A quality education for 150 kids in Kibera, Kenya

Barack stood in the middle of the room, he was the sun. Mercy slowly moved around Barack, pretending to be the earth while Anna span as fast as she could around Mercy. Anna was the moon trying hard to keep up with the earth as Mercy rotated around the sun but it was hard work. Anna collapsed into a chair as the world spun around her. 

"So what does orbit mean?"

"To spin around!" the class called back.

Science lessons don't always involve getting dizzy but this was a fun way to explain the orbiting planets. Our students have just completed the first term of the current school year. Without the Fountains of Hope School, these young people would not be in school learning about stars and planets. Most would be at home caring for siblings, out working or on the streets.

Thanks to a great response to our microproject, we are setting up a computer lab at the school. We have 11 new desktop computers packed with learning resources and apps. We are busy doing repairs, wiring and fitting furniture while the students are on a two-week break. They will find the computer lab set up and ready to go when they return to school. 

The lab will mean our students will gain the I.T. skills that will open the door to many more jobs in the future as well as boosting their learning across the board as they can access rich and varied digital learning resources.

Thank you so much for your support to the Fountains of Hope School!

Despite the odds, the Fountains Of Hope student's achieved a personal best in their KCPE exams this year. The Standard Eight students had a seven-month pause in learning due to COVID and just three months to catch up and prepare for their end-of-school exams. Our teaching team worked hard during the school closures to keep children learning and clearly, their efforts paid off. The 20 young students achieved a mean score of 294, which is over 20 points higher than last year's results and our best score since we started running exams in our school in 2016. These exams dictate what options are open to them after primary school.

As the class approached the end of their time at the Fountains of Hope School, we gathered in March to remember great moments on the journey and pray for the road ahead. What was planned as a one-hour prayer time for the students, became a joyous two and a half hours of celebration and showering those students with encouragements. It was brilliant!

Each class teacher shared fond memories of the class, offered wise words and wished them the best. Students from both class Seven and Eight performed songs and danced in unison, inviting their teachers to join them. They performed poems, bible verses and dramas as we celebrated how far they have come. The dramas had the whole room in stitches. As the class representative, Lucy, thanked the teachers for their support, she also turned to her fellow students to remind them of their class motto – everyone can make it.

They will also leave the school with great memories of football tournaments, school trips, music competitions, holiday clubs and camps, all sorts of fun experiences. They also leave with firm friendships and with a whole team of TP staff who will remain their biggest cheerleaders. We will miss this wonderful class of kids but we’re excited to see where their journey will take them next.

Thanks to your support, these 20 young people have completed their primary education. Something that almost one in four children in Nairobi's slums do not achieve. Thank you so much for enabling us to provide free and quality education to children who otherwise would not complete their primary education.