What we do

Shonda UK supports St John’s School by providing funding for classrooms, teaching materials and teacher salaries.

The Shonda Project’s mission is to give the children of Shonda opportunities to excel. We do this by supporting St John’s School to provide high quality, affordable primary education to enable them to secure places in good secondary schools.

We work with local schools and churches to raise money for specific projects. These have included the building of classrooms, sinking a well, installing a pump to have running water, building a boundary wall and many others.

Child sponsorship

The St John’s school proposition is simple; to offer pupils a good education that will enable them to realise their potential.

A sponsored Junior School pupil is provided with:

·   Uniform

·   Early morning snack (for nursery pupils)

·   Mid-day meal

·   Exercise books and stationary

·   Occasional school trips

In recent years, all our pupils have earned a place at a secondary school. Kenya does not provide free secondary education, so all pupils need to pay school fees. Unsurprisingly, the cost of a secondary school place is significantly higher than a junior school place. Whilst our main focus is on supporting St John’s junior school, we have had requests to fund secondary school pupils, some to enable them to attend a National school. These are the best schools in Kenya, they are all boarding schools and our pupils are likely to rub shoulders with many of the future politicians and leaders of business.  

The sponsored secondary pupil costs do vary by school, but are typically:

Many of our pupils achieve good results at secondary school and are offered a place at university. Until 2022 the Kenyan government covered fees and our assistance was limited to providing a computer or specialist books etc. This changed in 2023 and we are now needing to supplement the students’ loan to enable them to study.

We are currently supporting Amos, studying Medicine, Katie and Monica studying for a Bachelor of Education (Arts) and Brian studying Medical Engineering.

The sponsored university student costs vary, but are typically:

Principal projects

Improving health through access to water

The school is built on coral rock, approximately two kilometres from the sea. Initially the only source of water, both for the school and the local community was from water brought in barrels on water barrows by ‘barrow boys’ [photo]. The relatively high cost of the water dictated that it should be used frugally and basics like hand-washing was a luxury that could not be afforded. As a consequence, the children’s health suffered. The Project paid for a local contractor to sink a well, which enabled the school to provide water for purposes that many of us take for granted. There was an immediate and significant improvement in children’s health.

Building classrooms

The school was originally held in a building built by a Canadian charity in the early 1990’s. As the pupil numbers grew, the Project funded the construction of more classrooms. We now have 12 classrooms at the school. In recent years, we have replaced the original school building and refurbished other classrooms to accommodate the Junior Secondary School that was introduced by the Kenyan government in 2021 for classes 7, 8 and 9, ages 12 to 14.

Urban expansion brings electricity

Once surrounded by barren land and the occasional field and coral quarry, more recently the school has been impacted by increasing urbanisation throughout the region. This has brought electricity to the area and, with funding from The Shonda Project, into the school in 2012. This has enabled the school to extend teaching into the evening at times, as well as improve security. Other opportunities to enhance the lives of the pupils and local community, presented themselves.

After a number of years of good service, the original water-well bucket was replaced by a pump, water storage tank and taps, provided thanks to fundraising by Pinewood School in Wiltshire. Safe, clean water is now plentiful and easily accessed, for use by both the school and the local community.