20 years of education for children in Kenya: An association is making history!

20 years of education for children in Kenya: An association is making history!

A remarkable anniversary is being celebrated this year: the club education4kenya.eV looks back on twenty years of successful support for children in Kenya. The association gave particularly socially disadvantaged children, including many from orphanages, the opportunity to attend school and obtain valuable qualifications. Some of these young adults have already made the leap into professional life, while others are still going to school and studying.

The founding of the association goes back to a personal journey of the author, who experienced first-hand the dreary reality of poverty in Africa. Instead of appearing as a “rich uncle”, he wanted to encourage African friends to go their own way and develop independently. The challenges in schools, like corporal punishment and grievances, were never hidden; The club has always tried to leverage this and bring about positive changes.

Education is the key

Another important issue in Kenya is the lack of school education, which still affects many children. One in three school children leave primary school without having competent skills in mathematics, writing and reading. This not only contributes to the perpetuation of poverty, but also increases global inequality. After all, public primary school has been free since 2003, and secondary school fees fell in 2019, but that is still far from enough.

Overcrowding in schools, inadequate facilities and often poor teaching quality are omnipresent. Parents are increasingly trying to send their children to cheaper, private schools in order to escape the inadequate educational offerings in public schools. Therefore, initiatives that improve learning conditions in semi-urban poor neighborhoods are of enormous importance.

Insight into engagement

Since 2005, the education4kenya.eV association has provided an average of 50,000 euros in school fees and a total of around 300,000 euros in investment money annually. In 2010, construction began on a school of its own in Mombasa, which is now to be expanded from an eight-class primary school to a nine-class junior school. The construction of two more classrooms and the association's final fundraising campaign, which will start in June 2025, are planned for 2025.

But what happens if the association stops working on December 31, 2025? The hope remains that the positive development they initiated will continue. Targeted training of 200 teachers to become mentors is intended to sustainably improve the quality of teaching and help more children in Kenya successfully complete school. These training programs are an important step in strengthening people's independence and creating sustainable structures for the future.

Overall, there are aid organizations, be it education4kenya.eV or others like that Children's charity One World, faced with the enormous challenge of providing education, health care and support to the severely disadvantaged people in Africa. 664 million children and young people on this continent are affected by the challenges of poverty, illness and lack of education.

Cooperation with local partners and the development of individually tailored solutions are the key to a real improvement in living conditions. Education remains a central element for development and the tools for this must be available. This is the only way to achieve sustainable change in society.