History Juanita School
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Juanita School for Girls
The History of Sacrifice
Jacinta Chengecha, Juanita School for Girls School Master and her husband Patrick, The
following history of Juanita School is nothing short of a modern day miracle.
After I made a video presentation on drilling boreholes and bringing fresh water to Kenya at
Christ Covenant Church in Florissant, Missouri. I met Juanita. The first thing she told me was, “I
put her to shame.” I asked how? She said she had been a teacher in Kenya and now lived in the
United States and was doing nothing to help her home country and I was a white redneck busting
my butt to bring clean water.
She then stated, “I want to build a school in Kenya.” I replied, “Good luck and God bless you.” A
school was not on my radar and I wished her well. But she and her husband Patrick volunteered
for me at Shoeman Water Projects for three years and I always called her Juanita. I had caught
her name at church with noise in the background, a heavy Kenyan accent, and I’m hard of
hearing. I had never heard the word Jacinta before and picked up the name Juanita instead of
Jacinta.
After three years of vision and praying the school was going nowhere. We had no land,
electricity, water or money to build a building. Then, Jacinta’s mother donated 10 acres of
farmland if we would build a school. But we had no running water, electricity, or money to
build a building.
I was at Ballwin Baptist Church (now the Rock Church) showing a video on the importance to
drilling fresh water wells in Kenya. One image that was hanging in my mind was a woman with
a red plastic bucket following a cow to catch the urine. She needed something to drink! I had
been to Living Waters International and learned how to drill a borehole. And I had found that
there was a market for used shoes and I became known as, “The Shoeman.” We collected 4
million pounds of used shoes and, “Turned them into Drinking Water.” I was hoping that the
church in Ballwin would do a shoe collection and help drill fresh water wells.
A young lady, Sara Gibbs, came up to me after the presentation and said she wanted to do a
water project. The well at the future school would cost $20,000 and I thought she had good
compassion but not the financial ability to fund such a project. However, I called on her and her
husband Jeremiah. I did not know it, but Sarah’s father had died in a car accident caused by a
defective tire. There had been a lawsuit and she had just received a large inheritance. When I
told them what the well would cost, they wrote me a check for $20,000!
Now we needed a new charity with the non-for-profit IRS approval called a 501 (c) c status. Dr.
Franco Sicuro had a desire not only to heal people but also to leave a social impact. He and I
became co-founders of The Heron Fund. Dr. Sicuro had been on a lakeside walk and had
observed, “The Heron Bird.” He watched the bird for a short time and was inspired by its beauty
and came back to me asking that we name the new charity, “The Heron Fund.” It sounded good
to me, and the Heron Fund was founded to support Juanita School for Girls.
We now had a valid charity, land, and a borehole (a well) but no money for electricity or a
building. We were a new charity so there was no extended mailing list. We had no marketing
plan, but the word was in the grapevine. A lady approached me with inquiry about the school. I
made my report and told the dire situation. The electricity had to be run to a remote location and
would cost $20,000. She liked the vision and wrote me a check for $20,000. Now I had land,
running water, and electricity. But we did not have a dime to build a building. I was feeling
guilty receiving money from people and then perhaps a large failure.
I have been going to Kenya for 20 years and each year a particular woman assists in the finance.
And every year, I bring back pictures and video to report on the work accomplished. I called on
this lady again. She was amazed at the vision and the gifts that had been made. She said, “Well
I guess that means, I have to anti up.” And she wrote me a check for $400,000.00!
Now we had everything we needed: Land, water, electricity and money for the building. But
there was another thing lacking, sacrifice! Jacinta had not yet finished her PhD at Lindenwood
in St. Charles, Missouri. And it was time for Patrick to travel and oversee the drilling of the
borehole and begin working on the ten-acre farm that would help support the school.
Jacinta had been working at a nursing home wheeling the elderly around in wheel chairs and
making minimum salary. Now, with Patrick in Kenya, she had no job and no place to live. C.P.
Foster from Pennsylvania had a farmhouse in Ohio with space for a garden. Jacinta and her two
sons, Ralph and Alpho, moved in there and Jacinta commuted to St. Charles every other week
for classes. She needed to finish her PhD to qualify as School Master at the new school.
