Safe Haven for knowledge

1.Overview

The Government of Kenya is one of the poorest in Africa. It is composed of 247 districts of which 189 are considered the remotest and the poorest in the country, with no easy roads to access these areas, poor health care, and inadequate access to education as well as majority are living in abject poverty. Almost 25 million people out of 47 Million of the Kenya population lives in these areas. One of these areas is Rusinga Island. The people in this region are too poor to buy seeds to cultivate, good health is difficult to access, there is overpopulation in the already existing public/government schools in the area. No NGO is working on the ground due to other logistics and as well as difficulties to reach these remote villages. SEC School in Rusinga Island is one of the unique community-based organizations on the ground in this region. Our aim with this campaign will be to provide and help the school build the Administration block and a library hall so that there is security with the school hence improving the quality of education within the Rusinga Island.

2.Rusinga Island

Rusinga Island is home to Luo community located in south Nyanza Province and it is one of the poorest and remote areas in Kenya. It is surrounded by Lake Victoria and borders Mfangano Island to the south. Estimated population range from 30,000 to 40,000. The main economic activity for the locals is fishing and some farming. Currently, there is depletion of resources on the island due to the exploitation of resources, land degradation, drought, mono-cropping, and depletion of fish stock in the lake. Semi-arid is the primary climate.

The region is highly affected by the HIV epidemic. It is estimated that 34% of the population is infected by HIV/AIDS and is currently leading nationwide in HIV infection. This has led to many orphans, leaving many children living with their grandparents in the region.

Rusinga Island has four locations namely: Ngodhe Island, Kamasengre, Wanyama, and Kakrigu. It has 23 primary schools and five public secondary schools evenly distributed within all locations.

The enrollment rates in these schools vary due to various reasons such as locality. The economy of this region is characterized by poverty with over 50% of the people in extreme poverty. There is also a high illiteracy rate and low infrastructure. Teenagers are actively engaged in fishing activities. Fishing activities serve as the source of livelihood for many families in the area. Since fish is a highly tradable commodity that is in use for many purposes, especially for the provision of protein at the household level, its price is a high factor that appeals to many fishermen. In this case, including young school-going children who see fishing as a quick way to get rich.

The majority of school children in Rusinga Island face many challenges. The challenges includes, infection of the HIV/AIDS, fetching water from lake every day and walking long distances to their home, unexpected (early) pregnancy, fetching firewood from the mountains,

lack of proper food at home, forced early marriage, lack of money to pay the school fees and walking long distances to school. SEC School was started to bridge this gap.

3.SEC School

・Introduction

Sam Education Centre (SEC) was founded by Sam Mwalimu Okomo in 2013. It is a non-profit community-based school that serves the needy children within the community of Rusinga Island, Kenya. The school is offering an education project to offer basic education to the orphans and vulnerable (needy) children who can not afford the costs of education in other schools. Most of the children are orphans who lost their parents due to the HIV/AIDs and malaria, both of which are rampant in the Suba district, where we operate. It is a part of the community development project, working closely with other groups from the community. SEC hopes to provide education for anyone who wants to learn and help change the world, whether locally or on a larger scale. SEC School has saved many children who use to walk long distances to go to one of the few mostly overcrowded government schools. This becomes a challenge for the teacher to handle which leads to poor education. Since there is no government funding/support, the whole project solely relies on donations from well-wishers and the director himself.

Currently, the SEC school is a learning center for children from the poor village in Rusinga Island. The people around here are fishermen who live below 5 euros a day. Quite many children don't have access to education. That's why SEC School is such a big breakthrough to a lot of children.

• The mission of the school

To serve the community of future generations with passion and deal with a focus of changing the world to be a better place.

For more details about the school, click here: https://secschoolmbita.wixsite.com/mysite

4.The problem

As a school, we need to put up a new building which will serve as a library and an office block. Our classroom walls are made from iron sheets that thieves occasionally break into at night to steal school books, utensils and some ingredients for lunch. They cut the walls using tinsnips.

To secure them, children have to carry them every day to school and back to one of the children’s home. This is tedious for the kids as they need to carry them every day for 1km.

(The house they keep the books)

People here usually don’t have bags so kids carry books on their heads. The books get torn in the process from carrying them back and forth every day and therefore they don’t last long. Hot sand and thorns on the paths make these walks very dangerous as well.

(The books are covered with cardboards for protection)

Currently, we are building an office with stronger walls and a roof that if completed we will give our books and utensils safety and keep the children from this hard work of carrying books every day.

5.Money break down:

- cement 200 bags - $2500

- sand - $750


- iron sheet - $900

- windows and doors - $1000

- timber - $1000

- glases and paints- $800


- contractor - $834

Total $7784

6.Can’t donate? Here are how you can help...

• You can spread awareness by sharing our page!

• Get involved! Join us as a volunteer at the school! We host many volunteers from all over the world. At our volunteer programs, volunteers engage in a variety of activities including but not limited to farming, community work, class teaching, sports playing, feeding/cooking the young children, garden preparation, construction work, caring for the cows, etc. All work that you do helps our school to continue to be functioning as best as possible to help the children. Get more details, please visit our website.

7.Thank you!

Thanks for your donation in advance. This concept comes to fruition with the aim that every human being should be able to live with dignity without having to worry about the very basic right of sustenance.

Please give generosity because the only way to live a pleasant life is either in someone's heart or someone's prayer. And in this case, you get both! SEC School is nothing without donors, and therefore we hope you will keep making us strong.