Our Initiatives
The Thorn Tree Project helps Samburu children throughout every stage of their education, right up until they either get a job or return to their family. This includes preschool, grade school, high school, technical school and college.
In 2001, there were just two small primary schools (grades 1-8) serving an area of 10,000 square kilometers. Ninety-six students attended primary school in Sereolipi, with an additional 34 students at Ndonyo Wasin’s primary school. There were no preschools in the nomadic areas of the Samburu region. That year not a single student graduated from high school. Today, over 1,300 attend school in the Samburu region.
Our program began with a simple initiative to institute preschools in the area, and has grown to serve these children through the entire course of their education.
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Preschool
In 2001, there were no preschools (kindergartens) in the nomadic areas of north eastern Samburu. The Thorn Tree Project began by raising money to help the Samburu start a series of preschools in the outlying nomadic communities. These preschools would allow parents to experience the benefits of schooling firsthand.
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Boarding School
The success of the preschools soon sent more and more students into the Samburu’s two local primary schools each year. Most of the children needed to board at school because their nomadic families live and migrate anywhere from 10 to 60 kilometers away from the two schools. With more children ready to attend primary school, we urgently needed adequate, fully equipped dormitories.
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Improving Quality of Education
For rural schools in Kenya, the government provides less than 45% of what is needed to run a basic school capable of delivering adequate academic standards. In 2007, the Ndonyo Wasin primary school received just 30% of the funding it would need to function at a basic academic level.
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High School & Technical School
Secondary school—both high school and technical school—is not free in Kenya. The cost of school fees, supplies, and transportation is nearly four times the average annual Samburu family income, making it simply unaffordable for most families. In 2006 we started a sponsorship program to send our top performing students to high school or technical school.