Kenya Education - Why and how we work in Kenya!

Thank you so much for looking at our blog! Below is a rather lengthy explanation of our work in Kenya!

Jeana and I (Debra) have been working in Kenya for the last 10 years. Hopefully this will help you understand why we work so hard for our students! We have been told some think we are in this for money. What money!!! Would be happy to have anyone look at our tax returns!

We have always been passionate about education but we began to see a new and broader vision, to use education as a tool to bring hope to young people who had none. Our mission is to develop hope and self-reliance through education and business. As social entrepreneurs we see a social problem and use entrepreneurial principles of organize to create and manage a venture of social transformation. Whereas a business entrepreneur sees success in profit and return, a social entrepreneur focuses on creating human capital, a goal not incompatible with generating revenue.

We are Dr. Debra Akre and Jeana King of Bellingham, Washington, two women who have created a new model of delivering education and economic growth to rural areas in Kenya. These two issues are vital to the reduction of poverty in developing nations.


In 2004 we founded Project Education Inc. using education and entrepreneurial skills to transform the crisis of hopelessness into an opportunity for young impoverished, rural Kenyan children to see their hopes and dreams become reality. With the great support of people in our community we opened Clay International Secondary School (CISS) in Ngomano. The education and business model we developed looks at the whole child: mind, body and community. Our students receive medical attention; learn about accountability; learn that it is more than all right to ask questions, it is expected. In a culture where authority looms large, fear-based reticence does too. The interactive model of education where students are encouraged to enquire was a major challenge to implement but once the doors were opened, the students and teachers responded with enthusiasm and determination. In 2010, the CISS graduated its first class and achieved the highest academic scores in their district.

Educating the children, to be future leaders in Kenya, is the purpose of a school, but we believe the school must be self-reliant and we worked to achieve this through domestic economic development. The first products to earn income were kiondos, hand woven bags traditionally given by mothers to their daughters upon marriage. These bags are now being proudly used in Washington State and beyond. From an initial group of three women, now 110 women make the bags; to date they have earned $40,000 for their community. A locally owned company, Haggen’s saw a business and social opportunity and decided to sell the kiondos. In the first month the bags were in the stores, they sold out. The women are busy making more to ship for sale. All of TTEP’s products are made in the East Africa Community. In addition, unless they are donated, all supplies are purchased in Kenya as part of our commitment to local economic development.

In August, 2010 we left of PEI left to start Tembo Trading Education Project turning over CISS to its board of directors and turned our attention to a college, Computer School of Administration, which we have been asked to transform using their education/business model. In addition it was important to start introducing the education model to the public school system.

As of March 2013 the college has doubled its enrollment, it has a new computer lab, updated library with new computers for study and research and the overall environment of the college has been greatly improved. The college has gone from being in the red each month to now being in the black.

In March of 2013 the first teacher training was conducted with instructors from government and private schools on what the Akre-King Transformational Model © is and how to implement in the classroom.


OUR PHILOSOPHY:

• We believe in educating a country out of poverty
• We believe you must first listen, look, learn and then act with culturally adapted, proven solutions for successful financial independence.
• TTEP was created to provide excellence in education to impoverished children of Kenya who are unable to attend school due to financial issues. Our success as a cross-cultural organization is based on trust developed through hands-on work with the community and a behavioral understanding of the needs of the local culture.
• Providing excellence in education includes involving the community; the parents or guardians; addressing the poverty of the area – whether due to climate trends or individual activities; attention to medical needs and exposure to the global community.