Education In Eastern Africa
I have long been considering contributing to the Quiristers’ bursary fund but have other
charitable priorities, and explained these to Tamara, Deputy Director of Development,
when the latest request came out. As a result, I was asked to write a ‘where is he now’
article, incorporating some of my other charitable interests. Here it is.
As with many underdeveloped countries,
Kenya cannot afford the sort of education
and welfare programmes that developed
countries provide. It is only recently that
primary education has been paid for by the
state. Early years/Foundation, secondary
and tertiary education must be paid for,
although the best and brightest receive a
subsidised university education. Many –
many – children go no further than primary
school, which obviously restricts their
opportunities in adulthood.
For most of the year, I live in retirement in
Kenya, on a beautiful farm (not mine) full
of Friesian cattle, pedigree horses, trees,
including the wonderful Acacia Abyssinica
maize, wheat and grass, on the southern
slopes of the Rift Valley, with wonderful
views and year-round sunshine.
What can one do to help? I’m involved on
two fronts: one is with a UK charity; the
other is through personal sponsorship and
mentoring.
I’m a founding Trustee of a charity called
East Africa Character Development Trust
(www.eacfoundation.org.uk). EACDT seeks
to provide exposure to and reinforcement
in seven key character traits that have
been demonstrated to be fundamental to
academic and other success in life. Uniquely,
we use cricket as our delivery method.
Why cricket? Well, all the trustees are or
have been keen cricketers in their time and
have first-hand experience of the positive
character formation benefits of the game.
Acacia Abyssinica
I’m more or less on the equator, but as I’m at
7,300 ft, temperatures rarely get above 25C,
there is no humidity to speak of and I hardly
ever see or hear a mosquito. I’ve landed
up here after spending about two thirds
of my working life working, living in, and
travelling around, sub-Saharan Africa.
One must do something in one’s retirement,
and one of the things that keeps me busy
and interested is helping young people
improve their chances of making something
of their lives. It’s a challenge that I can only
scratch the surface of, as Kenya (and its East
African neighbours, Tanzania and Uganda)
has a rapidly expanding population -
Kenya’s population is now estimated to be
about 45 million people (at independence 50
or so years ago, there were only 8 million) -
nearly 45% of whom are under 15.
Kenyan schools provide little in the way of
organised sport, and so we find children
and young people very enthusiastic when
given a chance to get some exercise and,
in tandem, learn character traits that will
help them in their lives. The schools with
which we work have also found that our
programme helps them improve discipline,
academic results and morale and we’re
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