Ilkeek Aare Boarding School in Kenya

Located in a remote area of Kenya, the Ilkeek Aare Primary School serves the semi-nomadic Masaai children in the region. As the lifestyle of these children’s families required perpetual moving around following the grazing grounds of their cattle, many of the Masaai children did not graduate from school.

In 2012, the Münster-Landois Lions Club of Germany partnered with Lions Club Thika Chania Falls in Kenya to assist the children by developing the boarding school. By then, there were only 70 students. The next year, LCIF awarded the Münster-Landois Lions Club a LCIF Matching grant to help expand the school to include dormitories, a dining hall, and kitchen. In 2019, LCIF awarded the Thika Chania Falls Lions Club a LCIF Matching grant to help expand the school to include a water tank, a library, and fully furnished classrooms, so the Maasai children could remain at the school to complete their education while their families move around.

The project’s goal was to help the children remain in school and receive a more complete education, to obtain a successful school certificate, and to encourage attendance, especially for girls who face serious societal issues. The boarding school with its infrastructure provides the Masaai children in this region their only opportunity to reach the same level of education as the other Kenyan children in the same age range.

Since its completion, the school has served over 500 children annually, with a goal of serving 800 annually in 2022.

Because the school is in a remote location and serves many children of a young age, the Lions recognize a need to have teachers also reside at the school and are currently developing a project to build 10 houses near the school where the teachers will live.

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