The 'Dolphin' School at Kamwaura

The school started in the year 2000. Daniel had for a long time been concerned about the state of education in Kenya, with children and students often learning bad or anti-social behaviour from teachers or lecturers. Then, after the acquisition of the Kamwaura church, an opportunity presented itself to make a difference! With the help of two volunteer teachers, the premises of the Kamwaura church, 40 very young children, and no money, they started a school running on Christian principles! So the Kamwaura church building, which was a simple wooden structure, became dual-purpose – a church on a Sunday, and a schoolhouse during the week!

Development over the years

Since then, during the next ten years, (with support from UK well wishers), the school has expanded to cover the whole range of Kenyan primary education, from ages 3 to 13. However, it was not without struggles. Like the Medical Centre, the mission of the school was always first to provide a good quality Christian education for the children of the local community, regardless of their parents ability to pay. Kamwaura, being a rural community, survives largely on subsistence level farming, and incomes are not great. If it were not for this school, many of the children would not receive any schooling! Over the ten year period since 2000, the school grew from 40 to around 300 pupils, although the growth rate was not always even. As the school has grown, new classrooms have had to be constructed to accommodate new classes. The classrooms constructed are a real variety of construction types. From simple corrugated sheet or wooden structures to sophisticated brick and block buildings, which depended on funds available at the time, and the urgency with which the buildings were required!

Academic achievements

Since 2010, the top level class have been able to take the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams, and have achieved excellent results, well above the national average. This is a great testament to the dedication of the teachers, who all have a sense of calling to work within the vision of the school, and who have been willing to accept lower levels of pay than teachers in equivalent government or private schools.