Kekopey is set to become our new flagship school.
An introduction
Kekopey Secondary School is currently a hastily-improvised temporary construction started and maintained by the local community. They cannot afford enough classrooms, desks and books to maintain the school. Instead, we want to provide them with a brand new school built to the very highest standards and fully equipped with science and IT labs and modern cooking and dining facilities. We want Kekopey, along with Ngecho to become the flagship for everything HSK can achieve.
The new school will support a large catchment area not adequately served by secondary schools. The site borders Kekopey Primary School which we have supported for many years, as well as Cedar and Eburru. It also lies on a major trunk road from Gilgil to Nakuru. Over the next five years, rebuilding Kekopey will allow more than a thousand students who would otherwise go without to access high-quality secondary education.
Project pictures
What have we done?
In 2009 a team of cyclists led by HSK trustee Peter King cycled unsupported from the UK to Kenya to raise money for Kekopey, in what is the longest known bicycle rally of its type.
Our daily routine was simple: to rise at dawn, finish at dusk and try to fit as many meals as possible between the two. In this there was often heated discussion: could the merits of third breakfast outweigh the morale of early lunch? In the desert we would ordinarily take an extended break during the hottest hours, but on average spent something like eight hours in the saddle. We always had plenty of sleep, the local food was unfailingly nourishing, and even sandy tracks, oppressive heat and silly hills rarely dampened our spirits for long.
The cycling was important as a symbolic journey: delivering funds and best wishes from the UK directly to the children in Kenya who so desperately needed the help. At the moment we have raised well over £60,000, which will go a long way towards building and equipping a school for 700 pupils.
Since the cyclists returned we have been working with local planners to secure a title deed for the land. With this security now in place, we are about to begin construction of the new school.
What's the plan?
Over the next four years we want to provide four classrooms (two of them also laboratories), an assembly hall, a dining hall and staff facilities. We need to raise a further £110,000 to complete these aims.
The new school will be centred on the Church of Goodwill, a beautiful building left to the local area by British settlers. In a country where schools are often hastily-planned and badly built, we want Kekopey to stand out as an example of a high-quality school carefully and sensitively integrated into the local community.
Timeline
| Goal | Timeframe | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Renovate first classroom block | mid 2011 | £31,000 |
| New classrooms and drainage | late 2011 | £50,000 |
| Laboratories | late 2012 | £50,000 |
| Staff and dining facilities | late 2012 | £70,000 |
