The Shikamana School (formerly known as Peace Village School) was founded in May 2002 in order to provide education for children, who due to poverty would otherwise not be able to attend school.

Many of these children are Orphans, now living either with a relative or a guardian found by the school.  Many are from single parent families, HIV and Aids is a sad reality in Africa and many of these children have already lost a parent to the disease, and are now living in poverty due to their surviving parent being too sick to work.  Many of these children may be HIV+
In the early days the school had just 6 children but 9 years on now has in excess of 360 children attending regularly.

The youngest children are barely three years old and the older children can be up to 19 years of age.  This enormous age range is due to many children not having the opportunity to attend school until  Shikamana expanded and by then they were perhaps 8 years old or more, and as they must progress through each class/educational step, and succeed in passing end of year exams before moving on to the next level, they are often still in Primary Education in their late teens.  The children follow the Standard Primary Curriculum in addition to beginning with three years in Kindergarten.

Shikamana does not turn away any child who wishes to attend school.  This means that many of the children attend despite their parents being unable to pay the very moderate school fees at Shikamana.  The school operates a sliding scale of fees according to what the parents can manage, those in work pay moderate but full fees, others pay what they can, but must do so regularly and at a predetermined rate, and for those who really cannot afford to contribute financially they do so by offering their service to a rota for cleaning, maintenance, gardening and helping in the kitchen.  Very few parents pay full fees, but all take pride in contributing to their children’s education.  The parents are also involved in many of the decision making processes at the school.

Shikamana School has had many problems over the years particularly regarding keeping premises for school use.  On more than one occasion the building (barely more than metal sheeting and ply wood) was dismantled and moved to a new piece of land in order to continue to exist.

In 2006 Mr & Mrs Wood from East Lothian, Scotland, came across the school while on holiday in Diani.  It had dust floors, no books or paper to speak of, and nothing more than teachers who were willing, for little or no money, to share their own knowledge with the growing number of children.  The Wood’s saw such potential in this school, they vowed to help.  Mr & Mrs Wood are still trustees of the Charity they created based in Scotland and still assist with helping to allocate funds raised by various methods and from generous donations.

Little did they know that by 2009 their efforts and actions would lead to an American Benefactor stepping forward and agreeing to purchase the school a large piece of land and build a purpose built modern structure to enable the school to exist  indefinitely.   More information on how this came about can be found at http://www.shikamanaschool-diani-kenya.com/2.html.

The result of this incredible good fortune is the lovely  school that can be seen and visited today.  Some people may say that all the school’s troubles are now over.  This could not be further from the truth.

The school building is impressive, and as such gives the impression that it must surely enjoy a good income.  Far from it; the building costs a lot to maintain, particularly when it was designed for far fewer children than the numbers in attendance now.   The popularity of the school, resulting in such increased attendance figures, is not just due to the relentless hard work of its founder, but also due to the American Benefactor providing a feeding program which supplies a nutritious meal for each child on each school day.  Many children do not eat at all on the days they don’t attend school, and as a result long school holidays create many health problems for these poor families.   This feeding program and health program paid for by the American lady, has not  only enabled  the children’s overall health to improve, but is a sure fire way of motivating children to attend school every day!

Today the school is extremely proud of its building and of its improved standard of education closely linked with the improved health and well being of the children who attend each day.  However the school management team face the daily task of making the fees paid by a small percentage of the parents stretch to provide teaching materials, books, pencils, paper etc.  They have to pay their electricity bill,no electric means no water as their supply relies on a powered pump.

The staff receive a meagre payment each month, but must supplement this themselves from the income they receive from school fees.   The dedication of these staff is incredible when considering just how little income they receive for their hard work.  The maths just don’t add up!

When I  first came across the school, the building was still fairly new, they had moved in just fourmonths before.   The pride and enthusiasm of the staff was matched only by that of the smiling children in their dusty, ragged blue uniforms.  My family and I had taken two cases full of useful items to be distributed, but could soon see that what would benefit the school most was increased income.  It was at this time I realised I had to help this great school, hidden away near the Ukunda airstrip.

I promised to create a website, which would provide a single source of information about the school, so that all interested parties could be directed towards a full history and  a clear  picture of the schools circumstances.  This website has now been operating for more than a year, and I am sure theincrease in visitors to the school demonstrates its success.

I promised to create a website, which would provide a single source of information about the school, so that all interested parties could be directed towards a full history and  a clear  picture of the schools circumstances.  This website has now been operating for more than a year, and I am sure theincrease in visitors to the school demonstrates its success.

www.shikamanaschool-diani-kenya.com

Most visitors, as we did, take useful items or help with donations for text books etc, but I could see that a regular income would be the only way to allow the school to survive and in time thrive.

Last Spring I created and  now run a successful sponsorship scheme for individual children at the school.  For just £60 a year, (£5 a month/ £20 a term) a sponsor provides new uniform and shoes for their chosen child, additional food to help the families during long school holidays, and any other essentials their child may need.  In addition to this direct support, the school receives an income for each child sponsored, just as it would receive fees if the parents were able.  It really is amazing just how far such a small donation can go! It is not necessary to have visited the school to join this scheme; I have a list of profiles of children in most need.  This  scheme  helps hugely with the day to day running costs of providing good quality education.  In return the sponsor receives three or four letters a year from the child, a school report once a year to show exam results and grades, occasional photographs and any other important news about the child.

This schemes runs without any administrative costs.  Each term the full £20 per child goes directly to benefit the child and its education.  For this reason amongst others this  scheme is growing at a very pleasing rate.  In the first year I have commitments for 40 sponsored children, and am hoping that number will be 100 by the end of my second year raising awareness of this worthy cause.

I am lucky, I have been to Kenya 4 times, and am already planning to return again later this year.  Each time I leave Diani, I leave a little piece of my heart behind.  When I visited the school in February this year, I was delighted to discover many small improvements have been implemented since my last visit and I am very proud that the school staff value my opinions regarding their plans for the future.

As an ex teacher myself, I can see the differences  between schools in the UK and schools in Kenya, I also see huge similarities such as their determination to provide a full curriculum, evidence of good discipline and imparting to the children the importance of education and it’s direct correlation with a good standard of living.  However,  the overwhelming difference has to be the attitude of  the children.  They have nothing in comparison to my two very privileged children and many others I know, but they all greet each visitor with a huge genuine smile.  Their school is dusty and hot, and the teachers have little equipment to make lessons varied and interesting, but each child is attentive and understands the need to succeed, and takes pride in doing so.

I am very proud to be involved in supporting this wonderful school and sincerely hope that many of those reading this article will feel able to do the same.

Julie VoiceCamberley, Surrey, UK

Julie.voice@btinternet.com

www.shikamanaschool-diani-kenya.com