Children In Freedom Inc

Our application for the Elevate Prize (EP) is purposeful/intentional, we are ready, have a story to tell, and we trust that we will win. Our reasons below

• Global platform and exposure – through its global networks, the EP gives us a great opportunity to share our innovative story and the impact that an Afrocentric education has. We get to educate and influence the world on what education and curriculum for black/African children should be like.
• Linkages with like-minded entrepreneurs who have done ‘greater than life things’. Their mentorship and networks would be priceless
• The prize money would be very welcome and timely, because we are now networking for partners who would help scale up our school from the kindergarten and primary school, to a Pan-African boarding secondary school that would host children from all over the world. We have received calls of interest from our current parents/school families, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Africans in the diaspora. Our budget for buying land and building the secondary school campus is $590,000. We hope to raise the funds this year (2021) and concentrate on building next year (2022). Our Afrocentric Pan-African boarding school will open in January 2023. 

Between 2008-2012, I was a researcherat University of Cambridge; partnering with disadvantaged schools in Africa. I witnessed poverty and started giving back to the pupils– stationary, food, clothes, fees etc. I rallied my friends and family to give; this was the informal start of Children in Freedom Inc. In 2013 my husband and I quit our jobs and moved to Kenya to serve more children. Being on the ground made us witness how our beneficiaries had low self-esteem and poor communication skills. They could not identify their talents and articulate their dreams; lacked critical thinking and were ignorant of the global world. Clearly, paying school fees wasn't enough. They needed nurturing in positive black identity and self-efficacy. We designed an Afrocentric mentorship programme, which gave us evidence that giving empowering Afrocentric knowldeges was crucial in immediate behavioural change. To grow, we created our own space where we would implement the Afrocentric education that we deemed fit for African children. In 2017, we used our savings to build Children In Freedom School(CIFS), and committed to infuse Afrocentrism into the Kenyan curriculum – the first of its kind. We present a best practice, one that must be scaled up. 

Problem1 – As a researcher I worked with 97 girls in Kenya. They came to school hungry, were sent home for fees, started walking to school at 4am - risking harm from wild animals and sexual abusers. They lacked adequate inner wear and sanitary towels – making them miss school when they were on their period. Worldwide, a shocking 130 million girls experience similar challenges, predisposing them to not getting education.

Problem2 - Despite six decades of independence, Kenya’s curriculum is still Eurocentric, lacks positive African histories, languages and narratives; is exam oriented, nurtures servitude rather than innovation. Sponsoring children to school was not going to give us the caliber of changemaker we wanted. The problem exacerbates on principle as it affects the future of the current 15 million students in Kenya.  

To resolve the above, I started fundraising from friends and family in 2009 – inadvertently starting a scholarship programme that has so far given out 300 scholarships. We further designed an Afrocentric mentorship programme, to add value to the schooling the children received. This has so far reached over 10,000 people. In 2017 we established the first Afrocentric school in EastAfrica - an innovative and cultural game changer. 

CIFS presents an Afrocentric and transformative model. We teach children the greatness of their culture and history (we are not about slavery), values such as Ubuntu, their country’s natural resources and knowing how to manipulate these resources and become financially buoyant innovators. We shape them to become the ethical change makers that Africa needs. We have designed teacher-parent training curricula that reminds them about the importance of our children’s dreams and of accepting their identity; that our role is to walk them through a path of courage and ‘all things are possible despite one’s background’. Fusing Afrocentrism into our practice has included swapping Eurocentric literature and songs for more Afrocentric ones, teaching true African histories and great African innovations, not being ashamed to call ourselves by our African names, naming our classes after icons such as Wangari Maathai, Mansa Musa etc; and wearing African print uniform. We are also preparing our children to be global citizens – we teach them ICT and programming from 6 years of age, and even during the recent global school lockdown, our school remained ‘open’ as we switched to online learning. We are more than just a school; we are a holistic human development centre.

1) The children are receiving a holistic education and exposure that is beyond just academics. We're preparing an African child that does not just cram and pass exams, but one who understands knowledge, has the sensitivity to choose what they're good at, and action their dreams to the fullest extent possible. We're inculcating in them a sense of excellence and African-awareness, that whatever greatness they have, they must give back and lift Africa. If not them, then who? The children grow to be the ethical leaders and changemakers that Africa needs.

(2) The teachers are working in a thriving environment that is at par if not better than international schools. They're exposed to research, critical thinking, student-centered methods and technology.

(3) We have employed 23 staff, giving them a source of livelihood. In Africa, one income impacts at least 8 lives.

(4) We buy supplies and services from local businesses – be it foodstuffs, stationary, uniform, construction items etc. Our teachers also rent from local landlords and buy items from local businesses. We're sustaining local businesses.  

(5) We're realigning African heritage and greatness - to the educational curriculum. We're righting wrongs - returning Africa's education to what it should be.