Build a school in a deprived area of Mombasa

Our school in Mombasa is specifically for very poor children and the Trustees of the Mustard Seed Project  (MSP) are happy to report that the school is progressing well despite a lot of recent changes. Thanks to our excellent staff our national exam results have always been good, usually B- or B, with C being the national expected grade that opens doors to further secondary education and eventually work. Recently we have acquired Junior/Secondary School status, hard won with many hoops to jump through, but we now have children from 3 years in Nursery to 15 years in Secondary, previously 14. This status was very much the wish of our very supportive parents, staff and of course the children. It has been an expensive process as the Kenyan government completely overhauled the education system with a new curriculum and many new requirements. We have had to equip a laboratory, purchase land for a playground and recruit new staff among other things -  we even had to change the way the doors opened!. Also we are required to have a number of graduates on the staff, which was not the case in the past. We always ensured our staff had the correct teaching qualifications but this is no longer enough.

In September two of our Trustees will travel to Kenya and in that time hope to interview and appoint two more teachers, preferably graduates. One Trustee will be in Kenya for ten days but our Founding Trustee will spend a month there, which she does twice a year. They hope to include staff training and lesson observations as well as interviewing. 

In the past teaching in state schools in Kenya has been in very large classes (up to 100) with a lot of rote teaching. Our school has well equipped classes of no more than 30 with a curriculum similar to the uk so the curriculum changes have been taken on board well by staff, as much of it was already in place. As well as the expensive process of making sure we fulfilled all the  requirements for our new status (which will be taken away unless we continue to do so) we have to employ more staff because the children are with us for an extra year. Financially it is a difficult time for MSP and without the help of our generous donors we would not be able to continue to provide the children with such a good education.  Education is highly valued in Kenya and for our children it provides an opportunity for them, and often the family, to escape the poverty into which they were born. Thank you for your generosity, thank you for reading this and if you have not already joined us please think about donating. Even the smallest donation can help to change a life for the better.