Her life was not easy; she planted a garden and raised chickens for two years as she finished her
education. Ralph and Alpho, had never kept a garden or raised chickens. But they endured life’s
lessons of hardship and the family lived mostly from the garden and raising, selling and roasting
chickens! Jacinta could not afford the fuel to trips to St. Charles so C.P. Foster and myself took
turns with fuel assistance.
And Patrick’s life was just as hard. He had packed up the family furniture and moved to Kenya.
He lived in a 40-foot ocean container divided in half. On one half he was raising chickens. He
fenced off the middle section and created a bedroom living with an outdoor toilet and no running
water. We called him the chicken man, because he lived with the chickens!
It was now time to name the school. I suggested we name it Juanita School because it had been
Juanita and Patrick’s vision. She said, “But my name is Jacinta!” I said, “Do you mean I’ve
been calling you by the wrong name for 3 years!” She kindly says, “What’s in a name.” We
Googled Jacinta and there was no apparent meaning. We Googled Juanita and it meant, “God’s
Gift.” The name stuck and today we have Juanita School for Girls, Jungle Kenya with 52
students and 30 more enrolling in May 2022. By the end of 2022, we expect to have 100
students! This is a far cry from the vision cast in 2014 and it has been the Hand of God and the
sacrifices of your saints that have raised up this new school.
Who Are Our Students?
In 2021, according to the Kenya National Examinations Council, Kenya graduates 1,179,192 8th grade students. Graduates, 500,000 of them, do not have a high school to attend. These young
girls cannot afford school fees or no school is available.
Girls, because they have no future, suffer from depression and are sold into sex trade or turn to
alcohol, or drugs. Girls are left without a hope and about 11% commit suicide. These students
do not have a parent, church, or convention to speak for them. They are a lost generation,
without hope!
The Heron Fund is a Proud Supporter of Juanita School for Girls Where we Rescue Children and Change Lives, And Make Disciples!
Juanita School for girls is a boarding school with 52 students. The girls have been living in a
mud hut sleeping on a dirt floor covered with a goatskin. They have never had running water or
electricity.
The girls range in age from 13 to 19 years old. Some of the girls have been tending to goats by
tying a rope around the goats’ leg and anchoring it to a wooden steak. As the goat eats all the
grass the steak in moved to another location. This is their life.
When the girls come to Juanita School they sleep on a mattress for the first time, they take their
first shower and had electricity. When the Pandemic hit they didn’t want to go home.
School opened in January 2020 but the Pandemic hit in March and the students were sent home
for the balance of the year. February 22, 2021 was the grand opening with the same students
returning to repeat their freshman year. The student body is now 52 students with 30 more
reporting in May. By the end of 2022 we will have 100 students.
During 2021 we added 10 computer work stations with internet. The students had never seen a
computer. Internet was a miracle! We also added a bus. Juanita School is in a remote area and
there was no way to get a sick child to a doctor, grocery shop, or go to church. We bought a bus
and transport is now available. We also added a science laboratory so when the girls graduate
they will be prepared for a job, trade, university life, and a role in the Kingdom. A future is
born.
In addition to their regular studies the students work the 10 acre farm. The farm grows corn,
beans, tomatoes, lettuce, spinich and a host of vegestables. They also have chickens, rabbits, sheep, goats, cows, ducks and turkeys. We train the girls that with a hoe and one acre of land
they can become a commercial farmer. They learn farming and how to cook what they raise.
Now we have to be about the business of providing a quality education and Christian
Discipleship to this new generation. You have befriended us and are helping The Heron Fund
“Rescue Children and Change Lives” as we support, Juanita School for Girls, Jungle Kenya.
The Heron Fund is the proud supporter of Juanita School for Girls. And our slogan, “We Rescue
Children and Change Lives” is not just a slogan! It is reality! We exist solely by the Grace of
God and the generous hearts of people like you.
May I encourage you to follow us on Facebook at Juanita School for Girls/Heron Fund or my
personal Post, George Hutchings for our Daily prayer and updated news? The website is being
updated and will carry the school’s news of the day. That site is: WWW.HeronFund.org.
From our family to yours, thank you for your friendship and May the Lord Bless you real good
and expand your tents in 2022.