Local Schools, Non-Profit Connect With Kenya

Kenya Connect started as a simple pen pal exchange, and has grown into a global non-profit committed to improving the lives of children in Kenya , with some of the biggest contributions coming from children in Ellicott City.  

Maryland-based Kenya Connect’s mission is to “promote cross-cultural exchange and grassroots community development through the establishment of personal- and service-oriented relationships between children worldwide” according to its website. 

The organization teaches children about volunteering through first-hand experiences, cutting out the middle men prevalent in many charitable organizations, and bringing money, infrastructure and employment directly into the community of Wamunyu, Kenya.

Through projects with local and international schools serving as the main driving force in raising money, Kenya Connect has employed hundreds of people over the years and helped their communities grow.

Tim Gregory, Executive Director of Kenya Connect, is a teaching artist here in Maryland.  He uses cultural arts programs as an outreach vehicle, and in 1998 Gregory’s work first brought him to Wamunyu, Kenya. 

There, Gregory befriended James Muysoka, who at the time was employed as a social worker with a local NGO and was affiliated with local primary schools. He is now field director for Kenya Connect. 

Gregory and Muysoka decided to set up a pen pal exchange between Kituiu Primary School in Wamunyu and Crofton Woods Elementary School in Anne Arundel County.  It was an “instant success” according to Gregory.

Very quickly more schools in Maryland expressed interest in a pen pal program, and 30 schools in the Wamunyu area joined as well. 

“Then, of their own accord, the students of Crofton Woods decided to raise money to build a water tank for their partner school,” explains Gregory.  “This sponsorship idea became immediately popular with students in Maryland, and they began sponsoring their partner schools in Kenya with various needs such as fences, desks and sports equipment.”

Currently, 45 schools in Kenya are partnered with schools in Europe, North America, China, New Zealand and Korea through Kenya Connect.  That includes many in Howard County, including St. John’s Parish Day School, St. John’s Lane Elementary School, Waverly Elementary School, Mount View Middle School, Marriotts Ridge High School, Swansfield Elementary School and Bushy Park Elementary School. 
Students embrace the partnership and fundraising efforts because they get to see the results first hand via videos sent showing the improvements paid for with the money they raised.

In 2006 St. John’s Parish Day School began raising money to build a fence, followed by a water tank and a chicken coop (to care for an important sustainable food source) and that momentum has kept growing.  Last week the students at SJPDS participated in their second “Walk for Wamunyu.” 

Last year the walk raised over $6,000, and the funds used to purchase materials for the Mbaikini Special Needs School including wheel chairs and other school supplies at their partner school, Mbaikini Primary School.  St. John’s students are pen pals with Mbaikini students and in cooperation with St. John’s Episcopal Church have also helped the school build a media center that includes books, a TV and DVD player.

This year, funds raised will be used to build an environmentally friendly/green community center in the middle of Wamunyu. This center will serve as a resource for the families of Wamunyu.  

“Due to entrenched poverty, people in the drought-stricken community of Wamunyu have limited opportunity to develop the basic skills necessary to improve their lives,” explains Global Giving.  “Over 14,000 children and adults will benefit from having a green Community Learning and Resource Center. This solar-powered facility will provide first-time access to computers and a library as well as space for community education. A model grey and black water system will be installed to teach water conversation techniques.”

Such a resource center is desperately needed, according to Gregory.  “There is no library, no Internet and hardly and electrical power … This is Kenya Connect’s most ambitious project.  Things like basic computer skills will allow students to go on to secondary school and even college. Access to free computers will allow business people to compete and succeed.”

Last year, St. John’s Parish Day School and St. John’s Episcopal Church together were the top donors to Kenya Connect.  

Schools who participate in Kenya Connect’s program help by not only raising money, but helping create jobs.  They provide dollars for the supplies, but then it is the local people who have the job of putting the project in place, which provides them with a source of income. For example, money is raised for a project, and the construction becomes a communal effort: the people who participate make the bricks, and then build the building.  They sew the school uniforms.  They have ownership of the project.

 Recently, Kenya Connect was the number 1 non-profit in the latest Global Giving Challenge having the highest amount of donations and the highest number of donors. Global Giving is one of the top giving organizations for small non-profits serving the developing world. 

Gregory and his co-worker, Sharon Runge, are both volunteers.  Runge will be back in Wamunyu this summer with 14 other volunteers on her team, including Tiffany Rath, principal of the Lower School at St. John’s Parish Day School. 

Runge says, “When I see how Kenya Connect and James [Muysoka] get supplies and bring them into the community, sometimes even under budget, I see how deeply appreciative they are” for not only the supplies but the employment and sustainability aspect of the work Kenya Connect does in Wamunyu.

If you are interested in donating, you can do so here.