Message from School Director Fanuel

Hello,

I hope this finds you and your families  fine. Here we are all fine and working hard towards preparing our KCPE  and KCSE candidates .

We have just come to the mid of this term, our WHS students in form one to three have just finished their mid-term  exams. Our form four students are sitting for their KCSE mocks exams starting this Monday. They will be doing the mocks for the next two weeks. Just like the final KCSE exams the kids sit for all the papers as well as practical papers in science subjects. Our class 8 pupils just finished their mid-term exams and teachers are busy marking probably in the next few days the results will be out.

The new government policy today has drastically changed the way the prefect body is formed in all schools and thus they have introduced an election method. Students interested in being prefects offer themselves election. We just did our prefect election and now we have new prefect body with Henry Otakwa as the head boy and Celestine Oyombe as the head girl. And also prefects in all other department. The students are very happy about the new method of selection and they feel the elected group is a representation of what they wanted.

Music competition has started in the earnest. GPS children went for their first stage of competition and they emerged top in all the music classes they entered. They will be going for the second stage earlier next month. There are all possibilities that they might be able to advance to the National music competition which will be held in Nakuru this year. Due to the costs involved we shall not afford to take part in the national music competition but we shall try our level best to compete here in Nairobi.

The same is happening for WHS. They are yet to compete but for them they compete only at one stage (provincial) before going for the nationals. Like GPS we are only going to take part in competition in Nairobi whether they advance or not we shall not be able to afford to take them to Nakuru for National competition. Being competition that our schools do very well kids are always happy to take part.

Thank you

FANUEL

Friday's Featured Students - Solve Our Sanitation Students

Meet some of the 1400 children of Galilee Primary and Waddington High School – two schools in the Nairobi slums where there is a ratio of 175 children to each latrine!

Due to the over-use and poor location of the current toilets, several of our children have been ill with typhoid fever. These conditions are shameful in the 21st century where nations across the world have signed the UN charter affirming that the right to sanitation is a basic human right.

These children can be sponsored through our special SOS (Solve Our Sanitation) Sponsorship Program. We are offering a limited number of children on a Basic Program Sponsorship. While breakfast, uniform and school supplies are not included in these basic sponsorships, the children are provided an opportunity to exchange letters with their sponsors and receive encouragement. To participate in the SOS program, make a donation of at least $25, $35 or $50, whatever you are comfortable with. These funds will be used to purchase land for latrines. The school has received an opportunity to have six latrines built -- these are desperately needed.

Meet Francis - SOS33

Francis is 10 years old and in class 5A. His birthday is July 21st. Francis lives in the slums with his parents who are unemployed and very poor. He enjoys playing ball. Francis' best subject is science and he dreams of becoming a pilot someday. Can you be Francis' friend and sponsor?

Meet Doreen - SOS13

Update - Doreen has been sponsored!!!

Doreen is 12 years old and in class 3B. Her birthday is April 5. She lives with her poor parents in the slums. Doreen enjoys dancing and her best subject is English. She imagines becoming a pilot someday. Doreen needs a friend and sponsor -- please consider sponsoring her.

Meet Peter - SOS57

Peter is 12 years old, with a birthday on February 24. He is in class 5B where his best subject is English. Peter lives with his unemployed parents in a single room house in the slums. Someday he wants to be an electrician. Peter would love a sponsor and friend -- could it be you?

Meet Joseph - SOS55

Joseph will be 11 years old on June 25. He is in class 5B where his best subject is English. His father died and he now lives with his unemployed mother and older sister in the slums. At home he helps by washing clothes. Joseph likes to ride a bike. When he grows up he wants to be a pilot. Would you like to be Joseph's special friend and sponsor?

Meet Victor - SOS49

Victor is 11 years old with a birthday on June 27, 1999. He is in Class 6. His best subject is science and he wants to be an accountant someday. Victor lives with his unemployed parents and has grown up in the Kayole-Soweto slums. He enjoys playing football. Can you help Victor by being his sponsor and friend?
Meet Titus - SOS48

Titus is 11 years old and in class 6A. His birthday is December 25, 1999. Titus lives with his unemployed parents and three siblings. His chore is fetching water. Titus would like to be a teacher someday. He enjoys riding a bicycle and his best subject is Kiswahili. Won't you be Titus' new sponsor?

How can you help? Donations are very welcome. However, you can also help by sponsoring a child via our SOS program. Not only will you be encouraging a child to complete his education, but you will be helping the entire school.  Please visit our website at www.nairobikids.org to learn more or to make a general donation.

If you have any questions, please email us at info@nairobikids.org

We've Come a Long Way Part 2

Galilee has changed a lot since Fanuel wrote that letter back in 2003. At the time we had only a handful of sponsor.   And thanks to the sponsors and other caring individuals, we have made many of the dreams, which Fanuel spoke about, come true.

