Help at a primary school for children from poor backgrounds in the central highlands near Murang'a, Kenya

Details

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  Description

  Hi,
  
  My name is Tracey and I'm from Wales. In 2012 I volunteered as a teacher at a primary school in Kenya. This experience changed my life and now I run a small Primary School together with my co-founder and Manager, Job Thuo Macharia. Our mission is to provide a quality free education for orphans and disadvantaged children from the community.
  
  We are situated near Murang'a on the outskirts of a small village called Kambirwa in the Central Highlands.
  
  The school opened in January 2014 with just one pupil. Currently we have classes ranging from Pre-school through to Grade 6 with a school population of 100 pupils aged between 4 and 13 years old.
  
  In addition to providing a free education we provide pupils with food, basic healthcare, uniform, stationery, clothes and uniforms. We work with the parents or guardians of our sponsored pupils to help them become financially self-sustaining with various income generating projects such as the goat project, rabbit and hen projects. We also assist the elderly grandmothers, who are struggling to raise their orphaned grandchildren, to earn an income through the sale of their traditional handmade baskets, Kiondos.
  
  We employ qualified Kenyan teachers, an assistant teacher, two cooks, a driver and a teacher in training.
  
  We are looking for volunteers to help support our literacy programme. You will provide our pupils who are struggling with one-on-one reading practice. You may help in areas where they are weak, as advised by the class teacher, perhaps with homework or extra-tuition. Further, we would welcome pre-school teachers to assist us in the two pre-school classes as we are trying to build upon the early years foundation. There's always a need to assist with Physical Education lessons, Art and music and basic computer lessons.
  
  Outside of the day to day running of the school maybe you can help us specifically with fundraising and all the marketing and research that goes into obtaining the much-needed funds for projects and for the day to day running of the school.
  
  Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.
  
  Tracey

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Teaching

  Gardening

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Travellers will experience the 'real' Kenya mixing with the local community and seeing how people from the rural areas live. The area is mainly Kikuyu tribe and you will get to experience age old traditions which are still in place.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  We are looking for volunteers to help support our literacy programme. You will provide our pupils who are struggling with one-on-one reading practice. You may help in areas where they are weak, as advised by the class teacher, perhaps with homework or extra-tuition. Further, we would welcome pre-school teachers to assist us in the two pre-school classes as we are trying to build upon the early years foundation. Further, we would welcome pre-school teachers to assist us in the two pre-school classes as we are trying to build upon the early years foundation. There's always a need to assist with Physical Education lessons, Art and music and basic computer lessons.
  
  If you have experience in the field of marketing and fundraising we would love to hear from you.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Kikuyu: Fluent
  Swahili (Kiswahili): Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Usually we provide accommodation at school but due to a problem with the supply of electricity there is currently no electricity at school. We aren't sure when this problem will be resolved so we have rented an apartment in the village for volunteers to stay. Breakfast, mid morning snack and lunch is provided at the school during the week. A donation of 5 euros per day is kindly requested to help towards the cost of your stay.

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  What else ...

  The school is situated in rural Kenya, 6 kms from the busy town of Murang'a in Central Highlands,with a population of around 11,000 it has a number of banks, two supermarkets, restaurants, bars and hotels as well as internet cafes and a big market. Situated 88 kms north of Nairobi its a beautiful, green and fertile part of Kenya with views of Mount Kenya wherever you go. The area is safe and the local people are friendly and keen to make friends. They really do appreciate what we are doing for their community. The Aberdare National Park and Mount Kenya is close by.
  
  As a UK Registered Charity working with children we abide by the safeguarding rules and regulations.
  Before volunteering with us we request that you provide a Certificate of Good Character (or equivalent) from your home country to prove that you have no criminal record .

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours a day 5 days a week

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  This host charges a fee

  read more

  Why does workaway.info allow listings of hosts who charge money?

  In developing countries (Where most hosts are involved in charity work or community development) some of our hosts may ask for a small donation to help the host family or charity (often less then 5 dollars per day) Workaway will allow this listing when the donation goes directly to the family or charity and is just to cover the cost of the volunteer‘s stay.  (This will be clearly marked on the host listing).
  We will strictly not allow listings posted by agents, “middle men” or projects who we feel are looking to profit from a volunteers stay.
   

   

   

  5€ per day towards food costs

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