Mayo resident fundraises for secondary school in Kenya

Mayo resident, Ellen Sanders, is raising funds to build a secondary school in a Kenyan slum.

Chair of TABS International, a UK-based charity founded by her late mother, Ms Sanders is looking to build a network for the charity here in Mayo.

Supporting a school in a slum called Kiandutu on the outskirts of Thika, Ms Sanders described the families and children they work with to The Mayo News as the ‘poorest of the poor’.

Already providing primary education to 500 Kenyan students, as well as feeding them, without the charity, these children would not have access to education. 

“We can't expand the project any more in the slum because we've really completely run out of space, and we do want to meet the needs of everybody that comes into the project. 

“My mum, bless her, left some money in her will, and with those funds we've purchased a small plot of land about a 15-minute journey outside the slum and that is where we are going to plant and base the majority of our secondary school and provide accommodation for children, so it will be a boarding school as well as a secondary school. 

She continued: “Everything we do as TABS is done through our sister charity TABS Kenya, which is working on the ground in Kenya, and we have a board of trustees, who are all the local Kenyans that support the project and are our key partners.

“They said to us ‘we really want to show these children what life is like outside of the slum and give them access to opportunities’, you know, just so they can get a taste of a different way of life, and in Kenya, really, the route out of poverty really is still through education.”

_{Pupil's of the primary school}

The group is set to climb Mount Kenya as the main fundraising event to kick off progress on the new school, an event they will fundraise for with a night of music in Westport this summer; but there is no finalised date just yet.

“At the music event, you know, hopefully we can be selling things, and doing a raffle, and people can give cash on the night.

“I'll do a presentation about the charity, who we are, why we're here, what we're trying to do, which is to put the water borehole in the new land, because without water we can't progress any of our plans. So that's the main thing we're raising funds for at the minute,” she said.

Urging the importance of building the new school, Ms Sanders explained how there is no other school in the slum they work in. 

“If we weren't in there delivering our project, those children just wouldn't be going to school. So that's 500 plus children that wouldn't be at school, wouldn't be eating a regular meal, so we're talking about real basic needs being met. 

She added: “The land that we've bought will also be a sort of vocational training centre, so not only will they get academic education, but they will have space to grow food, maybe have some animals, to teach them other sorts of wider life skills.”

With the charity close to her heart for multiple reasons, one being ‘carrying on the legacy of [her] mother’, Ms Sander’s has called on people to support the charity to make a positive change in the world. 

“There's so much awfulness in the world, there's always so much that can depress you, so much to drag you down, and I think sometimes people can feel quite overwhelmed by just how bad things are, and if you could just do something positive, just get involved in one small thing, just give five euros or whatever, or go and volunteer with another charity somewhere. 

“If everybody just did a little something positive, I think for you personally, you feel better. You don't feel so overwhelmed about how difficult things are in the world, but every single cent helps. 

She concluded: “It really does make a difference, the money goes very far in Kenya, as well as it does in other Third World countries, what we think is of a little bit can be a really massive support and help over there.”

To donate, or more information on TABS International, see their website.