Yesterday was our first day of site visits since we arrived in Nairobi. Our first few days had been spent resting and making calls to different locations to set up our visits and organize transportation. While we have been so thankful for the days of rest and renewal, it is safe to say the entire team was ready to get to work! Last year, Erin met Sitati at Savelberg Retreat Center where they were both staying. Sitati is a social worker with children who are affected by HIV/AIDs. This does not necessarily mean the children are HIV positive, but that HIV has impacted them, most likely by orphaning them. Sitati works at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School (www.sagnairobi.org), a school for youth who are HIV affected, and invited us to come visit the school, meet the staff, and see the work they are doing with the children.
She came to pick us at Savelberg on Wednesday morning and we began the long trek to the school. On the way there, we walked from Savelberg to St. Al’s through Kibera Slum, which is the largest slum in Kenya and the 3rd largest in the world. All of the students at St. Al’s come from the Kibera slums, so it was important to our team to experience and see the slum so we could really understand to a degree where these children come from and what their reality is. In a strange way, I felt more at home in this slum than I did in Nairobi city. My time in Kenya before was in the country and we traveled through many areas similar to this slum. The market and the homes in this slum seemed more welcoming to me than the large city we have been living in. This may seem strange, it did to me, but as we entered the slum, I felt a sense of relief, as if I was finally in the Kenya I knew.
That being said, Kibera slum is like nothing I have ever experienced. It is so vast and overwhelming at times with the level of brokenness and sorrow. Water and waste run through the streets into ditches that flow into a large hole that we walked past that is literally full of trash, refuse and waste. The conditions were so dim and at times it seemed hopeless. Then the children, these beautiful children, would run up to you shouting, “Mzungu, how are you?!” reaching for your hand to shake, then run off giggling and my soul would light up. There was the hope, the future, the youth that the school we were heading to was working so hard to help. There, right there, was the Kenya I know; the open, loving, hospitable Kenya that I had been missing so sorely. In this slum, that is ignored and written off by the metropolitan city it is in the midst of, was the true heart of Kenya and its people.
After a 1.5-hour hike through the slums, mostly uphill with lots of winding, we arrived at the school just outside of the slum. What a contrast! St. Al’s is without a doubt one of the nicest school facilities I have had the pleasure of visiting in Kenya or Uganda. It is large, clean, and well equipped. It is completely donor sponsored and every child goes there on a full scholarship. This opportunity is beyond words. School in Kenya is free through primary, or elementary school, and then it gets very expensive. To illustrate the level of need, while primary school is free, uniforms, books, shoes, etc are not free. The students are not allowed to go to school without these items, so if the family cannot afford these essentials, the children cannot attend even primary school. Some families can only afford such items for a few of their children, so they must choose which of their children will go to school and which ones will not. Once children are out of primary school, it is no longer free. Now, not only do they have to pay for the books, supplies, uniforms, shoes, etc., but they must also pay tuition fees for secondary school. It is much less accessible and many children do not get the opportunity to attend even if they desire to. Beyond that, university is incredibly expensive and out of reach for many.
At St. Al’s, not only is the tuition free, but the uniforms, books, and supplies are all provided. Each child receives a good breakfast and lunch at school, which may be the only meals they have that day. The school is absolutely committed to ensuring that each child has the resources and energy they need to succeed in school. The quality of education is outstanding, beyond what many schools that cost much more can offer. The school commits to supporting the children through secondary school with a wonderful education, and have a graduate program as well. They help place each child in their community project, which is like an internship, for 6 months after graduation and then help them with university applications. Once they are accepted, they pay for university as well. This offers a unique opportunity to receive a quality education, to children who would not otherwise have the means to do so. It allows them to excel, thrive and go onto the profession of their choosing. I was absolutely astounded and overwhelmed at the passion and quality of the teachers, staff and school itself. The school works to not only meet some of the students needs but also to care well for them, advocate for them, and support them while meeting as many needs as possible. The school clinic was staffed by a very competent nurse who cared well for the students and supplied medication for common illnesses from living in the slums. They send the students who are in need of more medical attention to the local hospital, covering those charges as well.
