Ex-teachers turn project in Kenya to a registered charity

The school pictured before and after

What started out as a group of friends working to help some children in the Shanzu village of Mombasa has now turned into a registered charity, funding themselves to take regular trips to the poorest village in Mombasa, Kenya.

John Brooker from Middleton told Rochdale Online how the charity started out as a group of friends wanting to help pupils from a run-down primary school, and how it has turned into such a success.

“When we first saw the primary school, the only equipment they had was six benches and a blackboard,” says Mr Brooker, “When we saw the school, without even saying anything to each other, we knew we wanted to help.”

The school had no roof, apart from a small section that was sheltered by palm leaves, and was host to 130 pupils out of 400 people who lived in the village.

The first thing the charity did was build a sturdy and stable roof to shelter the school, then once they had enough money, an extra seven classrooms were built, enabling children to have more space.

In 2005, builders from Bury went over with a team of 12 builders and built them a new, two storey school with four new classrooms. Since then, seven computers have been installed, along with a printer, a scanner, work benches and seats.

Since 1996, Mr Brooker and his friends have gone out to Mombasa at least once a year, each time helping the children and building new facilities for them.

Mr Brooker told reporter Nicole Bradley about how things were dreadful when they came across the school. “I remember the head teacher, Joshua telling me about this young boy in primary school,” Mr Brooker explains, “He was sat shaking and sweating tremendously, and when the teacher asked the boy what the matter was, he replied with ‘Please sir, I haven’t eaten in three days.’

“We knew there and then that we would set up a feeding scheme. It started with the kindergarten children, and we fed them a meal, and it gradually built up and we managed to start feeding the older ones. There are now two women who cook for 300 children every day.”

Before the ‘Friends of Mikoroshoni Primary School’ took over the establishment, education wasn’t free, and with the average parent earning 50-80 pence a day, not many children could afford to go to school. Now, the charity has enabled free education, allowing more and more children to go to school every day.

“At the end of the school year, which is January to November, every school will take a national exam. If the pupil gets over half marks, they will be called to a Secondary School. They will not be able to choose which one, but for the children of Mikoroshoni, it will be too expensive” states Mr Brooker, “However, some people have sponsored pupils, and have paid for them to go to Secondary School.

“Two of the people we have helped have gone onto College. Emmanuel is now working at a waiter in a tourist hotel, which may not seem like a good job in England, but to be a waiter you have to go through Secondary School.

“To give you an idea of the poverty that some of the children suffer, the other girl that got sponsored to go to college, Grace, didn’t have the bare essentials needed for every day life. We provide everything for the children, so we’d bought Grace her books, her stationary, a mobile phone, and when we were out to buy her some more things, we got a call. She told us that she didn’t have things like a pillow, or a mattress, even things like a toothbrush or towel.”

Mr Brooker also mentioned that people from all over the world went to the primary school and helped it, and that just before Christmas, someone rang up and asked if they could go over and take the children swimming. Even though they live on the coast, the children had never been down to the beach as it was too expensive to go, and when they went to get changed into their swimming costumes, the children put them on over their clothes as they had never worn one before.

Mr. Brooker thoroughly enjoys the work he does, and has made friends, learnt about different cultures, and even goes round to different schools in England giving talks on what he does, and what the children’s lives would be like if they were born in Kenya.

For more information on the charity visit: http://www.mikoroshoniprimaryschool.org.uk/