New Dawn Education Center

The ministry of New Dawn, under the direction of Irene Tongoi, serves the Huruma and Githogoro slums of Nairobi, Kenya. The people of Huruma village are largely descendants of farm hands who once worked the white-owned coffee farms that previously stood on this ground. These same families are now essentially legal squatters on what is now government owned property. Githogoro consists mainly of poor rural immigrants who came to Nairobi in search of a better future. They settled in this government owned area, on which a highway bypass is now planned. While the Kenyan government owns these properties and allows the poor people to live here, little has been done to provide basic human services such as a health center, a high school or roads.

In 2004, Irene (as part of her church’s team) helped conduct a youth conference in these slums. What she discovered was deep-seated hopelessness leading to high risk behaviors. The root of this hopelessness is unemployment. There were very few jobs in these communities, and the lack of basic education provided no hope of getting jobs elsewhere to provide a better life for these families. Irene, a wife, mother, and former teacher, felt called to bring change and hope to this community. Her New Dawn ministry, partnering with her church, African Leadership, and others, have worked to bring hope through annual medical camps, tailoring classes, tree seedling production, a youth sports ministry, and savings and loan initiatives. In partnership with African Leadership, New Dawn now operates a medical clinic and a high school.

Proposal

This high school, which celebrated its “Open Day” (i.e. grand opening) in March, 2009, provides a high school education for 150 students in these slums. This new building, creatively constructed out of modified shipping containers, provides more space and a better learning environment than the many cramped, dark and widely-dispersed spaces previously used as a make-shift school. This provides an opportunity for real learning to take place, and provides hope for a better future for the youth.

Funds are needed to operate this school, including teaching staff salaries, books, school uniforms, one meal per day for students, medical care, lab, computer and other school supplies, teacher training, government examination fees, transportation, utilities, and maintenance and repairs.

Total Need

$40,000 per year