General Info
This school was set up by a couple of teachers who saw the need in educating displaced children after the post election violence in Kenya post 2007! We are encouraging volunteers to work here to give these desperate children a better future by using your skill and knowledge to teach and encourage the children to learn. Volunteers gain a lot from this placement as this is not a government run school and therefore needs lots of help and support to keep it running to keep these children in education.
Why The Need For Volunteers?
Education is seen as a privilege in Kenya and was reserved until recently for the wealthy families. In recent years school has in theory been made free, however schools still need funding to survive and consequently have asked for scholar subscriptions. This is why it is essential for volunteers to help within these schools, to give kids the opportunity to learn and to gain the education they deserve.
Volunteer Activities
Like all other schools in Kenya the Kenyan 8:4:4 standard curriculum is in place. This covers a range of various subjects for volunteers to teach in including;
* Maths
* English
* Swahili
* Science
* Physical Education
* Social Studies
The school used to offer French and computer studies but due to the lack of finance those lessons were discontinued. Students are also shown and trained on practical skills like poultry keeping, crop farming so that they can also implement these at home to counter food insecurity and their financial problems. Volunteers are given the opportunity to work in any or all of the fields mentioned above. There is a vast array of subjects for volunteers to teach. We also encourage our volunteers to encourage the children to take part in extracurricular activities. These can include arts & crafts, sports games or anything creative you can think of.
The Required Skills
When teaching in Kenya, your primary and main role will be to teach English to the kids. Sub Saharan encourages extracurricular activities which usually prove extremely popular at the school, in particular sports and activities to raise awareness of environmental issues in relation to the communities.
Local Facilities
Yala is a small town in western Kenya and has a few shops in the town centre for you to buy goods such as food and reading material. It can cater for most personal of your personal needs but if you are looking for post offices and banks and big supermarkets you need to travel 40kms to Kisumu which is Kenya's third largest city and has all the necessary amenities.
Trip Highlights
You are given the opportunity to work in rural Kenya with displaced children from the post election violence. You will be able to teach and to interact with these children through teaching and various activities including sports, arts and crafts and character building exercises. You are also based fairly close to the shores of Lake Victoria and Kisumu giving you the opportunity to explore western Kenya and not forgetting Mt Elgon which borders onto neighbouring Uganda.
Requirements:
Must be over 18 years of age & have a valid passport which must be valid for at least 6 months upon departure from your project country.
