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Kisima School
TEFT raises funds to support Kisima School which is working with communities mainly in northern Kenya, in particular pastoralist communities.
Northern Kenya is a marginalised region with virtually no public services suffering recurrent drought, banditry and violent conflict. Most people are traditional nomadic pastoralists (herders who move their livestock – goats, cattle, sheep, camels – from place to place in search of water and pasture) facing increasingly difficult living conditions. High numbers are illiterate and many now depend on relief aid for survival.
Kisima School offers the chance for young people from these communities to transform their lives through the opportunity of education. Students at Kisima School come from different tribes and faiths and learn to live happily together free from the conflict and civil war that blights many of their communities in the struggle for scarce resources. Attending secondary school and then university gives these children the hope of steering themselves out of dependence and marginalisation and bringing new life to their families and communities.
Opened in 2005, Kisima School is a free residential school for 160 boys and girls aged between 14 and 18 years. School places are divided equally between boys and girls. TEFT funded the original purchase of the 5 acre site and construction of the school in 2001. Since then TEFT has supported the school’s annual running costs and other capital projects.
Kisima School’s first class took their Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education in 2008 and since then on average 94% have achieved university entrance grades. In 2022 94% of students achieved these grades – the national average is 19.6%.
Graduates
2022 Results
Kisima School Alumni: What happens next?
Kisima School alumni have gone on to study a whole range of subjects including accountancy, agriculture, analytical chemistry, computer science, engineering, HR management, international development, nursing and teaching. A number of students have been awarded full scholarships to universities in Kenya as well as China, Costa Rica, Poland, the UK and the US.
Increasing numbers of Kisima School alumni who have graduated from university have now returned to their home areas and are working in a range of employment including engineering, finance, IT, medicine and teaching. Many are paying for their siblings to attend school as they know education is the key to unlocking a new future for their families and communities. There is an active Kisima School Alumni who stay in touch with one another and support Kisima School in various ways.
For the girls in particular this is a remarkable achievement. In the traditional pastoralist communities of northern Kenya where polygamy is often the norm and the practice of FGM remains endemic in many places, girls are simply viewed as marriageable prospects, attracting a ‘bride price’ of livestock for their families when married. Girls as young as 10 years are married, often to much older men, and may be ‘betrothed’ or ‘beaded’ from a very young age. Kisima School is firmly committed to equality of opportunity for both girls and boys and therefore half of all places are awarded to girls.
There are many more Kisima students now following in the footsteps of our alumni and many more children in the primary schools of northern Kenya hoping for the life-changing chance to come to Kisima School.
Click on the thumbnails below to read some inspiring examples of the transformational potential of education which is at the heart of both TEFT’s and Kisima’s vision.
Kisima Trust
Kisima School is overseen by Kisima Trust. TEFT works closely with Kisima Trust to review and evaluate the grants TEFT makes in support of the Trust’s work.
Trustees and Sponsorship Co-ordinator with UK visitors
(Photo, from left to right)
Trustee: Isaack Kairu – Deputy Head of a state secondary school in Nakuru, a graduate of Kenya Science Teachers’ College.
David Cansdale – part of a visiting delegation to the school from Chorleywood, UK.
Trustee: Bishop Jacob Alkan Lesuuda - Bishop of Maralal Diocese in northern Kenya, originally a herdsboy from Samburu county, northern Kenya, started primary school aged 13 years and became a teacher before entering the Anglican Church of Kenya.
Richard Walton – Chair, The Educational Frontier Trust.
Trustee: Daniel Amunga – Principal of Kisima School, a graduate of the University of Nairobi’s School of Education and Science, BEd: Lingistics & Literature with a post-graduate qualification in Mass Communication.
Trustee: Mary Wairimu Okech – a Director of Trade and Enterprise Development for Nyandarua county government, previously worked in microfinance development and for the Anglican Church of Kenya.
Sponsorship Co-ordinator: Catherine Maina - Kisima School’s day-to-day link with the UK, responsible for liaising with sponsors, volunteers and other supporters.
Trustee: David Kariuki – Founder and Director of Kisima School, a graduate of the University of Nairobi’s School of Education and Science, BEd: Linguistics & Literature.
