I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya about a dozen years ago, which inspired me to create the Kenya Education Fund.
My Peace Corps service preceded the first mobile phones in Kenya, and the glacial speed of the big city's Internet kept the art of hand writing letters alive and well. The roads (where there were roads) seemed to be made of potholes, and water and electricity were heavily rationed as a result of a two-year draught.
There was no universal primary education and it seemed that Kenya was going nowhere in no particular hurry.
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| Brad Visits KEF Student Josephine in Her Home Village in Amboseli, January 2011 |
One of the wonderful aspects of my job with the KEF is that I get to travel to Kenya once or twice a year.
This year, more than ever before, Kenya's progress was evident to me in every school, on every road, in every belly and in every home.
Impressive road works have smoothed every major artery of the country and beautifully paved highways have replaced a vast number of dirt roads.
More construction cranes dot the Nairobi skyline than the New York skyline.
Almost every child between kindergarten and 8th grade is now in school (still less than 25% finish high school). Blazing Internet speeds have effectively put an end to hand-written letters (except for KEF students, of course) and text messaging is now the preferred mode of communication for Kenya's 16 million mobile phone users.
So what does all of this mean for Kenya and the Kenya Education Fund? In January I visited 20 KEF partnership schools to see about 50 KEF students.
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Brad Visits Newly Enrolled Form One Student Galboran Gideon Gumaadi in February 2011
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For the first time I found that almost every school administration had digitized their student records and were able to provide me with report cards and fees invoices in an instant. This technology allows the KEF to monitor our 500 active students much more efficiently. But perhaps more importantly, the modernization of Kenya is expanding the middle class and creating a more robust job market for KEF graduates.
The ongoing events in North Africa illustrate the remarkable change that an educated population can bring about. Kenya is a multi-party democracy with a fast growing and educated population. As the KEF helps to educate an English-speaking and motivated Kenyan workforce, there is more than a good chance that we can see Kenya break the cycle of poverty and dependency in the near future.
I returned to NY invigorated by the stories of the KEF students I met and the incredible energy I felt being in the KEF Nairobi office. It is as clear to me as ever that education is the best way to improve lives in Kenya. Your support is the reason why the KEF helped 151 students graduate from high school last year. Thank you for being part of the change!
With deep gratitude,
Bradley Broder
Executive Director
Kenya Education Fund
