Library is 'bridging cultures and building friendships'
Kennington residents fundraise for the much-needed resource which will open on 10 October.
Library is ‘bridging cultures and building friendships’
Nancy Mudenyo Hunt (R) said the library “shows what can happen when two communities, thousands of miles apart, work together”
The first anniversary of the twinning between two villages is due to be marked with the opening of a new library and resource centre.
In October 2025, Kennington in Oxfordshire officially twinned with Musanda in western Kenya - the centre of Abingdon-based charity The Nasio Trust’s community work.
In 2024, Oxford author Sylvia Vetta jointly led a project with the charity to produce Cosmic Cats - an anthology of stories by Kennington and Kenyan students, intended to raise funds for the facility.
The author, who will cut its ribbon on 10 October, said the twinning committee chair, the Rev Sansom Kuponiyi, had created the twinning motto “bridging cultures, building friendships”.
The Nasio Trust founder, Nancy Mudenyo Hunt, came up with the library’s motto.
Vetta was chair of the former Kennington Overseas Aid, which for 50 years raised money for development projects around the world.
She said that when given a choice between three projects, people voted for the Nasio one and helped build a production factory for the superfood spirulina in Musanda.
The charity founder, Nancy Mudenyo Hunt, who grew up in the Kenyan village, delivered the project and later co-wrote a book with Vetta.
The Kennington community also continued its support and helped establish the much-needed library, which will have WiFi access and a space for training sessions.
“Cosmic Cats is going to be the first book in the library because it’s important that children know it belongs to them,” Vetta said.
She said they hoped visitors to the Oxford Indie Book Fair on 22 November would pay for one book on a subject of their choice to be placed in the library.
Kennington resident Isaac Aldred, who visited Musanda, said the “resilience and determination people have is obvious”.
Isaac Aldred, 19, from Kennington, spent a month in Musanda between February and March.
“From agriculture projects to jigger removal, spirulina making, and peer education, I saw firsthand the diverse range of Nasio’s projects and wide-reaching impact,” he said.
He said the “kindness and hospitality shown by everyone was inspiring”.
“Despite the multitude of challenges facing the community, the resilience and determination people have is obvious.”
He added that he had seen the new project “that the people of Kennington have worked incredibly hard to fundraise for”, as it had come close to completion.
Author Sylvia Vetta said deepening the friendship between Kennington and Musanda “will be an evolving thing”.
Vetta said “the most moving” example of the villages’ friendship had taken place on Remembrance Day, when at the war memorial the names of Kenyan soldiers from Musanda were read out alongside those from Kennington.
“This will be an evolving thing,” she said, describing the children in Musanda as “ambitious and all hard-working”.
Hunt called the new resource “a tangible result” of their friendship.
“For 25 years, Nasio has believed in giving children access to education and opportunity.
“This library brings that belief to life and shows what can happen when two communities, thousands of miles apart, work together,” she said.
The anniversary event will be held at the Kennington Village Centre, via a video link with Musanda.