Kasarina Alpha Academy: With mHub's Help, They Have Acquired Funding!

Posted on September 21, 2016

Local government officials pouring out illicit brews and arresting vendors in Obunga slum

Housing and Drainage systems in Obunga slum

Grocery shops where residents buy and sell common household goods

Fish leftovers (fillet removed for export) that residents sell to earn income

​Life in the Obunga Slum can be very difficult. Many families here struggle to make ends meet. Poor drainage, inadequate housing, lack of jobs, disease and poverty are problems that the residents face every day. 

Obunga has high unemployment and drug use rates. Common income generating activities include selling vegetables, charcoal, fish leftovers, "mgongo wazi" (second hand clothing), and small food stands. Women and adolescents brew illicit beverages, which are illegal and punishable by the courts, to provide for their families and to pay school fees for their children. 

But Obunga is beautiful too.  Against all these odds, there are many beautiful things you  may see in Obunga. There are cows grazing on the lush green grass, teachers and children playing in the community schools, smiling happy little children laughing (despite their empty stomachs), parents buying vegetables from local community farms, and the beautiful roads and sunsets​.

Cows free grazing in a church compound in the slum

Children happy in the slum despite their difficult circumstances

A teacher playing with the children at Akili Preparatory School in Obunga slum

Community members buying vegetables from Obunga Demonstration Farm

    

​Despite this beauty, many children are not accessing education.  Because of poverty, many children from the Obunga slum continue to lag behind in education. Free Primary education offered by the government still comes with prohibitive costs of buying school uniforms, books and paying for remedial classes. This is a big burden for many parents from the slum. 

But one couple is trying to make Obunga beautiful. Josiah Oketch and his wife Jackline, started Kasarani Alpha Academy in 2009. Their goal was to provide affordable education to low income families from the slum. They have over 200 students from preschool to 6th grade. But, they are walking alone.  Despite having a dream of a better community and life for the children, Josiah and Jackline are highly marginalized and have not been able to get supporters to partner with them to ensure that they can provide education for the children.  The dilapidated structures that act as classrooms for the over 200 students they support compromise the very quality education that they seek to provide. As a result, they have become as vulnerable as the children they support and this has seen them enroll a large number of students with the hope that the modest fees they charge will earn them income to support the school.  They were crestfallen when I paid them a visit at their school in the Obunga slum.  Seeding hope & change through the Pollination Project East African Hub Program, Josiah and Jackline received a flow fund grant of $500. They used the money to refurbish 2 classrooms and a kitchen for the school.

When the East African Hub team visited their project in August 2016, \he said, "My friends, you got here so fast, you did not even call. Work is going on very well. We have finished the floors of the two classrooms with the $500 you gave us. We are now using the left over materials to fix the kitchen floor. The children will have a nice place to take their lunch. Thank you so much for helping me to get somewhere. You have really helped us."

Beautiful sunset and road passing through Obunga slum

When children reported to school for third semester, they were very excited to find the floors of their classrooms fixed. They no longer had to worry about putting their school bags on the floor or jiggers infestation any more.

The Power of $500
After being marginalized for so long, I gave Josiah this flow fund to encourage him and show him that, despite the difficulties they were facing in their endeavor to provide education for needy children, there were people out there who believed in his ability to create change in his community. He didn't have to know how to use a computer, have a Facebook page or website. The vision was enough.

And Josiah did not only use the grant to fix the floors of the 2 classrooms and set up a sustainable garden as he had planned, but also fixed an entire school kitchen floor and verandah using left over materials.
"I think there would be enough to repair the floors of our two pit latrines/toilets as well," he said with a big smile as we left his school compound. 

Through training and mentor-ship , Josiah will continue to expand his network and acquire skills to improve his work and effectively create change in his community. 

​

Josiah Oketch at his school with East African HubTeam Leader Vincent and team member Miriam Wamboi

Josiah Oketch showing Hub members the classrooms he has fixed with the pollination project grant