Samburu children from the Bush School taking their lessons under a shade tree, as the ongoing assaults by the
Kenyan Government have displaced numerous families.
BUILDING and SUPPORTING SCHOOLS
KARE supports education in Samburu by building and renovating schools and learning centers, providing school supplies and books, distributing much-needed school bags, and providing bursaries and scholarships for students.
Our first school project began with the Lerata Primary School in 2004. This school was first founded under an acacia tree in 1970! For 2 years, classes were held under a massive acacia tree until community members were able to gather enough materials and funds to build a rudimentary school building. The school operated successfully until the a massacre by Somali bandits in 1990. Dozens of villagers were killed, even young mothers with infants wrapped on their backs; surviving families fled to nearby mountains. When it was safe enough to return to home, the community was refused permission to re-open the school by the Kenyan government, which told them they'd "abandoned" their school so, for 15 years, children in this community were denied an education. KARE, with assistance from The Lion Conservation Fund (LCF), helped re-open the school in 2005. Ever since then, we have provided supplies, books, and equipment to the school, built desks and bookshelves, provided teacher workshops, teaching materials, solar panels, food, and opened a Science Learning Center and Community Library. This school is an example to all—in its first year open, these bright and eager children were still breaking pencils into 4 peices and sitting on concrete floors when they placed 14th in mandatory standardized national exams, with little more than their teacher's voice for learning materials!
KARE also helped initiate a Wildlife Club and has built educational bridges to partner the school and others like it in Samburu with sister schools and individuals in the US and UK. Schools exchange lessons and learn about each other's geography, culture, lives and correspond through letters and pen pal programs.
Today, Lerata Primary School is the model school for our conservation education program, Project Simba. Its Saturday Safaris Program provides an opportunity for local children to visit nearby wildlife reserves so they can watch and learn about wildlife and ecology. Most have never visited national parks or viewed wildlife up close before. During our annual Community Conservation Day festival, students and communities from across the district munities come together to celebrate and learn about nature, ecology, science, and conservation with a day of games, prizes, hands-on activities food, traditional Samburu songs and dance, and fun. They can participate in a science fair, and community conservation projects and learn about how to incorporate these projects throughout the year in their own communities.
Our Samburu Science Learning Center allows students to learn about science and math with science labs, hands-on activities and environmental education projects, Girls in Science. Microscopes, telescopes, field ecology tools, and laboratory equipment were generously donated by Harvard University and the University of Michigan; a computer lab and interactive software was donated by Microsoft. Cornell University scientists developed a Conservation Education Curriculum for our program at the center and in local schools, which have been developed into a book for local educators in Samburu as well as U.S. schools and American zoos. Northland College, and environmental college in northern Wisconsin, designed a mobile Science-in-a Box series that can be used by teachers throughout the district, including chemistry, physics, environmental science and ecology, and a “Lion-in-a-Box” predator activity and learning box for educators of all levels.
The Lerata Primary School was the recipient of school supplies, books, and equipment by schools and individuals in the U.S. and the U.K. through the Lion Conservation Fund and the Center for Lion Conservation and Research in Kenya. Schools in Michigan, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New York, and London, England have joined Samburu Schools as Sister Schools. Third Grade teacher Pat Filippini and her students collected books, school supplies and book bags to send to the students in Lerata as well as a school in Archer’s Post. Her third-graders filled individual pencil bags with basic school supplies for each student and teacher and included a set of books and maps about their own location and culture in Michigan. The schools are collaborating to exchange lessons and learn about each other’s geography, culture, and lives.
Preschool teacher Fiona Stevens of Marshgate Primary School, London, England organized and held an African Cultural Day in London to raise funds and collect supplies and books for the school. The Marshgate students participated in a day of song, performances, crafts, foods, and cultural activities of Kenya in May 2005. Ms. Stevens then visited Lerata Primary School in August 2005 and returned in 2008 to volunteer at the school, bring supplies and gifts to the children, and to learn more about the Samburu culture in order to share it with her students in London.
Northwoods Academy in Wisconsin also donated school supplies and book bags for students in Samburu District. Students from Massachusetts Bay Community College and Cambridge College shipped books and supplies to the school, with assistance from the Johnson and Johnson Corporation. The Michigan teacher’s sorority, Alpha Delta Kappa, has been providing English dictionaries to each Class 3 students.
SERVICE LEARNING PROGRAM
College Students and elementary teachers from Massachusetts participate in an annual Service Learning Program in Global Health, where they can learn about and practice education in rural African schools. This year’s students donated school supplies, books, and building materials to the Primary Schools in Kenya. Volunteers built desks and bookshelves, painted classrooms, and created learning centers.
The group conducted conservation education programs that included developing a play, song, and dance about lions and their plight. Children in the Wildlife Club created posters and drawings with the theme, People, Wildlife, and Livestock Living Together. Family members, the community, local conservancies, and KWS officers were invited to watch their performances and participate in the Community Conservation Day with games, prizes, food, traditional Samburu songs and dance, and fun.
SCHOOL BAGS FOR SAMBURU PROJECT
Our School Bags for Samburu program collects and distributes school bags for children in Samburu schools. In this program, we ask teachers in US Schools to hold an end-of-the-year School Bag Recycling Day. We collect them and then deliver these school bags to children in northern Kenya. Many U.S. children discard their schoolbags and remaining school supplies at the end of the school year and many children in Samburu live in mud huts with dirt floors and have no place to keep their school work and books safe. This project keeps the bags and school supplies out of landfills and provides much-needed bags for children in Africa!
If your school would like to participate in this program, please contact us at info@kenyalions.org.
