EXTENSION OF THE LAWSON HIGH SCHOOL

February marked a huge achievement for the Foundation with the grand opening of The Lawson High School. Currently around 500 orphans live in Nyumbani Village in Kitui, eastern Kenya. They are all being looked after by the Nyumbani organisation which ensures they receive the medicine, nutrition and medical care they need. All the children have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, and a small proportion are themselves HIV positive.

The children currently go to the Hotcourses Primary School, built and run by The Hotcourses Foundation. In Kenya, primary school lasts 7 years and finishes at the age of 14. After that those with good results can get into fee-paying secondary schools (only state primary schools are free). The children in Nyumbani Village, if lucky enough to get into a secondary school, previously faced long bus journeys of at least two hours each day if they wanted to continue their education. Alternatively there was the possibility of going to boarding schools in another part of the country, but this is very expensive.

The Lawson High School now provides a secondary school in their village. It is the only secondary school in the area and provides a guaranteed school to which children from the Hotcourses Primary School can graduate. It currently has two classrooms with 60 children attending, but during the course of 4 years the plan is to expand to accomodate all of the 500 children in the primary school as they graduate.

Part of the expansion plans will also include providing facilities for science and sport as well as building library and administration blocks.

It is an ambitious project but one which will really benefit the community in Kitui. We have several parties interested in backing the project but if you would like to get involved then please make a donation by clicking here.