Education & Child Sponsorship
Our Approach to Education and Child Welfare
The Nasio Trust’s Education and Child Sponsorship Programme gives vulnerable and orphaned children in Mumias West the chance to grow up in a safe, loving family while accessing quality education from pre-primary through to university or vocational training. We help provide school fees, uniforms, meals, healthcare, and ongoing social support, ensuring that children can focus on learning and reaching their full potential. By investing in their education, the programme not only transforms individual lives but also strengthens the wider community, breaking the cycle of poverty for future generations.
Early Childhood Education
- Noah’s Ark
Noah’s Ark Day Care Centre was the first project set up by The Nasio Trust in 2001. It began as a road-side kiosk in Mumias where it catered for the needs of 16 disadvantaged children, before being rebuilt elsewhere in 2005. The preschool children who come here each day benefit from time in the classroom and are provided with a nutritious meal, something they do not always receive at home. Importantly, time is set aside for play, so these children are actually given the opportunity to act like children, again something that tends to escape home life. - St Irene’s
Whilst Noah’s Ark has been catering for the needs of orphans in Mumias since 2001, Irene Mudenyo who set up the initial centre was concerned about the wellbeing of children who had lost their parents in her home village Musanda. When Irene sadly passed away in 2007, a second day care centre was built in Musanda in her memory. It officially open in 2009, and is now the larger of the two centres, and currently educates 39 students many of whom are vulnerable, orphans, or partial orphans.
Primary and Secondary Education
Primary education is free in Kenya but there are several additional costs that students have to contend with including administrative costs, uniform and stationery and exam costs. In the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) system of education, students move to Junior Secondary school in Grade 7 from where all tuition becomes paid. The CBC system also comes with additional costs such as materials for hands-on school training. Nasio continues to support the students’ needs during this period and provides additional psychosocial support and extracurricular training.
Tertiary and University Education
Several supported children join university across the country for a variety of courses including medicine, law and accounting. Those who do not join university are encouraged to transition into vocational training and technical college courses.
School Feeding Programme
Hungry children cannot pay attention in school and have poorer learning outcomes. Nasio’s school feeding programme provides a school meal to students at the Early Childhood Development (ECD) education centres and students in schools near the centres. The feeding programme also provides breakfast to the ECD students fortified with spirulina, a blue green algae we produce in-house.
Holiday Programme
Our Holiday Programme, conducted twice a year, provides young people with the opportunity to participate in interesting extra-curricular activities such as dancing, singing and music, and computer lessons. Mentorship sessions are also provided by members of Nasio staff to secondary school students. Professors from local universities including Maseno and Masinde Muliro also share career advice with the students.
