Projects
Project Junior High School (starts in 2024)
​
Reason for starting the project
In 2020, the Kenyan government announced that the school system would be overhauled. They are switching to the Finnish system. In Finland there is a kind of middle school, the children attend six years of primary education – from the age of six to twelve approximately – and then three years of junior high school. The children who were in grade 6 in 2023 will be the first to go to further education at the age of 12: junior high school. There is 'compulsory' secondary education for these children.
According to the staff at Oloo's school, this actually means the end of their educational career. They are too young to go to school outside Kibera, not to mention the investment this requires from their parents. Parents will not choose this and 'mandatory' for all children is therefore a myth.
Planned implementation
The school team has decided to start its own Junior High School in January 2024. The children will then continue to live in their familiar environment and their own home for another three years. They can then experience the security, friendliness and support of Oloo's Children Center for a number of years to come. And then there is much more certainty that they will receive a few more years of education.
​
This means a challenge and a number of important changes for the school. Other and more subjects are taught at a higher level that require subject teachers who are not available at the moment. No additional space is required at this time. There is space within the school because the classes grade 7 & 8 finish. In two years there will be an extra group that will require extras: space, furniture, etc.
​
Judy Oloo has applied to the Kenyan government to be allowed to set up a Junior High School. The request was rejected; the school is insufficiently equipped for this. Once the facility is in place, they can start offering education. In practice, this means that they can also start offering now because the alternative is that the children do not go to school and wander through the neighborhood. They are not allowed to take exams and the children need that to attend senior high school.
​
We will help the school with the furnishing of the building and provide the necessary resources. are necessary (in brackets what the budgeted costs are¹):
​
In the very short term:
-
A science room (cost 175,000 KS is € 998)
-
A computer room with equipment (cost 80,000 KS is € 456)
In the medium term
-
Four additional teachers for different subjects, but not full-time (Cost approximately 40,000 KS per month is € 228 per month)
-
Forty chairs and tables for the extra class (cost approximately 40 x 1500 KS is € 342)
-
Forty lockers (cost 40 x 2000 KS is € 456)
-
For the children themselves (cost of uniforms 40 x 1500 is € 342)
-
New books (cost 1350 KS - 40 x 8 is € 308)
The end result
The result is that Oloo's Children Center has a Junior High School department where the recognized exams for the long-standing primary education department are also taken.
As a Foundation, we are committed to providing additional income so that these expenses are not at the expense of the support for the lunches that we already provide regularly.
​
¹ At the time of writing, the rate of the Kenyan Shilling is 0.0057 Euro
Tuition fee sponsorship project (2024)
​
Reason for starting project
In December 2023, like every year, group eight of Oloo Children Centers took the exam to obtain the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), necessary for access to further education. No fewer than thirty children from Oloo's school passed with good grades. In principle, this means admission to further education. However, of that group of thirty, only one student was awarded a government grant by drawing lots. For 29 others, this would mean 'end of educational career' and little or no chance of ever finding a job outside Kibera. For these highly motivated and eager to learn children, this means that in the future, like so many residents of Kibera, they will have to provide for their livelihood by nibbling left and right. Their children are once again dependent on the efforts of well-intentioned fellow residents such as Judy Oloo and Billy Wasonga.
Performance
The children who pass are always allocated a place at a 'boarding school for secondary education', which is unaffordable for these children (parents) without a grant.
In any case, further education is always outside Kibera and usually also outside Nairobi. Education is provided in boarding schools. This means that in addition to costs for travel expenses, clothing, uniform and costs for necessities such as a mattress, a bucket, sink and learning materials, you also pay school fees. Secondary education is not graceful. In December we heard that the children have to pay approximately 3oo euros in school fees per year. This is really unbearable for the parents of these children, often the mothers. As directors of the Friends of Kibera Foundation, we started recruiting donors in the Netherlands; people who wanted to pay three hundred euros per year for four years so that a child in Kenya can receive further education. We wrote to family members, acquaintances and colleagues with this story and asked if they wanted to support a child in this way. And a lot of people responded positively to that. At the start of the school year, we were able to pay the 'school fee' for 23 students and they could start their further education!
The end result
The end result is that 23 children have started further education. We of course hope that there will be more so that the last six can also start.
Food supply project (2022-2023)
Reason for starting project
We started this project in November 2022 to reduce food costs
that is provided to the children daily at the school (lunches, extra snacks). A
way to provide this is to enter into a contract with a local food supplier,
which guarantees the supply of the food needed. And who can do everything at once
supply for an acceptable price.
Performance
To get a good idea of the total expenditure on food and what is needed
Billy Wasonga, as a school employee, and Lieke Aarninkhof from the board
for three months we map out what is bought and how much is spent
is becoming. The costs turned out to be approximately 200000 KES = 1479 euros per month.
With a list of nutrition needed per month, Wasonga is in the first months of 2023
in the Kibera area I looked for a supplier who could supply this for a price
acceptable price and found one.
To purchase on a large scale, additional storage space was also required within the school. That's what it is for
a room cleared.
The end result
The 'whole sale delivery' started in March 2023 for a monthly amount of 129350
KES = 955 euros. This means a saving of approximately 524 euros per month.
The inventory has also made it clear that a relatively large amount of money is spent on this
food preparation involves: soaking (beans) and cooking on charcoal. It is still being investigated whether
that can be done in a different, cheaper way.