Dear friends and partners of KCEF:
I am writing this as the second term of school is beginning for students in Kenya. They have just returned from what the Ministry of Education calls a “three week holiday”
That sounds pleasant, but frankly it is not much of a “holiday” for children growing up in Nairobi’s infamous slums—where our schools are located. We fear for the 2000 children we serve when they are away from a loving and nurturing school community, with teachers who care and seek the very best for them.
One school leader recently wrote:
“We serve in a community where there are many negative influences due to poverty, drugs, prostitution and gang activity. Many of our children grow up knowing only scarcity and constant danger—which often nurtures a sense of desperation and hopelessness.”
Our mission at KCEF is to bring help and hope to these very vulnerable children, giving them a future full of possibility. Our schools provide two meals each day for the students—for many the only ones they will have that day.
After a recent trip to Kenya one of our Board members, Dick Cairns, reflected:
“They are fed not only on rice and beans, but also on hopes and dreams.”
As we begin this second term of 2024, we are greatly optimistic about the impact the schools are having on the children they serve. Standardized test scores are strong and rising. Most of the graduates are able to go on to secondary school, over 150 of them with our scholarship help. This is notable because, in Kenya, only 44% of the students who should be enrolled in secondary school are actually there. Moreover, our schools are not just a place of critically important learning—but also of safety, nurture and love.
As we continue this mission together, we need your help to:
- pay teachers a more decent wage for their demanding service
- purchase books and teaching materials
- finish work on science labs
- make more computers available, for all grades
- keep providing nutritious meals, even as food costs spiral upward
We are grateful for all of you and your partnership with us, and we hope you know that your prayers and gifts make a powerful difference. We also hope you will continue to stand alongside those of us on the Board in continuing and increasing support for this “high and holy calling”.