Pioneering Kijana beneficiary well into teaching career
I am Elphas Onyango Otanga, a beneficiary of Kijana Educational Empowerment Initiative in the rural Western Kenya, in Africa. I’m the sixth born in a family of eight; that is my parents and five siblings. I knew Kijana while schooling at Ebusiloli Primary School in my home area. As an organization, Kijana was sponsoring my […]
Kijana Beneficiary Serving as Inaugural Global Innovation School Principal: Meet MR. SIMEON BULUKU APELI
Simeon Buluku Apeli, now the Inaugural Principal of Kijana’s first Global Innovation School and a talented actor was born in 1989 in Emanyonyi village, at Mulukoti area. He’s the first born in a family of three children. He joined Ebusiloli Primary School at the age of 7. He was always his class’s top student. In […]
A Kijana Success Story: Lucy Ong’ayo
I am the last born in a family of 6. I grew up in Essaba village of Luanda Constituency in Western Kenya, Africa. My humble background while growing up, awakened my ambition of a becoming a better person in the future. I went to Mulwakhi Primary School, in Essaba. Mulwakhi is a local dialect that […]
Successful Soap Campaign Brings Soap to Communities
A Big Thank you to all our donors who contributed to our Kijana Soap Campaign in April and early May. We raised just over $13,000 ( $3,000 over our $10,000 goal) from 146 donors. Over 90 of the donors were new donors and we are so grateful for joining our Kijana community during this difficult […]
Kijana Initiates Unique Global Artistic Collaboration
While national borders are shut down and the world disconnects in many ways, Kijana has inaugurated a unique artistic partnership amongst two young global talents: Palm Beach County graphic artist, Claire Salmon, and Jesse Otukhu, of western Kenya. Envisioned by Kijana President and Executive Director, James P. Cummings, and Artistic designer, Claire Salmon, the five- […]
Stationery and Backpack Distribution Collaboration with Soweto Youth Initiative
Early in January, we collaborated with one of our key partners, Soweto Youth Initiative of Nairobi, to distribute locally made backpacks and stationery to youth in the highly economically challenged community of Soweto, in Kahawa West, Nairobi. Working with our local partners and entrepreneurs, we contracted out to have 100 backpacks made and then in […]
Kijana Acquires our first School Van
In late February, thanks to some generous early year donors, we were fortunate to be able to purchase our first Kijana School Van. Kijana representatives travelled to Mombasa, on the coast of Kenya where vehicles are imported into the country, explored the options and found a fantastic, clean, relatively new modern style van for school […]
Kijana Global Innovation School Opening and Update
We are proud to inform our donors and supporters that we opened our new school on January 13th with 15 students. By March 16, when all schools closed in Kenya, we had 28 students. Our students love the school and the teachers are eagerly working with them in very small group settings. We acquired hundreds […]
Jeremiah Awori: Our Kijana Global Innovation School Architect and Contractor
Kijana is fortunate to have a talented and energetic local team. One of our most valuable long-term team members is our multi-talented architect and project contractor, Mr. Jeremiah Awori. Mr. Awori is an example of the unique grass-roots connections that Kijana President James P. Cummings has developed over decades and the human impact of our […]
Ebby Shiroya: Our Kijana Global Innovation School Project Manager
As our school develops physically, we want to provide you with a glimpse of the people behind the scenes who make the buildings emerge. The key person on the ground overseeing this school development project since last May (2019) is Ms. Ebby Shiroya. Serving as our project manager, she has organized the production of the […]