This June 2025 newsletter is aimed at updating you on how we are navigating challenging economic times to maximize our resources so we can continue to provide a safe and nurturing place for young Kenyans to learn, along with the nourishment and support they need to flourish.
Ensuring sustainability
Following a difficult funding situation in 2024, we had to make some tough decisions for this 2025 school year to ensure a sustainable future for our school. We reduced the number of students and the number of classes and therefore, regrettably, also our teaching and support staff. With our Kariobangi community, our families and our partners, we are using 2025 to refine our mission for 2026 onwards.
This year, Hands of Love has three classes, Nursey (3-year-olds), Pre-Primary 1 (4-year-olds), and Pre-Primary 2 (5-year-olds). Current enrollment in these classes is 32, 40, and 37, respectively, for a total of 109 students, 52 girls and 57 boys.
We had a huge number of deserving applications. We prioritized students from the neediest backgrounds, those with special needs, and siblings of currently enrolled students. To determine needs, we conducted home visits to assess family circumstances and living environments.
The reduction in classes also led to a decrease in staff. We now have six teachers, one cook, one cleaner, and one administrative assistant.
These changes enabled us to reduce our 2025 budget across the board for food, health and welfare programs and personnel. By meeting our end-of-year fundraising goals and staying within our budget projections in the first five months of the year has raised our morale and given us confidence that we are better prepared for the future. It is our aim to bring back focus to education by reintroducing grades 1 to 3 in 2026 while maintaining the number of students to around 125.
Implementing new curriculum standards
Based on teacher and stakeholder input, Kenya’s competency-based curriculum standards were changed again for 2025. The changes aim to reduce overload, improve learning outcomes, and offer greater flexibility for co-curricular activities.
Some of the changes include:
- Merging related subjects to decrease overlap and reduce lessons per week.
- Flexibility in choosing co-curricular activities and competencies/skills, based on individual needs.
- Integration of academic, social, emotional, and physical learning aspects for a more coherent educational experience.
Our streamlined operations have enabled us to adapt to the new standards quickly to implement them in the 2025 school year.
Providing students with excellent education through a group of dedicated teachers
Although our restructuring meant a reduction in the number of our teachers, we are proud to share the profiles of two of our exceptional educators in this newsletter.
Teacher Profile: Lilian Anyango, Pre-primary 2A
I appreciate HOL’s support for my professional growth, allowing me to teach various grades and develop leadership skills. It feels like home. I’m currently learning about the Waldorf curriculum, which focuses on educating the whole child through head, heart, and hands. I aim to bring this engaging approach to my students.
Lilian joined Hands of Love in 2016 and is currently our headteacher. She holds a diploma in Early Childhood Education and recently earned her degree in Education. With Direttamente’s support, she is also currently pursuing a course in Waldorf Education.
Teacher Profile: Diana Orego, Pre-Primary 2B
I am happy to be a part of Hands of Love! The clean and healthy environment for both staff and students, along with the readily available resources, make it an ideal place to work. I’m also excited about the learning opportunities through the school’s training programs, which helps me connect with and support the learners effectively. The encouragement of creativity through activities like drama and poetry is fantastic, as it allows students to explore their talents beyond the classroom.
Diana joined Hands of Love in January 2021 with eight years of experience working as a teacher. She also has a diploma in Early Childhood Education.
Why are we training our teachers in the Waldorf Education Method?
Since a two-week training workshop in 2023 funded and organized by Direttamente, our partner in Italy, teachers at HOL have been integrating aspects of the Waldorf approach into our curriculum in several ways. For example, students have a consistent schedule for activities like painting, singing, and movement. The predictability of these activities provides a sense of security and grounding for children who live in the often-unpredictable nature of slum life. Our teachers also strive to be a stable and caring presence to students who lack consistent adult support. And finally, they connect imagination and play with nature through activities in our rooftop garden. Students participate in unstructured play in the garden to expose them to a variety of nature’s elements.
The Waldorf method:
- Emphasizes the importance of social-emotional learning, which is often integrated into the curriculum.
- Encourages teachers to develop their artistic skills, which are then used to enhance teaching and engage students.
- Encourages a holistic understanding of child development, considering the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual aspects of the child.
Improving our food program year over year
Over the years, our food program has grown to be more robust. Initially, we were just trying to make sure our students received food on a daily basis. Now, we aim at making sure our meals meet the nutritional needs of our children. The menus vary based on what is in season, both at our rooftop garden and at the local markets. Recently, we have been able to grow a lot of zucchini, green beans, spring onions and coriander. At the moment, the market has been rich in mangoes, watermelons, mung beans and cabbage. We also raise chickens for eggs and meat on the rooftop garden to increase the children’s protein intake.
We anticipate a further decrease in our food bills in July when the Nairobi County government’s “Food for Education” program begins providing meals. This program utilizes centralized kitchens to prepare and deliver cooked meals to schools within the district. Students will use an armband with a tag to access meals and will be charged Kshs5 per meal (less than 5 cents), which we will cover. Breakfast will still be prepared in-house and will be supplemented with additional vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, and meat on various days.
Expanding our rooftop garden for food and play
The rooftop garden was a key part of our food program’s success in 2024, and we’re eager to continue that in 2025. In addition to raising vegetables we have added 55 chickens, 30 for meat and 25 for eggs. The children will be able to enjoy chicken-based meals as well as hard boiled eggs to increase their protein intake.
We remain committed to the garden as a valuable learning space, enhancing it with a partial roof for shade and shelter, allowing year-round use. We also raised the guardrails around the perimeter for safety and to provide space for garden pots, leaving more floor space for the kids to play. A lot of the garden improvements have been financed by Direttamente through the Italian taxpayers (5×1000) fund.
Participating in a food security challenge
This year, the Africa Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) invited us to participate in an urban food security challenge. The goal of the challenge is to showcase urban container farming as a solution to food security challenges in urban areas. Hands of Love is participating with other schools to show how much food we can grow in a year. The school that grows the most food or demonstrates the most innovative ways to grow food in urban settings will win a prize of $10,000. We are hoping to win, based on our innovative approach and track record of growing a great deal within a limited space.
Providing clean drinking water in each classroom
To protect our students’ health, we have installed hand-pumped 20-liter water bottles with clean drinking water in each classroom. The water is held in a dedicated 2,500 water tank, Initially, we treated the water by boiling it, but now we are treating the water with tablets provided by the Ministry of Health for free. We also have two 2,500-liter tanks, one for the kitchen and the other for toilets and sinks.
Thank you for your support
Through education, nourishment and inspiration we are helping the children of Kariobangi to escape the cycle of poverty. We are grateful for the support we have received from hundreds of individuals over the past fifteen years to make this possible.