Story

In November 2010 I visited the Karuri School as part of a tour of local schools on behalf of the charity 'Harembe Schools Kenya' and Karuri itself is situated in between Nairobi and Nakuru.  I will be visiting the school again in November 2011 when I return to work in the area for a few weeks.   Until 1999, Karuri was one of the poorest schools in the area; all of the buildings were made of mud and there were no books for the children. The old mud classrooms were rapidly crumbling, and the iron roofs let in most of the rain. Little light came through the windows, which made reading extremely difficult.    Karuri was completely rebuilt between 1997 and 1999 at a cost of £35,000. The new school has 8 classrooms, a staffroom and offices. In 2003 a new stone water tank was finished. The community was heavily involved in construction and planning throughout. Much of the labour was undertaken by unwaged members of the Karuri community. The school was built to a very high specification; the stone classrooms are large, airy buildings, and the windows are fully glazed throughout.   However… the Nursery School (aimed at the very youngest children, 3-7 year olds) was started but not completed, and I have undertaken to try and raise enough funds to facilitate the completion of this.  From the pictures it may look quite a solid building – which it is – but look closer and you will see that only one of the two classrooms has been built to date (bare foundations testify to its incomplete nature), there is no glass in the windows of the completed part and there is no proper flooring – the children often sit directly on the earth floor.    I am raising money to give to Harembee Schools Kenya – a charity exclusively working with rural Kenyan communities to improve education by providing and upgrading school buildings and teaching materials – who will then facilitate the actual works.  Their website can be found at <a href="http://www.hsk.org.uk">www.hsk.org.uk</a> and as they have no overheads, all money raised goes towards the schools.   Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page, and for reading the ‘blurb’.  Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.   So please dig deep and donate now!

Karuri Nursery School

Karuri Nursery School

Story

Donation summary