Working to meet the educational needs of orphans in Kenya

During the summer of 2007 I spent 6 weeks in Kenya doing field work for Global Education Fund, a non-profit that meets the educational needs of orphaned children. Below are excerpts from some emails that describe some of my experiences in the slum areas of Nairobi. We are now providing scholarships, establishing libraries and supplying textbooks to support many of the orphaned kids I met:

June 2007:

Nothing can really prepare you for the conditions in these slums. We've seen several orphanage homes and informal (slum) schools that are serving the neediest kids you can imagine -children who have been abandoned, street kids, many AIDs orphans. The conditions they live in the homes is fairly desperate - no electricity or plumbing, kids sleeping two to a bed, ongoing struggles to meet the basic needs of shelter and food, etc, etc. The individual stories are heartbreaking. At the same time there is hope - these place are run by wonderful, caring Kenyans, We find ourselves swinging between being overwhelmed and depressed and really energized by the amazing people doing the hard day to day work - so many of them orphaned themselves and now giving back. Despite the range of needs, they all prioritize education. You should see how hard these kids work - they spend very long hours in school sitting on hard benches and copying the material off the dilapidated chalk board as there are no text books. Everything is taught in English which may be their 2nd or 3rd language. The kids do hours of homework and are all desperate to pass the all-important exams to enter high school. At the same time the kids have huge responsibilities in the homes to cook, do laundry, care for the little ones and live in conditions that you can't imagine. They are inspiring.

I'm struck here more by the contrasts of rich and poor than I have been in other developing countries. A school we spent time at called Candlelight and is one of several of the informal schools we've visited. It is constructed out of corrugated tin held up by wooden poles. It is this little warren of interconnected tin shacks that each house a grade - you can't even imagine that these little structures stand up, but they are full of smiling, happy kids. No books, so they learn everything in a rote manner with the teacher writing on the little board. The kids are adorable and are just unbelievable resilient. Many of them get their only meal at school - so the feeding programs are key. After school they walk home and try to get work to support their relatives and get the money for another meal.