In 2002 Pastor Jackson Gitonga M'bundi was sent by Rev. Peter M. Karungu and Rev. Gerald M. Rukungu from the R.T.U. Ministries (Reach The Unreached) to found the school. Jackson and Eunice started with just three children, but after just one week had more than 15 pupils. The school continued to grow, but surviving purely by the generosity of well wishers.

Jackson Gitonga M'bundi & Eunice Kariungi Peter

In 2005 the owner of the land on which the school stood contacted Jackson and gave the school notice to vacate the land by the end of 2005. The school had no money, and nowhere to go, so stayed put, hoping that some intervention would save them.

In February 2006 Robert and Eleanor Wood from Scotland came upon the school and asked if they could pay a visit. They found the children sitting on the dusty floor, there were no desks, no food, and no water. Two classes were sharing one room, and there were no learning materials. Robert and Eleanor were so taken with the plight of these children and their teachers they vowed to give the school any support they could. As soon as they left Kenya their fundraising began immediately. They donated money to build a classroom and to buy fresh water within just weeks of returning to the UK.

In March of 2006 the owner of the land was still insisting the school vacate the plot. Jackson met with Abdullah Chilea an important member of the community to discuss the issue of being asked to vacate the plot of land housing the school. Abdullah introduced Jackson to Mr Yakuku (now deceased) who agreed to offer a piece of land for the school to use until such time it could obtain a permanent plot of land. This was good news, but the cost of carefully demolishing the existing buildings carefully enough to be able to rebuild them on the new plot was too much to consider. Jackson contacted Robert and Eleanor and explained the situation. The Scottish couple paid for the demolition and rebuilding costs, and had further classrooms built, they also paid for some desks.

Mr Yakuku then died, and his sons and his brother’s demanded payment for the land the school now stood on. A rent was demanded, and once again Robert and Eleanor came to the rescue and paid the rental costs. At this time they ran an appeal in Edinburgh, through a local radio station and local newspapers. They were able to send a 20ft container of clothes, stationary, shoes, and computer equipment. It was through this ongoing appeal that a famous American lady became involved in the school. (She wishes to remain anonymous). In 2007 she began providing a permanent feeding program for the pupils attending the school.

This is the old school building on Binti Gundes Land

Later in 2007 Mr.Yakuku’s sons finally gave the school notice to vacate the plot of land, so once again the school had nowhere to go. The American benefactor assisted in making arrangements for some land to be rented from Binti Gundes, and she funded the school once again being demolished and relocated in April 2008 and funded the addition of further classrooms. By this time the school had more than 100 pupils.
Robert and Eleanor had continued to raise funds for the school during this time. They were able to send another container, this time measuring 40ft. It contained bicycles, chairs, mats, buckets, clothes, shoes, computers, toys, and sewing machines, materials for wooden floors, balls and stationary for the school. What a day that must have been for the children and staff at the school.

Later in 2008 the American Benefactor set up the Shikamana Trust (Shikamana means coming together, or connected). She agreed to support the staff by paying them each a small salary, to continue with the feeding program by paying for the schools food, and most importantly she agreed to purchase some land for the school to be housed permanently and to construct a purpose built school on the land.

In October 2009 the staff and children were able to move in to their new school building. I cannot imagine how that must have felt for Jackson and Eunice seven years after they first opened the doors the the poverty stricken children in the area. The schools numbers increased from around 100 pupils at that time, to the 396 children it currently has in attendance. Sadly Robert and Eleanor were unable to be there to celebrate the opening of the new school building.
What a difficult path the school has had to negotiate in order to get to where it is today.