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Educate!
Kenya Background
Where the Educate! Kenya Students Come From
As
of now, Educate! Kenya takes students from two areas
in Kenya:
- Olpusimoru,
Mau Narok - a rural Maasai and Kalejin (two
of the forty Kenyan tribes) area.
- Huruma
Children's Home - orphanage half an hour away
from Nairobi that receives most its children from
Kibera, one of the biggest slums in Africa.
MAU
NAROK AREA, OLPUSIMORU TOWN
Somewhere in the middle of the rural Mau area of Kenya
lies the tiny town of Olpusimoru. Accessible only
by a narrow dirt road that is rarely passable during
the rainy season, Olpusimoru town is composed of simply
a short strip of shops, hoteli (small restaurants),
one school down the road, and a few corrugated-iron
homes.
The Olpusimoru community, however, consists of the
peoples in the surrounding area who mainly survive
off of subsistence farming and live in small communities
called manyattas.
This
provides enough income for basic necessities such
as food, clothing, and a few amenities such as lanterns
and oil. Secondary school fees, however, are nearly
impossible for families from this area to afford,
especially with the average family size of 5 children.
Because
primary school is free, students, once they have reached
the 8th grade, will remain in the 8th grade class
for several years because they cannot afford to go
to secondary school, but are reluctant to drop out
of school. After several years however, they will
generally drop out and farm.
Government scholarships are rare and hard to obtain,
especially for students from rural areas. Students
from this area are especially desperate because without
sponsorship, there is absolutely no way of completing
their education.
Two
out of four of Educate! Kenya's sponsored students
come from this area.
HURUMA
CHILDREN'S HOME
Ngong Hills, Kenya
www.hurumachildrenshome.org
(mostly taken from the Huruma website)
Huruma Children's Home is a children's orphanage located
at the undulating slopes of the beautiful Ngong hills,
about 25km from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya in East
Africa.
This is unfortunately also a relatively poor area,
just half an hour from Kibera, one of Africa's biggest
slums, where most people have to struggle every day
to make ends meet. Poverty, poor health, HIV/AIDS
and massive unemployment are the main challenges people
meet. Many children are orphans or live in families
that are not able to care for them at all.
In 1989 Mama Zipporah (as she's called by just about
everyone) and her husband, Pastor Isaac Kamau, opened
their doors to some of the destitute and orphaned
children of the Ngong area. Huruma Children's Home
started by accommodating seven children, but over
the years the number of children increased, with the
present number being around 150 children.
The children are between one and 20 years old. The
children are drawn mainly from the Kajiado District
though a few are from other districts of our country.
The home offers the only real hope for some of Kenya's
most damaged children. This unique residence provides
the children with a warm homely accepting environment
and education to help the children come to terms with
their experiences.
The home has now expanded and has a big room for a
basketball court and a nice playground which was donated
as a Christmas gift by friends of the home.
The Home is run by Huruma Trust Fund, which is regulated
by Cap. 164 of the Laws of Kenya and is audited annually.
Members of the Fund include representatives from the
Departments of Social Services and Children's Department,
the Local Administration, the Church and of course
the community. The board makes various rules and regulations
for the proper management and administration of the
Trust.
Two
of Educate! Kenya's four students come from Huruma
Children's Home.
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