(St. Al's Facility)
Of course, they cannot do this for every HIV affected child in the Kibera slums. We were able to sit down with one of the admissions staff members to learn more about the admission process. St. Al’s currently has 280 students enrolled, even though their facility can hold substantially more students. The school is committed to quality over quantity, and with their current amount of donations and budget, they must cap each incoming class at 70 students, 35 boys and 35 girls, in order to maintain the level of education and assistance that they currently provide. The admission process is very well thought out and executed, though it seemed to be a very difficult process for both the students as well as the staff. Sitati, our friend and the social worker, speaks at each primary school and the primary schools send students who are HIV affected to St. Al’s to pick up forms, which they must have signed by a guard/policeman to verify where they live. They also have forms signed by teachers, pastors, etc. The staff is able to see how interested children truly are in attending St. Al’s through this first step because it is so much work. They bring the forms back with a birth certificate and the death certificate of their parent who died from HIV/AIDs. During this time, their test scores from 8th grade come in. Students must have scored above a certain level in order to qualify, eliminating roughly 100 students. One school is blacklisted because the teachers help the students with the tests so that the school ranks higher. Schools are one of the easiest ways in the slums to manipulate people, which deeply saddens me, as these children still need the opportunity to learn. Around 400 are considered with forms and scores. They then interview those students to see if they match with the papers, maybe eliminating 10. A second test is done, which has a cut off score. Scores combined with the student’s level of need and their situation helps the school determine who to accept. This was clearly the most difficult portion for the staff and administration. You could tell from their eyes and tone how deeply it hurt them to turn any children away at this point who were in need and had put so much into the acceptance process. In the end, 35 boys and 35 girls get accepted into the school. I was most affected by the time that is taken to consider the situations and realities of every student. The administration is very culturally aware of what the dire circumstances of the students, which is an unusual emphasis for school acceptance in Kenya. There was one boy who applied 4 years in a row and was finally accepted at the age of 24. He is now a total orphan and the oldest of 6 siblings who he must care for, and the school is doing all it can to assist him so that he can remain in school and get his degree.
I write about this in such detail because it is so incredibly rare to find a school such as this. Anyone who has lived in or worked in Kenya can attest to the issues surrounding accessible education. Those who can afford it get the schooling, those who can’t or who are orphaned have a very low chance of receiving any education past primary school. Often, the schools prices are not compatible with the level of education or quality of staff, faculty and facility that is offered. St. Al’s is a golden exception, one that I am blessed to have toured and been able to interview and interact with so many teachers, staff and students. I was blessed to spend time with one of the graduates, Sharon, who is heading to university in Kisumu in September. She hopes to be a social worker like her teacher and friend, Sitati. She inspired me. The student’s passion for learning and their dreams for the future were moving and honestly left me a little choked up. This was a prayer I had last time I was in Kenya and it is being realized at St. Al’s. The staff are gifted, capable, wonderful communicators, and have a good team concept. The extreme competence of the staff and teachers was encouraging. It is clear that they have worked hard to make St. Al’s all it can be and haven’t taken any shortcuts along the way.
(Computer lab at the school)
St. Al’s also provides counseling for the students, which we were specifically interested in. Sitati is the social worker for the children but does her fair share of counseling as well. She does home visits during the admissions process as well as during the school year when a problem arises. She works with the graduates as well, giving her roughly a 400 client caseload, which is extremely high, but she works hard with passion, devotion, and is very good at what she does. The chaplain does pastoral counseling when it is needed, and there are interns from Amani counseling center (which we will be visiting later in the trip) who come twice a week to see students. I am grateful that counseling is seen as so important at St. Al’s, but I am honestly quite surprised as well. Many places would not consider offering counseling. They do integration of psychology and theology very well, holding them in similar lights and allowing them to support one another. They also practice Ignation exercises, which naturally dovetails into psychology. They hold confidentiality as a high standard, which is mainly a Western concept and was surprising to find. What is said to counselors or chaplains stays confidential. While 5% of the students are HIV positive, none of the other students would be aware. I was impressed by the level of counseling, though it was clear that much assistance and aid is needed in the social work and counseling departments as the caseloads are extraordinarily heavy. I would love to see students from Denver Seminary and other schools doing their internships in places such as St. Al’s and look forward to possibly partnering with them in some way in the future. I received hope and encouragement for my future in cross cultural or international counseling from our time at St. Al’s.
(My team with some of the staff, including Sharon and Sitati)
I cannot say enough good things about St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School for AIDS orphans. If you would like to consider sponsoring a child, funding supplies for the school or just learning more about the school, please visit www.sagnairobi.org.
