The path to school is the best path out of poverty
Kids of Africa runs one of the most efficient primary schools in the country for around 450 pupils. Despite the annual costs for fees, based on the value it creates for society it is perhaps the best investment that we have ever made. Immense challenges remain for the future, however.
Education is expensive. Ignorance even more so. – J. F. Kennedy
The right to an education is denied to some of the children in our protection, with poverty, ignorance and physical abuse being just some of the reasons for this. This is why we have made our school open to everyone. At the moment, around 60 children from the Kids of Africa Children’s Village go to our primary school – the remaining 390 pupils come from neighbouring areas.
We encourage and spur on each child. We charge school fees for those families who can afford to pay, and we help out those who are unable to. For this to work well, we need good management, and donations.
As well as our main school – the Kids Pioneers Primary School – we currently run two others – the Nkosi Island School on Nkosi Island in Lake Victoria, which is the largest lake in Africa, and another one further inland.
Our current school project is expanding
Of course primary school is not the end of the story. We want to provide the youngsters in our care with manual or vocational education before they can stand on their own two feet. The required apprenticeships are, however, extremely rare, which is why we urgently need support.
- Apprenticeships cost around CHF 200 a month per student.
- We are looking to build and run a vocational school, where currently none exists.
For a project like this one, which we could build on land we already own, we need donations amounting to at least CHF 300,000.