Education is a human right

Most families around Kamobo (Kapsabet) in western Kenya have no electricity and no running water. People bring water with canisters from the nearest river to their mud house. It is common that around ten family members live, sleep and cook in one and the same room.

Many women work on tea plantations - often as day laborers. Most families here live with less than 5,000 KES per month (about 40 euros) and thus live below the poverty line.

In Western Kenya access to good education is not a matter of course for everyone. 90 children per class and one textbook for 5 children are common in public schools. Teachers are at the edge of their resilience. Public schools in Kenya are overburdened on many levels.

Therefore, the quality of school education in Kenya – especially in rural areas - is poor. In addition, school attendance is expensive: there are costs for school uniforms, materials, books, food, transport, etc., which most families cannot afford. About half of the women are single parents and to finance school education challenges particularly single mothers.

A possible solution for good education are private schools. However, for families from low-income groups these are not affordable.

Therefore, the Arbing School Kamobo was founded in 2014. The school is a non-profit school and aims to provide high-quality education to children from low-income backgrounds.

Currently, more than 340 children attend the Arbing School Kamobo. Attending school is not only worthwhile because of the high-quality education. The children also receive hot meals every day, which additionally relieves the family income. Furthermore, the children are also encouraged in their strengths (e.g. sports).

Hilfswerk International supports 50 children at the Arbing School Kamobo in Kenya to improve the educational situation of low-income families in Kenya.

The main objective of this project is to promote educational access for children from low-income families in the project region of Kamobo.