Eventually we raised the money to purchase several plots of land and replace most of dangerous tin buildings with brick, so the children would no longer be injured while attending school, nor would they get rained on while trying to study. We also built Waddington High School and equipped it with textbooks, desks, and a fully functional lab. The small school that just 7 years ago had only 186 students now has over 1400. It goes from Baby class all the way through the completion of High School. With 41 paid teachers, the school no longer has to rely on volunteers.

In 2007 we brought both a potable water well and electricity to the school. Previously Fanuel had to purchase water and transport it for all the children. Now not only does the new well hydrate all the children, but also provides a small income to help with the cost of overhead. The newly wired electricity runs both the well and keeps the kids safer, as now they don’t run the risk of fires from kerosene lamps.

We have also expanded Holly House dramatically. We now rent two buildings and raised enough money to add a permanent third building. Now the orphans and destitute children of the Soweto Slums will always have a home and an education at Galilee. Today we have 130 children who call Holly House home.

And thanks to Feed the Children, every child at Galilee Primary School gets a hot meal every day. We no longer have students going days without food or giving up their meal so their siblings can eat. For many of our students this is the only meal they will get in a day.

Just a few months ago we were able to finish the fundraising to build a brand new kitchen.  Now the school has the room to store the food from Feed the Children and the students are no longer forced to stand in smoke as they wait for their lunch.

All of these things happened because people all over the world cared enough to give and donate time to Galilee Primary School and Waddington High School. They also told friends, neighbors and family members about our remarkable organization. Galilee, Holly House and WHS would not be where it is today if it wasn’t for these amazing people. It truly was built with love and $1 at a time.


We have made some wonderful things happen at Galilee and WHS, but we aren’t done yet.


• The Kenyan Health Department has informed the school that more toilets need to be built or they will shut down the school.  Feed the Children has offered to build 6 more toilets if we purchase the land.  Currently we need $1575 in order to purchase the land.

• In order to go on to further education or get jobs other than menial jobs, every form 4 student must take the KCSE at the cost of approximately $109 per student. Many of the student’s families make less than $1 per day, making paying for these exams nearly impossible.


• We still have some of those dangerous tin buildings that need to be replaced.  Not only do they pose a threat to the kids, but they are hot in the summer, cold in the winter and leak in the rainy season making it very hard for the teachers to teach and the students to learn. 



The children still need us to help give them a brighter future and a chance to end the cycle of poverty. Please consider making a donation today and be part of a wonderful future.

Go to www.nairobikids.org to learn more.

Impact of Raising Food and Gas Prices on the School

Hello,
Thank you so very much for the big efforts you have and continue doing towards sponsoring children in our schools as well as the drives you are doing that are enabling us put learning materials in the hands of the children and teachers. These materials in the long run are going to help our kids to improve their academic standards and thus have higher chances of passing the national examinations.

The cost of life in Kenya has suddenly gone up in away that we are all getting worried of what future holds for us. It is increasingly difficult for us to meet our monthly bills ie salaries for our teachers, food, electricity etc.
Everybody is struggling here in Kenya especially now that prices for petroleum products , and that of food have gone through the roof. A 90kg bag of maize which we were buying at ksh 1600 ($17.89) just a few months ago, now it is costing ksh. 4500($50.32). A 90kg bag of beans that were buying at ksh. 3000 ($33.55)  is now costing ksh. 6200 (69.33). A 50kg bag of rice that were buying at ksh. 2000 ($22.36) just a few months ago now we are buying the same bag at ksh. 4200 ($46.97).
The situation is now getting into a crisis especially for us with a big number of children to feed. Before, full sponsorship used to cover normal school fees and food, but because of the continuing rise in food prices the full sponsorship fee is no longer enough to cover the same. I would wish to inform you that we have been talking to parents about our problems. In this regard we have appealed to the parents especially those whose children are on full sponsorship to chip in and support. We agreed with them that they will be paying ksh. 1500 ksh per term in addition to what sponsors are paying to support our school programs. In the same breadth we are keen on discouraging total dependence syndrome and thus creating an avenue for parents participation in their childrens’ education.
We are happy some parents have responded well and are they now paying the much we agreed with them although many are struggling as well as some we think should be able to contribute something are lagging behind. We actually don’t like sending children home for fees but really nothing else works.
Thank you
FANUEL

If you can hep in anyway,  please use the donate button on the right hand side or contact us at info@nairobikids.org

We've Come A Long Way

Orginal School

An Excerpt of an Email Written in 2003 by the Director and Founder Fanuel Okwaro

The school started in 1997 having gone through non-formal school education from preschool to std.8. I was lucky to get a sponsor who saw me through my high school education. After graduating from high school I went back to teach as a volunteer in my former primary school.

