Abundance School in Slums of Nairobi Kenya

With just 10 Kenyan shillings of capital a school was born. Yes, 10 Kenyan shillings, equivalent to 9 UK pence or one American cent.
Teacher Fred Chavulimu, the Founder and Head Teacher of Abundance School had hit a wall when we met for a life coaching session.
Fred was upset and tired of life in the Kabiria slums. He had been working hard as a teacher for absolutely no reward. He blamed his financial difficulties on the pastor in charge of the project.
He came to me in anger and resentment. He wished he could sue his employer for non-payment of wages , but was too fearful to do so: he had been reduced to begging for his own wages.
Life was so demanding that he was looking for help to leave Nairobi and return to his village.
We talked through the difficulties Fred was facing and recognised that a return to the village was born from a fear of life’s challenges. If a solution could be found then Fred would not be seeking to leave Nairobi.
In the process of finding sources of help, an idea came to us: In school, Fred was a jack of all trades. He was the teacher, the administrator, the care give, the handyman, etc. In spite of all these skills, Fred could go for months without pay and then only received it in meager instalments!
We tried to understand how a such resourceful man as Fred could be reduced to a mere beggar? What was holding him back from enjoying the fruits of his labour? Of whose benefit did he serve? It was rather provoking , yet inspiring, to realise that the school was successful because of him and what he did! Without him the school would not exist . Up to that moment , Fred didn’t realise his talents. He was a slave to his employer.
To cut a long story short, Fred began to understand and believe that he had the necessary skills and wanted the freedom and independence to run his own school.
Fred was inspired to investigate what could be holding him back from his dream of independance and freedom.
F.E.A.R ! He feared to walk his dream due to lack of capital and lack of belief in himself. By looking at the problem in a new way, Fred was inspired to believe he could open his own school.
Fred remembered that his brother-in-law had access to a building that was occasionally used for prayers. He approached his brother in-law for help: he agreed to allow Fred to use the building for a school .
Fred had only 10 kenyan shillings in his pocket. With this, he bought a second-hand piece of white material and wrote on it the name of his dream school.This banner was displayed at the door. Fred’s first students were from his brother-in-law’s prayer team.
Since then Fred has been running this school in the slums of Kabiria. Over seventy children attend each day, seventy children who without Abundance School would not go to school at all, for there is a shortage of schools in the slums. As well as learning English, Swaheli, science, mathematics and singing, the chldren benefit from relaxation techniques, including Transformational Breath. These children come from very challenged background s and breathing helps them a lot in calming their thoughts, relaxing their minds and clearing their focus for effective learning.
A number of children have already been able to get a basic education up to level 5 at Abundance School , before moving on to public school for further education. Fred is also able to earn his daily bread from small contributions made by the parents to support their children’s education.
Tiba Africa Foundation , through Global Giving has played a major role in fundraising for Abundance School. The school has been refurbished, and teaching and learning materials supplied.The school has a lockable cupboard where teaching and learning materials are safely kept. The room has been divided so children of different ages can be taught separately.
Fred is still holding high his dream. He hopes that one day , he will be able to secure land and build a new Abundance School that better meets the needs of the children. With separate classrooms, proper toilets and the money to employ more teachers.
Yes, From a capital of just 10 Kenyan shillings, a school was born. Born from belief that it was needed and belief that it was possible. A school that has raised the hopes and aspirations of the children who attend and given them a future.
Teacher fred Chavulimu, the founder and head teacher of the Abundance School had hit a wall when we met for life coaching.
Fred was frustrated and tired of life in Kabiria slum. Fred had just stopped working for a poster whom he thought was the source of his challenges of life.He used to work hard with no rewords at all.
He came to me in anger and resentments towards this poster. He wished he could sue the pastor over payement complains,something that seemed imporsible due to unkown fear.
Fred had reduced himself to a mere begger of his own wages.
Life was too demanding that he opted to seek for help to relocate to the village.
When i investigated his motivation behind wanting to relocate to the village, i noticed that Fred was running away from the challenges of life.With solution to his challenge, Fred would note wish to leave Nairobi for village.
In the process of finding sources of help that fred needed, a hint popped up; In school, Fred was a jack of all tools. He was the teacher, the admistrator, care giver etc; i.e he played an instrumentours role!
Inspite of all these, fred could go for months without pay and if any then in meager instalments!
We tried to find out why a such reasourceful man like Fred would be reduced to a mere begger?What was holding him back from enjoying the fruits of his labour?of whose benefit did he serve?It was rather provoking to knowing that the school was because he was!Without him the school would not be?Upto that moment , Fred didnt know that, he was a slave to his employer.He didnt know that it was his right to demand for his pay.
To make the long story short, Fred’s desire was found out to be freedom and indepence.Freedom to enjoy the fruits of his labour and indepence from the slavery employer.
Fred was inspired to investigate his obstacles; what held him back from independance and Freedom?
F.E.A.R ! He feared to walk his dream due to lack of capital. It was quiet realieveing when it came to Fred’s awareness that a brother inlaw had a space that was ocationally used fro prayers.
It was obvious that his brother inlaw would allow him to use his space for school .
Fred had only kenya shillings 10 in the pocket. With this amount , he bought a white second hand piece of clothes and wrote on it the name of his dream school.These banner was displayed at the door and freds first clients were from his brother’s prayer team.
Since then Fred has been running this school in the slums of Kabiria.He has had several less privillaged children get basic education upto level 5 before they are later released to public school for further education.He is also able to earn his dailly bread from small contributions made by the parents in appreciation of the work he does in community.
Tiba Africa Foundation , through global giving has palyed a major role in fundraising for school. The school has been reverbished, teaching and learning materials supplied.The school has a locakable cuppord in wich teaching and learning materials are safely kept.
Fred is still holding high his dream. He hopes that one day , he will be able to accure land and build the abundance school. He is currently hiring a place that was later transferd to him by a brother in law. On a daily basis fred among other teachers teach children from here.
Fred having been a beneficiary of Transformational Breathing Technique and life coaching sessions, he has allowed breathwork in the school.Children are also taught about breathing for relaxation,focusing mind and joy.Remember these children come from challenged background and breathing helps them alot in calming their thoughts, relaxing mind and clearing their focus for effective learning.

The abundance school has continued to offer education to disadvantaged children in our community. As the year comes to an end, teachers are extremely working hard to complete the syllabus.

We have 12 childern that have passed school test and will be graduating to higher level of primary education.

We have already identified public schools for them.As usual our children never let us down in interviews; they all passed the interview.

We hope to offer all levels of learning in the near future.Curently, we only accommodate  them upto level 5 of learning due to the small learning space we have.

The intake for the baby class children is going.Our social workers are going around the  identify children who are not going to school.We enroll new children to fill up spaces created by children who leave for higher levels of learning.

Our children are looking forward to their end year party.

Thank you very much for your continued support.

Links:

• Open Connected Relaxed Breathing helps them to settle down.