Jambo Toto school

A social entrepreneur is someone who starts something from scratch to benefit others. They are motivated by compassion and fight to bring about lasting change. They own a deep conviction that they can bring about justice where there is none and plant hope into hopelessness places. 

Charles and Rose (Headteacher) - founders of Jambo Toto school, Nairobi

Meet this couple, Charles and Rose, they believe in the power of change and their own potential to affect the thoughts, feelings and actions of others. For the past 2 years they have invested their lives into a community around a Nairobi rock quarry (we've been blogging about it over the months). This is a quarry where dignity is a alien concept and compassion never gets a look in. Woman and men work for a poverty wage (£1 per day), and their children can't afford school shoes let alone what is needed to pay for uniforms and books. The 'quarry children' were facing a future without education until Charles and Rose saw the screaming need and decided they would not walk on by.

The road to Jambo Toto and the rock quarry at Kiserian

And so they stepped out onto the high-wire of life and committed themselves to finding a way to bring a small school into the heart of the quarry community and provide, as best they could, basic education for the children who were destined to have no schooling.

Some of you will remember that Trevor and I visited the patch of scrubby- ground back in Dec '13, that Charles had ear-marked for the little school. His plan (stage 1), was to build a 3 class-roomed building and some outhouses... and just get going!

Then, in the new year a 'wee small voice' became 'an audible yell' in my ear with the words, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?...DO SOMETHING!!...GET ON AND RAISE THE MONEY....the voice could not be ignored. So we did fundraise, and many of you darling friends and family helped us raise a stunning £4,000 which we sent in stages to Charles, who was ready and waiting, and he completed the 3 class-roomed building in a staggering 4 weeks.  It's truly an amazing story and we're thrilled to be a part of it, with you too.

So, where are we now? 

From Left: Peter from Dandora, Jane, Rose and Charles

A few weeks ago we visited the school and sat with Rose and Charles and our friend Peter from the Dandora slum and discussed the way ahead. The truth is they have achieved so much, but the reality is...they have no toilets for the children, no books or education materials, no fuel efficient cooker, no mats for the babies to sleep on or toys for them to play with, or chairs for the 57 children to sit on (they have 6 makeshift desks which seat 18 bottoms). They have no play equipment of any kind and only the most basic way of washing the children. That's the reality....

The kitchen and the fire where they cook for the 57 children

When the needs around us are so great it's easy to hear the call to give up and let our dreams crash and burn. It's easy to believe that the challenges are simply too great and too impossible to overcome. 

Here in her classroom Rose teaches 24 children, 8-11 yr olds, below she holds the only teaching books she has. 

During our Leadership for Hope training we hang a banner which says, 'We can do more together than we can on our own'....and it's totally true in my experience. Alone we can feel like a thin voice in a hurricane, but together we can make a mighty roar. 

A few days ago we returned from the UK and whilst there we were generously given 4 laptops for free and over 50 childrens books - all of which we managed to get safely here (a sweet miracle). But, the point is, together we can make things happen, together we can right wrongs and fight to bring justice to the hopeless and the oppressed and the fatherless and the widow.....together, we can.

JB

The school compound - I wonder who could build them a playground?