Building the School

A parcel of land was purchased in May of 2005 in the town of Nambale in the Busia district of Western Kenya and a plan was created to develop The Nambale Magnet School (NMS) to educate and support primary students from destitute families.

In Kenya, admission to secondary or high school is based on a nationwide exam taken at the end of 8th grade, it was deemed that a primary school could have a bigger impact on the lives of destitute children than a high school. In addition, the Kenyan and US teams felt these students could be best supported if they attended a "magnet" school that included fee-paying students from more affluent families.

This model, common in the USA, had never been tried in Kenya, where complete economic class segregation at the primary level was the norm. All of the money to support the fully sponsored students would need to come from donors in the USA and other countries as there was not enough money in Kenya to fund them. In Kenya, families pay for books, uniforms, food, tuition, medical care, pencils and anything else needed for education. These destitute children would come from families where there were no resources, often not even enough food to eat every day.

It took two years to raise the money for the school and another year to build it. The first buildings were finished in December of 2008. The initial construction included a dining hall, classrooms, dormitory rooms, and a few places for residence staff. In January of 2009 the first class of 35 students, ages 3 to 9, entered the school. All but three of them were fully sponsored orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs).

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