New book celebrates collaboration between Kennington and Kenya

Abingdon-based The Nasio Trust has been chosen as the beneficiary of a new project which brings together an anthology of work by children from two schools, one in Kennington and one in Kenya.

St Swithun’s School, Kennington and The Nasio Trust are launching Cosmic Cats, an collection of stories written by children from Kennington and Mumias, Kenya. Their work was chosen by authors Julia Golding and Sylvia Vetta and teachers Lesley Maskell and paul gamble to be published in Cosmic Cats. The illustrator Korky Paul designed the cover and it’s published by Oxford eBooks, a Kennington based company.

The schools launch with a presentation from Korky Paul, will be on Wednesday, 6th March at St Swithun’s ready for its release on Amazon and other platforms on World Book Day. On the same day there will also be a live zoom link with the children from Kenya.

The public launch and book sales will be from 11am to 12pm on March 9th in Kennington Village Centre.

The book celebrates the collaboration between the two communities to help set-up the first community library in Mumias with profits from the sale of the book (£8 each) going to the Nasio Trust’s Library Appeal.

A library in Mumias will empower a diverse group of students, youths, farmers, women, and social entrepreneurs by providing access to books they need to expand their horizons in a region where such resources are scarce.

The Nasio Trust is working to empower communities in western Kenya to break the cycle of poverty by providing education, healthcare, and opportunities for income-generation to create sustainable communities.  

Find out more about its work at thenasiotrust.org

(Image credits: Children from Mumias School, Kenya; Children from St Swithun’s School; Author Sylvia Vetta with Nasio Trust founder, Nancy Mudenyo Hunt.)