Empower, Engage, Educate in Rural Kenya!

At Mang’olota Primary School, students eagerly gathered around a globe to find New York. They explored how the Earth’s rotation creates day and night in different parts of the world, then created artwork about friendship — with several students proudly displaying pictures of a child from Kenya holding hands with a child in New York. The moment marked the beginning of a new cross-cultural exchange with peers thousands of miles away. 

Through Kenya Connect’s partnership with the Putnam/Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), students at both Mang’olota Primary and Nunga Comprehensive School are connecting with classes in New York. Together, they’ll explore environmental conservation by sharing the unique ecological challenges facing their communities and brainstorming solutions.

These connections build on a long tradition at Kenya Connect, which began as a pen-pal program linking classrooms around the world with children in rural Kenya. Since 2004:

• 156,236 letters have been exchanged.
• 491 students currently participate in active cross-cultural exchanges through BOCES and Level Up Village.

As these exchanges continue, students will use reading, writing, science, and art to share local knowledge and learn from one another. A globe may show the distance between Kenya and New York, but the students’ artwork shows how close those friendships already are.

Thank you for helping make these connections possible!