• Sh300 million complex will contain a library, a resource and innovation centre, an ICT hub, recording studio, auditorium and conference facilities. The first fundraiser will be on Friday.
• The majestic complex features buildings shaped like eyes, symbolising vision for Nyanza and the rest of the country.
Ida Odinga plans to give her former secondary school a state-of-the-art library, research and innovation centre.
The venture – projected to cost more than Sh300 million – is described as "catering to the needs of the budding future leaders in Kenya".
A major fundraiser is scheduled for Friday this week at the Ole Sereni Hotel for construction of a 500-student capacity library at Ogande Girls High School in Homa Bay county.
The complex will be a magnet for learning and place to nurture ideas - a standout in Nyanza and a beacon for the rest of the country.
Details obtained by the Star show the library will be part of a complex with a research centre and 1,000-seat auditorium.
It will also contain an ICT hub, a recording studio and conference facilities.
The Dr Ida Odinga Library, Research, Innovation, and Resource Centre will take the shape of an eye - to symbolise the gateway to knowledge and the importance of truly 'seeing' in our day-to-day activities.
“The shape of the eye provides interesting curved elements and curvilinear accents to give the building an artistic look,” the description of the artist's rendering reads.
Ida is counting on contributions from the Odinga family led by her husband and ODM leader Raila Odinga, her friends and alumnae of Ogande Girls and Kenya High School where she taught.
The school's graduates include Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi, Homa Bay Energy CEC Beatrice Ogolla and chief principal of Bunyore Girls Mary Akunja.
Corporate entities and international donors have also been invited to the virtual and physical fundraiser. MPs, professionals and leaders from all walks of life have been incorporated in the event and the project.
Ida presided over the project's website launch on August 13.
The development will add political significance to the Odinga family and is expected to enhance their legacy of promoting growth in Nyanza.
Apart from its political capital, the venture will symbolise Ida’s passion as an educator and champion for young people and their possibilities.
Ogande is a girls-only boarding institution founded in 1964 and famed for its strong Christian values, reinforced by several famous principals.
The student population is 1,538; it has 54 teaching and 47 support staff.
While the project will be located at the school, it will be benefit the region.
“I foresee it as a much larger dream, a shared resource with the larger community that goes beyond the bricks and mortar that is the library; it will be more than just books," Ida said.
Ogande Girls principal Jenipher Otolo told the Star the project will help students who have been studying in a small reading room.
The room accommodates about 50 students and has a limited supply of books largely from the Ministry of Education.
“We welcome Kenyans to join hands with Madam Ida Odinga to help us complete the library which we hope will go a long way to not only solving our problem of congestion, but also being a resource to the community at large," principal Otolo said on Monday.
(Edited by V. Graham)