Education for Glad Kids School in Kenya

Hello, My name is Andrew. I am fundraising for Glad Kids School, located in Nairobi, Kenya.

In May of 2022, I had the fantastic opportunity to travel to Kenya to volunteer teaching. Knowing nothing about Kenya or teaching school, I began to embrace the culture and local customs.

On the first day of school, the other volunteers, Hegman, Leo, and I, sat down and talked with the head teacher of the school, Elosy Kanyua. She explained that she created the school to help less fortunate children in the community, many of which come from the slum.

While looking around, I noticed the school was very different from schools back home and how fortunate we are to have the education system. The classrooms were small, often housing 20 to 30 students when it seemed to be for only 10 or 15.

The school play area is dirt, with no pavement for the kids to play on. Many of the sporting equipment is old, and some are even broken.

Elosy explained the school's needs that make keeping the school open a struggle. Some include semi-permanent classrooms, which cannot accommodate all 347 students. The children are forced to squeeze into small classrooms with old benches and desks that are not fit to be used.

The school also offers meals to the students. However, Elosy explained that the kitchen needs to be improved to accommodate health standards and updated equipment to feed the students properly. For example, the school needs boilers, larger cooking pots, and even sinks to be installed.

The school lacks the proper electricity, making using the one computer the school has difficult. The students rely on old and outdated curricula from textbooks that only the teachers have because there aren't enough for every student.

Most students can't afford the school's tuition, leaving it nearly impossible for the teachers to get paid.

While talking with one of the teachers, Edgar, who has been at Glad Kids School for over five years, mentioned how "many teachers leave after a few months or a year because they aren't getting paid. They have families to provide for also, and if they can't get paid, they cant provide. The teachers who are here right now are here because it's in their hearts."

With your donation, you are not only supporting efforts to supply Glad Kids School with the necessary supplies, but you are donating towards these students' futures.

Below is a link to my Kenya Youtube Video!

https://youtu.be/mWBdobiY2f8

We appreciate your support!