The school is far more than a classroom…
It’s a safe, nurturing place where children can be children, where they are cared for, supported, and encouraged every day. Each day, 58 teenagers receive structured academic help, while 289 children with special needs are cared for, many requiring physiotherapy and constant supervision.
The school also reaches out to parents, offering workshops on health, emotional resilience, and practical skills, helping entire families break cycles of poverty. Many of the staff once sat in these classrooms themselves, and now they give back to their community, showing what education, care, and opportunity can really do.
ChallengeAid
The Simwood School of Hope is part of ChallengeAid, a British charity that has educated over 100,000 children since 2004. ChallengeAid runs 53 Schools of Hope across Kenya and Tanzania, supporting 5,000 children every year. Their work goes far beyond lessons, helping girls at risk, children with disabilities, and families living in communities where larger charities often don’t reach.
They combine academic support, mentorship, therapy, youth leadership, and life skills to give children a real chance to succeed and grow into future leaders in their communities.
Chess Makes a Difference…
Chess is a special part of life at the schools, teaching strategy, focus and confidence, and some students have even gone on to become national champions. In Christmas 2025, instead of sending traditional gifts, Simwood put locally crafted 106 chess sets into the hands of children across every school in the ChallengeAid network. We hope these sets will spark curiosity, inspire learning, and help even more children realise just how much they can achieve. It’s a small act, but one we hope will make a lasting difference in thousands of lives.
In January 2026, ChallengeAid hosted a chess training session at Billian School of Hope in Mathare. Twenty supervisors from across the network came together to refresh their skills or learn the basics, ready to pass chess on to hundreds of children. The session, led by Mashimoni School of Hope, was hands-on, fun, and full of energy, a perfect way to build confidence and a sense of community. Supervisors are now setting up chess clubs in every school and planning friendly competitions to keep the fun and learning going.
Every chess piece played, every smile, every small victory reminds us why this work matters. Take a look at these pictures and see the hope, joy, and bright futures of the children we are lucky enough to support…
Learning together…
Passing it on…
Building brighter futures…
Focus and fun…
Curiosity in play…
Hands-on practice…
Read more stories from the Simwood School of Hope from the blog