Kenyan Catholic school builds grace and hope, one cup of coffee at a time

By Jackson Okoth, Catholic News Service

Kenya is a country impacted by climate change and wracked by political unrest and tribal conflicts.

The challenges could seem overwhelming, but for some visionaries in Texas and in Kenya, it's a matter of one child, one cup of coffee, at a time.

Disputes over the reelection of President Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki in 2007 triggered postelection violence. Kisumu County, in west Kenya and about 200 miles northwest of Nairobi, was impacted significantly.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the election had been stolen, and after Kibaki's swearing-in the evening of Dec. 30, 2007, the country erupted in ethnic violence that lasted weeks. At least 1,300 people were killed and 600,000 were displaced.

The violence ended after the international community brokered a deal in which Kibaki remained president and Odinga became prime minister.

In April 2008, Dominican Father Martin Martiny established Our Lady of Grace School in Kanyakwar, Kenya, which provides not only an education but is a haven and hope for orphaned and vulnerable children who were victims of the postelection violence and who continue to suffer from the country's political and economic woes.

Today, Our Lady of Grace School is thriving because of effective local leadership and the financial support of donors, including individuals who purchase coffee from a nonprofit operated by volunteers in Houston called Saint Basil Coffee.

Nearly 445 students are enrolled at Our Lady of Grace, which has a preschool and a primary, or elementary, school.

Although the elementary school children still take their meals under the trees and attend classes in basic metal sheet buildings, and most students are orphans or have been traumatized in other ways, they excel in many ways.

Ebrahim Onyango, head teacher for the primary section, explained that Our Lady of Grace ranks first in Nyaera Zone-Kisumu County, out of 20 schools, and fourth in Kisumu West Sub County, out of 103 schools.

"We have 31 pupils in grade six, who are supposed to transition to junior secondary come next year. Most of them are under 12 years of age, the minimum age required to enter high school," Onyango explained.

He said the primary school also has been exceptional in co-curricular activities, including trophies won in soccer as the school attempts to provide a well-rounded educational experience for its students.

Its bright yellow bus transports children to activities outside the school, such as sports, music festivals and other co-curricular activities.

It's an environment that also encourages generosity, according to Michael Ochieng, an alumni who is now a teacher.

"When my mother passed on, I was recruited to join Our Lady of Grace School by one of the Dominican fathers, together with my sister," he said. "I joined the school in grade five, and we had no classrooms and took our lessons under trees. We were also experiencing water problems," he said.

Since then, he has seen the school transform into a "serene learning environment and lush playgrounds." And there are computers for the students.

Ochieng decided to return to Our Lady of Grace to give back to the school and the community where he grew up.

"I am grateful for the opportunity I received from Our Lady of Grace School and encourage all my students that they, too, can make it in life like their teacher," he said.

The residential school was built on land purchased from Action Aid International, a relief agency that left the region during the postelection violence.

From the beginning, finances were tight and the Dominicans struggled to provide the support necessary.

In 2013, the school sunk to its lowest point financially, forcing the Dominicans to seek other groups, both locally and abroad, willing to assume administration of the school.

Grace came from within and without.

"I was already running this institution having come in earlier as an accountant," explained Mary Casiraghi, the school's current managing director. She applied her expertise; a cost-benefit analysis of the institution showed that the secondary school section was not viable.

"We again restructured the institution and moved the primary section across the road and closed down the secondary school, transferring all the affected high school students to other quality institutions across the country," Casiraghi explained.

It costs approximately 45,000 Kenyan shillings (US$368) annually to educate a child at Our Lady of Grace.

"While a large bulk of the funding into OLG school comes mostly from the United States, we have a lot of local support from the surrounding community and civic administration," Casiraghi said.

"We also engage in various income generating projects, including poultry which we supply to the local community. We also get regular donations in kind from commercial banks and other private organizations in Kisumu County," she added.

The school has a farm with more than 800 chickens, 100 pigs and four dairy cows, and it grows bananas and vegetables.

The farm is a key supplier of chicken to a neighboring hospital, which also receives its furniture from the school's metal workshop.

In 2018, Our Lady of Grace School Foundation Ltd. was established to provide a stable financial foundation for the school. Its board, made up of Catholics in Kenya and abroad, is mandated with securing funding for the school.

Some of those "Catholics abroad" are the volunteers who run Saint Basil Coffee.

Houstonians Mary and Jim Boyles founded Saint Basil Coffee in 2005 in a direct response to St. John Paul II's call for Catholics to engage in social justice, a call which came through Basilian Father Vince Thompson.

They've passed on the day-to-day management to John and Linda Howard, fellow parishioners at St. Anne Church in Houston.

The business plan is straightforward: Buy coffee from small, independent farmers in Colombia, have it roasted and packaged by a Houston-based, socially conscious coffee company, and sell it to folks who appreciate good coffee and the common good.

"Since 2005, Saint Basil Coffee has contributed more than $625,000 to missions that serve those most in need," John Howard said. "We like to say we're making an impact, one cup at a time."

At Our Lady of Grace, Saint Basil Coffee is considered a key supporter; its contributions have funded the rehabilitation and expansion of the preschool classrooms and playground, along with directly supporting the students.

Casiraghi said plans include building facilities for junior secondary students according to the Kenyan Competence Based Curriculum, or CBC.

The goal is to accommodate 500 students in the next five years to meet a growing demand from the community.

"We need finances that will be used for hiring of new teachers, setting up of laboratories and other materials. CBC presents us with significant challenges as well as unique opportunities," she said.

Those challenges and opportunities translate into hopes and dreams for Our Lady of Grace's students.

Gordon, who is in second grade and whose father cannot walk due to an assault over land disputes, said he loves being at the school.

"We eat chicken, beans and rice; these are foods we cannot eat at home because we cannot afford them," he said. His dream is to be a lawyer when he grows up, so he can "buy a big house and help other children."

Gordon is already making his dream a reality with help that comes one cup of coffee at a time.