Who We Are: Galilee Primary School

Looking out over the multitude of tin roofs in the Kayole-Soweto slums of Nairobi, you see broken lives and desperate people. This 'informal settlement' is mainly inhabited by people displaced from other slum areas of Nairobi. Nairobi is the capital of Kenya in Africa, Here in these settlements clean water, electricity, garbage retrieval, and sanitation are limited. People are hungry,and living conditions are sparse. However, there is hope, a bright light in the midst of such despair--Galilee Primary School and Waddington High School.

Galilee Primary School began modestly in 1997--the dream of a man named Fanuel Okwaro. His dedicated purpose is to ensure the needy children roaming the dirt paths of the slums have a place to get an education. Education remains the key to helping these children break the cycle of poverty. It is a critical component to better jobs in the future.

Early on, all classrooms at Galilee Primary School consisted of sheet metal nailed to posts for walls and roofs, dirt floors, and wooden plank desks. Chalkboards were scarce and those thatdid exist were in poor repair. Now, thanks to the donations of sponsors and donors, most of the primary classes have been relocated to sturdier tin structures with cement floors.  Classes are made up of children of a variety of ages. Older children are often in lower grades due in part to the fact many had to work and therefore experienced breaks in their education, they could not afford school fees, and/or they did not have a caring adult who made sure they went to school. There are many reasons an older child may be in a lower grade then we would expect for his age.

Classes start at Baby Class level (pre-K3), moving into Nursery School, then Pre-Unit (like our kindergarten in the US), then standard (grades) one, two, and so forth through standard 8. Students then take an exam (the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education - KCPE )to determine if they are eligible to attend high school, which goes from Form 1through Form 4.

Galilee School follows the Kenyan curriculum.  Subjects taught include Math, English, Kiswahili, Science, Social Studies (Geography, History, and Civics), and Christian Religious Education. Textbook ratios are approximately one for every three students... at one time we had 1 text book to every 5 to 8 students.

Despite the challenges of serving one of Nairobi's neediest areas, Galilee strives to provide quality educational and extracurricular programs. The teachers and students are proud of their accomplishments andare committed to expanding their opportunities for a brighter future.