Education, for the Social Promotion Foundation, is the engine of change. Education and development are closely related. Therefore, in its development work, this sector is a priority, and the Foundation has allocated more than 40% of its resources to actions that promote educational programmes at all levels, professional training, support to educational institutions for the construction and rehabilitation of educational centres or teacher training, etc.
In this context, since 2017 the Foundation integrates and manages the Karibu Sana project, promoted by Javier Aranguren, philosopher and professor at the UFV, whose aim is to help children without resources in Kenya so that they can study, with the conviction that every child deserves the opportunity to learn.
Karibu Sana aims to ensure that every child can go to school and receive a quality education that will enable them to build a future for themselves, their family and their community.
Its beginnings can be traced back to a chance encounter between Javier, when he went to Strathmore University as a visiting professor of philosophy, and an 11-year-old boy. This encounter motivated him to want to invest in his long-term future and secure his education.
Since then, like him, more than 600 children, mainly from Nairobi’s slums, have been helped to grow up and build their own future, with the support of the Community Services Centre (CSC)-Strathmore University, the country’s most prestigious private university, as a local partner, and private donations that make this work possible.
Karibu Sana rescues, rehabilitates and provides them with a home where they find something as necessary as a roof over their heads and three meals a day. Hope and motivation for the future is achieved through studies.
The project’s support is provided through study grants: payment of tuition fees and often the purchase of the most basic items (uniforms, shoes, school materials, etc.), ensuring that the families contribute part of the cost, so as not to create dependency and to achieve their involvement. It also supports Kwetu Home of Peace, managed by the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Eldoret, who have been working in the area since 1996 rescuing street children between the ages of 6 and 14, and two schools (Streams of Kibera and Transform School) that offer education to the most disadvantaged children in Kibera.
Currently, this project offers,
• 144 scholarships for students (50 in day schools and 94 in boarding schools) from the Kibera neighbourhood (Nairobi);
• Support to 66 students of Kwetu Home of Peace (KHP) in Ruai slum (Nairobi);
• Support to 23 students from schools in Eldoret town.
• Support to 50 students from DJEC school in Mathare slum.
Today the needs are great and help is still very much needed: in Nairobi alone, there are 60,000 unaccompanied minors, starving and wandering the streets, forgotten by the world and their families, without access to basic education.
However, the philosophy of giving that permeates this project, together with the dynamism and enthusiasm of its management team: Javier Aranguren its founder, the promoting partners, Miguel Camarena, athlete and businessman, and Gabriel Coll, businessman and co-director of the European Institute of Positive Psychology (IEPP), and the entire team of the Social Promotion Foundation, undoubtedly guarantee the continuity and growth of the Karibu Sana project, which is synonymous with education and future for so many children in Kenya.