Nieuws; sept. 2026
Dear reader,
A new newsletter from the Friends of Kibera Foundation (www.vriendenvankibera.nl). The Foundation was established in 2019 with the aim of supporting the Oloo Education Center in Kibera, Nairobi (Kenya). With financial support, we make it possible for children from this slum to receive education. Oloo Education Center is a school for primary education and a secondary education department. The school has been founded eighteen years ago by Judy Oloo. Together with a team of (voluntary) teachers and support staff, she is committed to getting the children of Kibera out of the poverty spiral through education. Judy and her team depend to a large extent on the support of private individuals. Parents pay a contribution that is feasible for them.
As the Friends of Kibera Foundation, we structurally support the school with an amount that is feasible given our budget (your gifts). If possible, we help pay for additional and unexpected costs that the school has to incur. The spending of the money is always in consultation with Judy Oloo as the director of the school; online with the entire board, physically with board members who live in Nairobi. Nowadays, the focus is on building a new location for a Junior High School department. Our fund is filled by structural and/or incidental donations from people and organizations/funds that are willing and able to contribute to this way of developing opportunities for disadvantaged children in Kenya.
'Junior High School'
ALast January, the Junior High School department was launched, for the time being in the primary education building. Ultimately, that existing building is too small and expansion is necessary. With financial support from the Jan Amos Comenius Foundation (JAC) from Zwolle, the new building started in Spring. Eventually it will be a school with four classrooms.
Thanks to the gift from JAC, we were able to transfer money, enough for the construction of the first floor. That floor is standing, but construction is currently stagnating. There is no money yet for the corrugated iron roof, for doors, windows and electricity. In addition, a water tank should be installed. As a Foundation, we are busy asking for more financial support so that a roof can be put on it. The sooner the better and we hope that we will succeed in doing so this Autumn.
Due to the expansion with junior high school there are more students. Therefor we have increased the structural contribution that we make monthly as a Foundation by ten percent. Given the current balance, this is justified. It remains that it is always uncertain how long we can keep this up. That always depends on the donors.
Project sponsoring school fees for secondary education
The 26 students for whom we as a Foundation are paying the school fees starting from January 2024 (thanks to those friends of Kibera) are now in their third year. Their secondary education will take four years. The third quarter started in August and school fees for that period have been transferred. They visit their 'old' school during holidays.
The foundation itself
Income
In April 2026, at our request, we received money from the Groningen 'Stichting RK-SCI Vermogensfonds te bestrijding van armoede'. They have been asked for financial support in organizing an in-service training program for the teachers of the school. The three-day training will take place in Autumn 2026.
We continue our search to find 'charitable organizations' to increase both structural and one-off income. We have made two applications but are still waiting for their answers. In any case, money has been requested to complete the new building. In addition, the school needs renewal and expansion of the book stock and we have also made a request for extra money for this. We look forward to positive news.
Collaboration Wereldwinkel Nijmegen
We started a relationship with the ‘Fair Trade’ shop in Nijmegen. Ultimately, we have a shared goal: to ensure that people whose cradle was in a less favorable place are given opportunities. The mutual intention is a long-term relationship between our Foundation and the Fair Trade Shop. Both we and the Fair trade shop believe in Win-Win. In any case, to us
the world shop is an extra opportunity to gain more awareness. The Fair Trade shop wants to expand its activities and finds our school a suitable project. They also made a nice donation right away.
Expansion of the board
Especially in Nairobi itself, the board of the Foundation needed reinforcement. It remains important to visit the school regularly and Lieke Aarninkhof was less successful in visiting than desired. We now have a new board member who will join from September 2026: Anthe Vrijlandt. She works for an 'official development body' whose headquarter is in Nairobi. She would like to broaden her horizons by also being active within a smaller and less official project in Nairobi and then our Foundation came her way. We are happy with this expansion and look forward to working with Anthe.
