equipment and new textbooks.

It has always been the charity’s aim to make this school one of the best in Kenya. The charity has ensured that the school has excellent teachers and is well stocked with educational material. At the end of 2023, the school had 56 chrome-book computers, a well-stocked school library, a school file server with educational materials and broadband, via 4G.

In the developed world, the use of computers has had a major impact on education, both in the direct teaching of children but also for providing materials and methods for teachers. We aim to copy this example in Kenya.

By going to an excellent primary school, the children have a good chance to gain access to one of the better secondary schools. The long-term aim is that many will come back to the area as well educated young adults, able to help their community. In November 2023, our oldest class sat the school’s second national exams, the KCPE exam. Our school again attained its highest score yet, and one of the highest marks in the Sub County with many of our students being offered places in Kenya’s top secondary schools.

The charity pays for the initial capital costs of the school (buildings, stoves, desks, solar equipment etc.) but thereafter the running costs and maintenance costs come from the school finances. All the children at the school have UK sponsors who pay for the school fees of about £20 per month. This covers the cost of running the school, food for a midday lunch and morning snack. In addition to the money from sponsors, we ask all parents to contribute Ksh1500 (approximately £10) per term to the school.

The school is not owned by the charity. It is owned by a Kenyan not for profit company set up to hold and operate the school on a not for profit basis. All the directors of this

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

company are unpaid. Three are Maasai from the area, and two are the UK charity founders.

The school has no access to grid electricity. All the lighting, water pumps, internet and computers are powered from solar electricity. This works well for 11 months of the year but does struggle during the cloudy month of July.

There is much more about the charity’s work in 2023 in the newsletters.

Clean Water

The school is a long-term project to help the community. Girls who have to travel a long distance to fetch water do not have the time to attend school, nor do children with diarrhoea. Providing a source of clean water is a short term help to the community but one that also helps the school.

Towards the end of 2013, the Charity built a solar powered bore-hole at the school, to supply clean water to the community and school. Apart from a few repairs, the pump and bore-hole have been working well and by the end of 2022, it had produced around 11,000,000 litres of water, an average of about 4000 - 5000L per school day. The water is being drawn from underground over 500’ (160m), just by using the power of the sun. The water is used by the school and by an agricultural teaching plot inside the school. If the school had bought this water (via a bowser) the cost would have been around £75,000. The cost of the bore-hole and pump was around £22,800 so already there has been a considerable money saving by having the bore-hole plus the environmental saving of not requiring water bowsers. With proper maintenance, the bore-hole should work for a further 10 years.

At the end of 2014, and in 2015, the Charity received legacies for clean water. Part of this money has been spent on a 2[nd] solar powered bore-hole situated about 5km from the school.

Another use of the clean water legacy has been to repair abandoned broken hand pumps. These pumps were installed by other charities but then subsequently left broken. Eric McKinnon plus a team of water engineers started the repair of hand pumps in October 2015. By the end of 2023 they had restored around 2350 pumps, providing water to local communities, serving over 600,000 people. In 2023 alone, the team repaired more than 400 pumps, benefiting over 140,000 people. This was part funded by the legacy (mainly electric pumps in key areas such as schools or hospitals), part funded by money received from Fondation Eagle, a Swiss based charity (276 handpumps repaired), and part funded by a Kenyan donation (140 pumps repaired). While the cost of repair for electric pumps is higher than hand-pumps, the number of people served by the pump is usually much larger, averaging around 2,000 people per pump.

Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

The cost of the repair per user for hand and electric pumps works out at the same cost of around 50p-£1 per user.

Not all pumps inspected can be repaired as some have been vandalised or the parts have been removed and sold for cash. Sometimes the boreholes are blocked by debris, sticks and stones which have been dropped down into the riser so immobilising the pump. Sometimes due to the drought conditions the water level is too low for the pump to operate, or due to a well wall collapsing.

As well as repairing hand-pumps, the charity donor living in Kenya also funded installation of animal water troughs by the charity, close to the repaired hand-pumps. 32 troughs were built in 2023, benefitting the farm animals of the local communities.

Food Growing in Schools Pilot Project

In 2023, Eagle Foundation provided funding for the Osiligi Charity Projects to run a pilot programme with 4 schools in Kenya to grow their own food The aims were threefold:

• Provide life-long agricultural skills to the children (and their communities)

• Provide food for the school kitchens

• Give the school children valuable nutrition

This involved the building of fenced agricultural plots, installing solar-driven electric pumps, water tanks and towers, providing drip irrigation, buying gardening tools, and facilitating training courses at the Haller Foundation in Mombasa (courtesy of Haller). The project started in the second half of 2023 and is on-going, but is making good progress.

Child sponsorship

By the end of 2023, the Charity sponsored 301 children to attend school; 231 at Osiligi Obaya Primary and Junior Secondary School and 70 at secondary schools. Some are orphans, many are from single parent families. All these 301 children are from poor or very poor families.

Sponsors of primary school children pay £20 per month, and secondary school sponsorship costs £31 per month. At Osiligi Obaya School, the parents also pay an additional £10 per term to the school as their contribution to their child’s education.

Sponsorship makes a huge difference to the children. There are ‘free’ government schools in the area, but the various extra charges make the cost of these schools

Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

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almost the same cost as Osiligi Obaya, or other private schools. A typical government school has class sizes of around 60-80 children. Results are usually poor. Private schools are the norm in Kenya and even the poorest people prefer to send their children to fee-paying schools. Sponsorship probably makes the greatest difference to girls. Without sponsorship, they are often married off by their family at a young age in exchange for cows and goats. With sponsorship, they usually complete schooling, by which age they have more control over their own lives.

