Build a school in a deprived area of Mombasa

Despite none of the UK Trustees being able to visit the school in Kenya we continue to keep in close touch remotely. We are delighted to report excellent results for our oldest children in the KYPC (Kenyan Primary Certificate) exams. Good results at 14 provide an opportunity to continue education. Our fear was that the disruption caused by school closure because of Covid.would have a detrimental effect on the children's chances of success. It is the hard work and dedication of our teachers that has made this success possible, with two staff voluntarily going into work on Sundays. All school holidays have been cut in Kenya by several weeks and we are lucky to have found such wonderful staff.

We have also been very fortunate to have access to badly needed play space for our children. Spare land is hard to come by in Mombasa. A local church is renting a piece of land behind our school and has erected a temporary building. In exchange for use of our facilities on Sundays (school toilets etc.) we have use of the area for our children during the week at no cost to Mustard Seed.

The final piece of good news is the success of the Cultural Day held in our school hall. It has become part of the curriculum. and was a great success, very well attended and much enjoyed by parents. Kenyan foods, crafts etc. prepared by children, cooks, teachers  were on display with opportunities to be proactive. That our staff had the confidence to make this event such a success shows how much they have grown in confidence and that staff training has certainly helped make a big difference.

A problem we have is that though secondary education is" free"  for Kenyan children, even with the required.  results it is not always possible. They have to buy uniform and provide all stationary, text books etc. Many of our families are too poor to afford it. We have sponsors for a few children who have gone on to secondary education but more sponsores would mean better life chances for more children. 

We are fortunate to have had so much success, paticularly during the last two years. It is only the kindness and generosity of our donors that has made it possibel. Please continue to support.our school and all its staff, teaching and non-teaching, through a one off donation, regular donations, sponsorship etc. We can only do it with your help so thank you to all of you who have helped us achieve so much, there is still  much to do.

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Mustard Seed is providing quality education for 300 poor children in a deprived area of Mombasa. In January 2021, after years of hard work, our new school building was completed. All 300 children and the staff are together in one building at last. We are saving £5,000 a year in rent. The school, Miche Bora Primary School, is a source of great pride in the community. Parents are very keen to enrol their children. It also means that we now have the opportunity to hire out our building outside school hours and also have a library. However the school has no outdoor space.  There is no land next to the school but land is available close by which we wish to purchase. As well as providing much needed play space it will be a facility for outdoor games and PE. Our children range in age from 3 to 14 and all of them will benefit from the opportunities it will give them from free play to serious sport. It is also likely to provide many opportunities for the extension of school events in the future.