It is during this time that God showed me another place where my services were really needed. What started like a walk in Soweto slums turned out to be a vision on which the school started. I and my friends were so touched by the number of children who were not going to school in the villages, then came this idea of doing something to make a difference in their lives is what led us to starting this school.


Most of the children coming to our school come from very poor backgrounds, these includes orphans, destitutes, street children for rehabilitation and children from very poor families who are sometimes abandoned by their parents due to economic constrains. We embrace all the children at risk and at least give them basic education, we also counsel them and pray with them for God to intervene in their hardships we do all this with the aim of molding them and giving them hope for the future. Presently we have four teachers who are working hard to attain our goal of caring and educating these children. They are all working on voluntary basis. Driven by the predicaments and plight of these children they are selflessly serving these children with an aim of making a difference in these children lives.

Today the school is offering education to children, rehabilitating the street children and offering counseling to those who are traumatized by one problem or another.

There are eight classes in the school. Ranging from pre – school to standard seven. The total number of children at our school presently is 186 children, with their ages ranging between 4yrs to 18 yrs.

The school is expanding very fast with the activities we are undertaking, they suit the children found in the area and thus they are attracted to our school. Although the expansion is fast it is inhibited by the incapability of the school financially to expand the facilities and thus congestion occurring in the few classroom we have.

The free education introduced by the government has been actually a blessing, because before free education was declared we had about 300 children who were a big problem to serve due to lack of facilities and finance. Although some of our children got chances in public school we still need to expand our facilities because the rate at which we are receiving new children in our school is very high and soon we shall go back to the 306 mark. For example in the month of February alone we admitted about 23 new children and are still coming. Children still come to our school since it is an alternative to the public schools around which have very high demands like text books, shoes, uniform, games kit etc. which most parents are unable to meet. Another reason is the programs we offer are attractive to them.

We hope in the future to diversify the programs we are offering to include feeding program which is really needed, secondary education, vocational training for the graduates who will be unable to continue.

We also hope to buy land on which we can build better facilities in order to take in more deserving cases. All these others will only be possible if we get donors who will assist as financially.

Next week, an update of where we are today and just how far we have come.

Friday's Featured Student - The SOS Sponsorship Program

 

Meet Silvester!  He is 9 years old with a birthday coming up on July 18.  Silvester lives in the slums with his poor unemployed parents. He is in class 5A, and works hard in class.  He believes education is a tool to change his life!  He enjoys football and his best subject is science.  He wants to be an engineer when he grows up.  

Silvester can be sponsored through our special SOS (Solve Our Sanitation) Sponsorship Program.  We are offering a limited number of children on a Basic Program Sponsorship.  While breakfast, uniform and school supplies are not included in these basic sponsorships, the children are provided an opportunity to exchange letters with their sponsors and receive encouragement.  To participate in the SOS program, make a donation of at least $25, $35 or $50, whatever you are comfortable with.  These funds will be used to purchase land for latrines.  The school has received an opportunity to have six latrines built -- these are desperately needed.

In an ideal world

The United Nations body dealing with human rights has affirmed that the right to water and sanitation is contained in existing human rights treaties, and that States have the primary responsibility to ensure the full realization of this and all other basic human rights.

The real world

Now meet the 1400 children of Galilee Primary and Waddington High School – two schools in the Nairobi slums where there is a ratio of 175 children to each latrine! 

Due to the over-use and poor location of the current toilets, several of our children have been ill with typhoid fever. These conditions are shameful in the 21st century where nations across the world have signed the UN charter affirming that the right to sanitation is a basic human right.

How can you help? Donations are very welcome. However, you can also help by sponsoring a child via our SOS program.  Please visit our website at www.nairobikids.org to see the beautiful faces of children in need of sponsorship or to make a general donation.

 

If you have any questions, please email us at info@nairobikids.org.

Friday's Featured Student - From a Rough Begining to a Bright Future

After loosing both parents Douglas had no one to turn to and was helped by Fanuel (the school director) by giving him the chance to live in Holly House, where he gets his basic needs met,  including an education and 3 meals a day. He joined Holly House in class three and he is now in form one and doing very well in his studies. 

Despite the hardships in his life, Douglas is proving to be a rising star.  He recently came in 11th out of 67  and scored 658 out of 700 in his latest exams .  He dreams of one day becoming a teacher and with encouragement from a caring sponsor, he just may do it.

Douglas had this to say 

“I need more support in revision books and math table, calculator and geometrical set. I believe in education and will always do my best to achieve the best.”

Douglas recently lost his sponsor and although nothing will ever replace his parents, he really needs a caring sponsor to help encourage him to keep studying hard to achieve his dreams.

Douglas's sponsorship fees are $30/month which covers school fees, 3 meals a day and room. Co-sponsors are available at $15/month.

Please email info@nairobikids.org today and learn how you can help.