PROJECT #184
Project #184 | Early Childhood Education in Kenya
Our Partnership with Flying Kites
Across Kenya, only 16% of children attend early childhood education classes, and that number is even lower in rural districts like those served by Flying Kites. Investing in early childhood education is one of the best investments available to ensure a child’s future success, and to many serves as a vital first stepping stone out of poverty. Yet the struggling public schools in rural Kenya do not have the resources necessary to properly support their educators, therefore unable to properly support and engage with their youngest students so they can enter primary school ready to learn.
One Day’s Wages partnered with Flying Kites to complete the construction of an Early Learning Center (ELC), which opened its doors in January 2021, coinciding with the rest of the Kenya school system. This center serves families struggling to provide basic necessities for their children and those who often make immense financial sacrifices to enroll their children in public primary schools. It was founded to promote active engagement and student-centered exploration and learning consistent with Montessori principles. The ELC also serves as a teaching platform for early childhood educators in the area, seeking to improve the undeniable connection between unsupported teachers and underperforming students. Additionally, it was built to be fully compliant with all health and safety standards, including strict requirements for hygiene due to COVID-19. After the first academic year, 87% of the early learners attending exceeded the expected levels of development.
Our Collective Impact
Preschool Students Enrolled
Teachers Trained
Percent of Early Learning Center Attendance
Meet Warucu
Warucu is the Executive Director (Kenya) and Director of the Flying KItes Academy, she says: “Having the ELC finally come to be was exciting. Our dream of having little ones on site had been realized. What makes me most excited about the building is its ambiance, its spaciousness, and the young students can be embraced in their own world, in their own space, in their own dreams. It is a very safe learning environment and the only one of its kind in the county. Parents thought that this kind of a building is only seen in magazines, to actualize it and see it in its fullness has energized them and made them more eager to get their children to learn. They see a place where their children can truly thrive and be the best they can be. Public schools do not design classrooms for different age groups. The buildings are meant to be multipurpose, they are normally cold and dark with barely anything on the walls. I can confidently say we have the best building, a building that was built to serve the young, a building where children play, learn, grow, and be the true citizens of our world.”
Thank you for making this possible!
Our movement is grassroots, to us that not only means the work on the ground is led by local leaders with the support of the community, but it also means that we raise the funds for our projects through everyday donors just like you. In addition to all the donors that gave $25, $100, or $250 and the campaigners that ran a race or donated their birthday to raise funds, we also want to thank our generous business, school, and faith sponsors who believed in our work and joined the movement.
One Day's Wages is a grassroots movement of people, stories, and actions to alleviate extreme global poverty
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