How CES supported Kenyan parents building a school

Editor’s note: In my country of Canada, all schools offer students roughly equal quality of education. They all have qualified teachers and leadership, and similar budgets. It’s not the same in Kenya. Some schools are significantly better than others at meeting students’ needs. Here’s the story of a school in Western Kenya, Musaga Secondary School, that was established with support from CES. It’s told in the words of Joseph Wandera, the founding Principal of the school. I was honoured to meet Mr. Wandera when I visited Kenya in 2018, when I interviewed him as part of the research for the book “Under the Acacia Tree,” from which this is excerpted. You can read this story and others like it in the book – which you can buy from the CES Website. Here’s what Mr. Wandera told me:

I was posted to this school as Principal. My home is nearby. I got a letter from a school called Musaga Secondary to start and open as its first principal. When I came around, there was nothing. I was met by the PTA Chairman, who said that they would be building here on this piece of land. I said, “Where are the students?” He replied, “At the church down there.”

I walked to the nearby Baptist church where I found some students sitting on benches. Others were sitting under a tree. There were no classrooms, no office buildings, nothing. So I just accepted. I told him that since there are students around, we shall just start off from where they are.

In 2010, CES President Michael Frederiksen came around. When he showed such an interest in our situation, I was very happy. He came with some colleagues from Canada and we began to build. In 2013 there was a group of over 20 white people from a place called Thunder Bay. We had a big celebration with music and dancing as we officially dedicated the new school.

Mr. Malik Khaemba told me about CES, Community Education Services. We agreed to begin funding twelve students. They were both bright and needy. When you look at their homes they are actually wanting, because their parents are very poor. But when you look at the child, the child is bright with a lot of potential.

One of those students was from a neighbouring home. The father is a watchman here at the school. He didn’t have money to pay school fees. His daughter was bright and now she is at the university. I’m really proud of that girl. Sheila Nasindu started from Musaga SS, Form One up to Form Four, and she made it. She’s among the pioneers of my school here.

CES first started funding poor students and later began to construct classrooms and other facilities. If it were not for CES, I’m sure that this school would be just two or three classrooms. The money to build was a gift from CES. The parents could not support the building project as they are not well off. They just pay fees of about 10,000 Kenyan Shillings (CDN$130), and that’s a problem. There is never enough to go around.

CES put up eight classrooms, plus a kitchen. There is a temporary dining hall, because the students need a place where they can eat their food. With the CES funding, I made sure that the money was used for bricks, cement, mortar, roofing and trusses. I recall that Michael came several times from Canada and confirmed that the work was done. in 2016 we opened the new kitchen. I always remember Michael insisting that we keep the old mud and thatch roof kitchen, and use it for some cooking and storage of food. That way, students would know and appreciate Musaga’s humble beginnings and how far the school community had progressed.

The school here has a catchment area. If a school doesn’t perform, the parents tend to take their children to a school where they feel they will get a good education. This means that the students remaining at the school are not good material. When a high school performs well, it is because students from the primary schools have achieved at least 350/500 marks in the KCPE. And also when a school is well-staffed, and properly managed, the parents have no problem sending their children to that school. So, simply providing a good education is what we do. And parents have responded by sending their children to us.

A young school compared to the others around, this one is ahead of many. Recently, I came back after retirement and found that many of the students have performed well and some have gone to the university. When I first came here, there were board members who thought that Musaga SS would not reach this level that soon. Now some pupils are fighting to come here. I am so proud of my school community and grateful to CES for all they have done to make this a great school.