Picture this… In Nairobi, capital of Kenya, 60% of the population, roughly 2.5m people, live on just 6% of the land in informal settlements (but let’s call them what they are – slums). It is a hotbed for NGO activity, with white Landcruisers zooming around. But keep going, deeper into the slums where the NGOs don’t go. You’ll see extreme poverty, inadequate infrastructure and limited access to basic services. Toilets are scarce, with 50-150 shacks sharing a single latrine and open sewers are common. Residents earn less than $2 a day where they are employed at all. 60,000 children live on the streets with 6,000 working the local landfill sorting waste for pennies. Few schools exist – Government schools don’t exist in the slums, but informal schools which children have to pay to attend do what they can, for those who can pay which isn’t many. Children are vulnerable to crime, early pregnancy and elevated rates of diseases such as HIV. Education is the key to escaping these conditions through breaking the poverty cycle, improving health outcomes and empowering communities as a whole.
A small British Charity – ChallengeAid – is changing that. Since 2004, ChallengeAid has educated over 100k pupils. It has built 53 “Schools of Hope”, teaching 5,000 pupils a year, providing community hubs which are safe resourced places for children to learn. They’ve also helped 1,000 Maasai girls gain basic education and life skills, protecting them from FGM, forced marriage and early motherhood. 150 volunteers on the ground in Kenya and Tanzania have all gone through the schools, seen their life changed and are now giving back. Some of the children, who otherwise would have had little hope, have gone on to ace exams and through to University to study medicine and other challenging subjects. The programme has even produced three national Chess champions!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a charity which is so impactful and has touched me so viscerally. Therefore, Simwood has committed to support them going forwards. Being able to make a difference to so many children is an incredible privilege and one we hope our friends might wish to get behind too.
We’ve made a seed donation equivalent to about 15% of annual costs for the entire thing – that’s all 53 schools, teacher training, bursaries, outreach etc – but I view that as a starter. We are sponsoring individual schools and specific initiatives such as library renewal and an accelerated learning programme – teacher training essentially. We’re of course open to building new Schools of Hope, resourcing STEM education and pretty much anything else the Charity and its experts on the ground need.
Imagine if others around our industry joined in what we could achieve together! To think that for the cost of a Diversity Officer, or some self-indulgent initiatives which were passé a decade ago, we could educate 1m children over the next 10 years. Do please get in touch if that appeals. This matters and we’re going to revisit Challenge Aid’s progress and the success stories they’re creating, and hopefully we’ve been some small part of.
P.S Simwood also has paid time off for staff to engage in charitable or community endeavours, and a generous donation matching policy on top. I’m now just waiting for the applications to fly in to visit these awesome kids in Kenya and Tanzania!
