PROJECT-SUPPORT KENYA

Country / Place

Kenya
Kenya is a country in East Africa. It borders South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the northeast, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast. The country's capital and largest city is Nairobi. The second city with millions of inhabitants is Mombasa.

Ndunyu Njeru, Nyandarua County
The main project ‘Tumaini’ is located in the hilly highlands of central Kenya at 2’500 metres above sea level. Due to the elevated location it is often cold and rainy, which makes the region very fertile. The main economic sector in the area is agriculture. Maize, beans, peas, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions, and tomatoes are grown, as well as wheat and barley. Livestock farming is mainly focussed on dairy cattle and merino sheep.

General information

GOA Switzerland is an organisation that aims to give hope to disadvantaged children and young people in Kenya. They have made it their mission to improve their quality of life and promote access to education among the poorest sections of the population in Kenya. In this way, they want to help turn people without future prospects into bearers of hope for society.

The association works in close partnership with the Kenyan organisation Glory Outreach Assembly (GOA), which was founded in 1991. In recent years, the organisation's activities and the number of people involved have multiplied. Well over 100’000 people have already benefited directly from GOA Kenya in various ways.

Beneficiaries

Touched by the fate of many children in need, the Kenyan founder of GOA began to take in orphans and street children in his home. This was the beginning of Tumaini, GOA Kenya's oldest and largest project for orphans. By meeting the children's basic needs and providing educational opportunities, Tumaini aims to give them hope for the future. This also gave the orphanage its name, as Tumaini means ‘hope’ in Swahili.

The range of aid projects is enormously broad and varied, and is constantly being supplemented by new ones, as the emerging needs and hardships of the population are also addressed. In addition, all measures are aimed at sustainable self-help. In addition to the Tumaini project, GOA Kenya runs a further six orphanages in central Kenya. Over 300 full and half orphans are currently being cared for in the orphanages.

Project-support

Project: Vocational training for young people

The Kinangop kindergarten and primary school is attached to the Tumaini orphanage. This institution has set itself the goal of providing orphans with a good primary school education. Children from the surrounding area also complete their primary education here, as the classes are smaller and the school terms are longer than in a state primary school.

The school system in Kenya stipulates that all pupils should complete four years of secondary school after primary school. This is the only way to enable young people to complete a solid vocational training programme or go to university and be able to provide for themselves later on. However, as almost all secondary schools are private boarding schools, it was not financially possible to provide the orphans with an external secondary school education.This is why the GOA secondary school was established in 2012, where the dream of a hopeful future for the young people came true. The secondary school is located on the same site as the Tumaini orphanage and the Kinangop primary school.

To be able to stand on their own feet as adults, young people also need vocational training. This is the only way for them to acquire the necessary skills to pursue a career, support a family and lead an independent life. In recent years, around 140 vocational training programmes have been financed thanks to GOA Switzerland. There are currently 80 young people on the training programme and another 20 will soon be completing secondary school.