Build a school in a deprived area of Mombasa

We have become victims of our own success. We have well trained teachers in a purpose built well equipped school. Our children are in classes of no more then thirty (classes can be up to 100 in Kenya). With the new education system and curriculum recently introduced  we are obliged to have a number of graduates on the staff. Because of changes,  particularly in the secondary sector, the government is looking for suitable candidates for the jobs that have been created in their national schools. They are offering more than we as a charity can afford, particularly a pension scheme and higher salaries. Our teachers, because of excellent staff training, were better prepared for the new curriculum than many. Because of this we lost four graduates to the government before the beginning of the school year in January, with only a month's notice. Our headteacher Irene managed to find replacements for the beginning of term and they were given temporary contracts. Rita, our Founding Trustee went to Kenya in January and was able to carry out retrospective interviews with Irene, Joshua our school manager and appropriate members of the senior management team. Things seem to be progressing well so far.

Maureen, a volunteer who went to Kenya with Rita in January, worked particularly on music with staff. Amos our deputy headteacher had said that all the staff found the new music curriculum boring. Rita said how could music be boring in Kenya, a country where everyone sings and dances! Maureen changed the way staff felt by showing them that the curriculum could be taught in an interesting way and even bought a keyboard for the school. We already had plenty of percussion instruments and a class set of recorders. She brought the curriculum to life and we hear that it is no longer "boring".  

We heard very good news about two of our children, Layla and Adam, for whom we found sponsors for further secondary education. They each gained a place at seperate high grade national schools and are doing very well, so much so that Adam has come first or second in a group of over two hundred students in every exam since he arrived. In her last exams Layla was 8th out of over 200.

Thank you donors. As I have written many times nothing could be achieved without the generosity of our donors. If you are new to us please consider giving us your support. The smallest of donations helps to change a life for the better. Every donation is put to good use. We believe that Adam, Layla and their families now have a chance of a much brighter future, as do many more of the children and families Mustard Seed has been able to help.  

During the last two years there have been a lot of changes at our school, Miche Bora, though our ethos of providing good quality education for very poor children remains the same. We have increased in size as we became a "Junior Secondary" school rather than a "Primary" School. Our chuldren still come into Nursery at three years but are now with us until the age of fifteen, then they may go on to further education if they can afford it!. The Kenyan government changed the education system and curriculum to be more in line with other countries. Instead of age fourteen Primary education ends at twelve years and Secondary at 15 years. We could have become just a Primary school but parents, teachers and children very much wanted us to be a Secondary school as well. Our children are in a purpose built very well equipped school in classes of no more than thirty (classes in Kenya can be up to 100) Our national exam results are goood, well above the required base, despite the levels of deprivation in the area. To achieve Secondary status we had to jump through many hoops which have been very costly, but the school is thriving. Our secondary children are required to have a different uniform, which they are very proud of. We have bought two plots of adjoining land, though can only afford to rent the third plot at the moment. The land is used for sport, play and other activities, including "agriculture" which is now part of the curriculum. Land is very expensive as it is an urban area which is undergoing recent expansion. We had to buy the land as the owner was very keen to sell and there would have been other buyers. No other plots suitable for the required playground were avialable. New flats are being built behind our playground. Our new laboratory is fully equipped, thanks to a generous donation. Another requirement is that there must be a percentage of graduates on the staff. When Rita (one of our two founding trustees) and another trustee went to Mombasa in October two new teachers were appointed, both of whom are graduates, so we have now reached the required percentage. All other staff are qualified teachers, which has not always been the case in Kenyan schools and they have all undergone a lot of staff training. One of the new appointees in particular should prove to be a great asset to the school. He had been a journalist with wide experience and was particularly impressive at interview. In the classroom his interactions with the children  and later with staff were excellent. 

Inflation  and particularly food inflation in Kenya continues to be very high so Mustard Seed's running costs day to day have increased, in addition to the money we have had to spend to fulfill the many new requirements. Without the generosity of our donors our success in providing good quality education for very poor children would not be able to continue. Thank you to everyone who has helped over the years. You have made a huge difference to people's lives. Our community values education highly and see it as a way to escape poverty. It is wonderful when children who have gone on to further education, often through sponsors we have found for them, come back to tell us about how much their lives are changing for the better. That change filters down within the family.

Thank you for reading this, please join us if you can, the smallest donation makes a difference, and a very big thank you to you if you are already a donor. The Mustard Seed Project would not have had such success without you.