Orphanage and safe house

During 2015, the charity commenced the building of an orphanage for a maximum of 28 children and 2 house masters/mistresses. This was funded by donations from a Rotary Club, an educational Trust and partly from a legacy. It was opened in September 2016. To help improve the KCPE exam results, most of the oldest class boarded in the orphanage for the months before their exams.

Proposed projects for 2024

During 2024 the Charity will:

• Repair another 300-400 broken hand pumps.

• Continue to sponsor children at the Osiligi primary/junior secondary school and external secondary schools, including an additional (fourth) secondary school class

• Add a second Junior Secondary School (JSS) class into the Osiligi Obaya school. This will involve continuing to train the staff to use new practical teaching methods and purchase of more practical equipment.

• Complete the ‘Food Growing in Schools’ pilot project, and assess the benefits of the project.

• Develop and implement plans to provide tertiary education and/or job opportunities for the oldest secondary school students who will complete their secondary education at the end of 2024.

7. Administration and fund raising

The Charity has a website and facebook page. See: www.osiligi.org www.facebook.com/osiligi www.osiligiobaya.com (the website for the Kenyan school)

Approximately twice a year, the trustees produces a newsletter. This is posted to the website and emailed to interested (and some uninterested) parties.

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

To enable donation by credit and debit cards, the charity uses Pay Pal. Paypal makes a small charge of 20p plus 1.49%. This reduces the money we receive from donors.

8. Operational Costs

In the UK, the charity moved to a new rent-free registered office in 2023. However, most of the work is undertaken from the homes of the more than 10 UK volunteers.

All services are freely given and the personal expenses incurred in the administration of the Charity, from flights and visa costs, living and travel expenses in Kenya, internet and telephone fees, to postage stamps are paid for by the trustees and/or volunteers. The only UK running costs of the charity not paid for by the trustees are bank charges including the credit card fees charged by Pay Pal and bank charges on money transferred to Kenya. To reduce the amount of money lost in the transfer into Kenyan Shillings, ease of transactions, faster payments, and no platform fee, the charity used Equals Money (formerly Hamer and Hamer) as the preferred dealer in 2023 for larger payments. Remitly and World Remit were used for smaller charity payments to Kenya.

9. Financial Review

Total income for 2023 was £233,976 (£147,349 for 2022).

Our aim is to match the receipt of money from sponsors to the school fees paid. In 2023, school fees for primary and secondary school amounted to £83,692, which is slightly lower than the £88,442 received in sponsorship fees. Gift aid of £13,513 provided a further boost to income, as did £7,893 in general fund-raising.

Even when orphanage fees of £6,062, and costs of new school equipment (£7,664) were deducted, there still remained an excess of income over receipts. This was partially helped by an advantageous exchange rate between the GBP and the Kenyan Shilling in the second half of 2023.

Costs incurred in the UK continue to be provided for free by the person incurring them.

While the Osiligi Obaya school and orphanage are situated in the South Kenyan village of Olepolos, the hand and electric pump repair project is different in that the pumps are scattered across Kenya. This brings its own challenges as transport becomes a major cost, and food and accommodation must be provided to the Kenyan team of repair engineers, managed from the UK by Eric McKinnon and Jean.

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

The amount spent on pump repairs and water-related projects in 2023 through the UK charity was £111,210 (£96,486 in 2022). £60,000 of this was from funding from the Swiss-based Fondation Eagle in December 2022 for 2023 hand-pump repairs, some was partial use of a £50,000 grant also from Fondation Eagle on the ‘food growing in schools’ pilot project, £21,146 of this was from a legacy fund for electric pumps repairs (DW), and some was from other private donations.

Overall, 2023 showed an overall increase of £24,248 to charity funds. However, some of this was due to grants paid in 2023 (from Fondation Eagle) committed for 2024 projects.

To take advantage of the strong exchange rates in the second half of 2023, £67,500 (i.e. 50% of all predicted spend for the second half of 2023, and for January/Term 1 in 2024) was pre-exchanged into Kenyan Shillings in July 2023 at the favourable exchange rate of 182 Kenyan shillings per £1. The Kenyan shillings were then stored in our Equals Money bank account.

From this point, for each significant payment to Kenya, 50% was exchanged on the day, and 50% was taken from the pre-exchanged balance. This explains the closing balance equivalent to £25,465 under the heading of ‘Equals’ as of 31[st] December 2023.

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

10.0 Accounts for 1[st] January 2023 – 31[st] December 2023

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Accounts are prepared on a receipts and payments basis.

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Jim Freeth - Trustee Date – 12th August 2024

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Two Osiligi primary school pupils in front of their home

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

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A pump repaired and a community with clean water again

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Osiligi Charity Projects Trustee Annual Report 2023

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Osiligi Charity On accounts for the year ended 31.12.2023 Charity no (if any) 1135331 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {'the Trusfl for the year ended 3111212023. Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance wtth the requirements of the Charities Acl 2011. I rewrt in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charty Commission under section 14515){bl of the ACL I have completed my examinalion. I confirm that no material matter5 have come lo my attention {other than Ihat disclosed below "l in connection with the examination which gwes me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records I have no concems and have come across no other rnatters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. . Please delete the words in the brackets rfthey do not apply. Independent examinerfs statement Signed: Date: 1￿10/2024 Name: Mark Birchall Relevant professional qualification(sl or body (if any): FCCA Address: Gandaw Springs 30 Aveley Way Maldon Chelmsford Essex CM9 6YQ IER October 2018

Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independenl examination of chartty accounts= directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examlner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018