Educate Indigenous Children in Kenya

Summary

Hope for the Future will ensure quality education for children and women in the rural village of Umoja, Kenya, so that they may participate fully in their society.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

The educational needs of the children of Umoja, an Indigenous Samburu community in Kenya, are urgent. The community school is a small building that lacks electricity and running water and badly needs repair. It currently has 50 students and just one teacher, who is not trained to teach in Kiswahili or English, the dominant languages in Kenyan government and business. Students lack basic supplies, including pencils and crayons, paper, books, and flash cards and other didactic materials.

How will this project solve this problem?

Hire two trilingual teachers; paint, repair, and expand the school building; build a playground; purchase uniforms and shoes for students; create and purchase trilingual didactic materials; and offer evening classes for women.

Potential Long Term Impact

Improved children’s literacy rates in Samburu, Kiswahili, and English; increased language abilities in Kiswahili and English among students and women; and an Indigenous community that can participate more equitably in Kenyan society.

Project Message

"Our school needs so many things. Pencils, paper, new paint, glass for windows. And the children, who only speak Samburu, must learn English and Kiswahili if they are to succeed in the future."
- Mary, mother of children who attend the existing school

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).

Resources