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Fifteen years young and still growing…

Our Founding Trustee, Carol Groves, visited Kenya on a family holiday in July 2000. As a result of a chance meeting at a school in Bombolulu in the suburbs of Mombasa, our organisation was born. Carol returned to the school in July 2002 with a group of young people, and by January 2003 we had become a registered charity with six trustees.

Initially, our aims were to get as many pupils sponsored as possible. This financial help meant that the school became more stable and teachers salaries were paid on a regular basis. At the same time, many fundraising ideas, publicity and donations in the UK gave us the flexibility to help with other projects, such as buying new desks and text books, small building projects, uniforms and shoes for the pupils, as well as a feeding programme.

We now have our own school, built on land in the Freretown area. We currently educate and support around 400 pupils.

In recent years we have seen a steady improvement in the important Kenya Certificate of Primary Education. This has attracted more pupils, some of whom are able to pay the fees in full -thus enabling the school to employ more teachers and raise standards even higher.

In 2013 the Charity changed it’s status to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.  We hope that this will enable us to move forward on issues like ownership of Unity School. Our new Registered Charity Number is 1155625.

As well as Unity School we have an Orphanage, located in a rented property adjacent to the school. There are usually about 12 children living in the Orphanage under the supervision of a Matron.

All pupils and teachers have free access to medical care – thanks to the contribution of the International School, Eindhoven.

Our highest achievers, who cannot afford the fees, are sponsored through Secondary Education. 

There are five schools in Europe that support us,  one in Holland and four in the UK. Teachers from some of these schools have visited the schools we support in Kenya. Every year we take groups of people to volunteer at the school. In addition to this other supporters and trustees return to Mombasa to give support and assistance throughout the year.