Send 9 Children to Primary School in Kibera

St.Vincent’s believes that the ultimate solution to ensure that children have a sense of hope in life and a bright future is by empowering them with the necessary skills. The majority of challenges that these children undergo can easily be solved if they receive basic education. It is heartbreaking to witness young, innocent children lacking access to basic education, which is an important ingredient in the making of their futures. It is from this premise that the members of St.Vincent’s decided to continue to support children who have graduated from our Nursery School and whose guardians don’t have ability or interest to assist the children to continue with their studies.

Most of the parents and guardians of these children earn less than $1 per day, thereby education becomes least important when compared to and competing with other basic needs like food, clothing and shelter. Surviving in deplorable conditions within the Kibera slums, most of these children are trapped within the vicious cycle of poverty.  The transition from preschool to primary school seems obvious to those outside Kibera, but covering associated primary school costs is a mountain of a task to most people within the slum. Many children drop out of school within their first three years after graduating from the preschool, due to inability to pay school fees and other factors. To ensure that such needy kids don’t miss out, St. Vincent continues to support children who leave our preschool and have the greatest need.

To ensure that our beneficiaries are able to continue schooling uninterrupted, we decided to give a holistic approach in our service. We follow the child to their house and ensure that their nutrition is right plus their health is also good.  Having utilized this approach over 10+ years, St. Vincent’s is proud to say that among those children we have supported to attend primary school, we have had a 98% success rate of children completing their primary education.