ARCHIVE: Building St. Francis Xavier Girls’ High School
Backstory:
Situated midway between Nairobi and Nakuru, the fast-growing town of Naivasha did not have enough space in the high schools to serve the number of teenagers there. The parish-run high school, Archbishop Ndingi, served both boys and girls up to 2006. The parish had received land for a girls’ school - but there were no funds to build it.
Margo McAuliffe, a retired math teacher, arrived to teach students at Archbishop Ndingi School in 2005, and learned about the limited educational opportunities for girls. Upon returning home, Margo founded Kenya Help to raise money to build a high school for girls.
Success...
Enough of the school was completed by 2007 for the first class of Form 1s (9th graders) to enter. There were seventeen girls. Eventually, the school grew to eight classrooms, two science labs, a computer lab, a library, an infirmary, teacher and administrative offices, two dormitories, a dining and social hall, a kitchen, and faculty/staff housing.
The school can accommodate 320 students and is open to girls of all tribal and religious affiliations. It gives hope to young women (many of whom have no other opportunities for education) to better their lives and the lives of their families.
And It's Green!
From the very beginning, St. Francis was built with the vision to be a completely green school. It is equipped with solar panels, two windmills, and a biogas plant. The school also has a de-fluoridation plant to take the excess fluorine (which occurs naturally in Naivasha) out of the drinking water. Plus, there is an agriculture teacher.
Kenya Help's role was to build the school. We do not run it. The girls we were supporting who attended are older now. They have mostly graduated and gone on to university or other training programs. (See Newsletters for some really great stories.)