ST. AUGUSTINE LEARNING CENTER

St. Augustine Children Learning Center is an initiative that works closely with vulnerable children the slummy Kihinguro and Gitambaya of Ruiru Town. The School begun in 2003 by a self help group registered by the Ministry of Social Services The institution aims at breaking the trend of vulnerability through provision of education to such children and more to this, the psychological support in order to raise the self esteem of such children. The center is therefore a driving force towards breaking the poverty cycle, a vehicle towards the realisation of the millennium development goals, HIV/AIDS mitigation and networking through provision of quality and holistic education to vulnerable children in a participatory approach. The center has more 330 children. Through its activities in different schools and social gatherings it was realized that the area was surrounded with many wanting children from families affected with HIV/AIDS or who come from extremely poor families many belonging to single and young parents thus rendering the children more vulnerable . These children idled around, had no school uniforms and are malnourished. St. Augustine Children Learning Centre has a population of more than 350 pupils and is the driving force toward breaking the poverty cycle, a vehicle toward Millennium Development Goals, HIV/Aids mitigation and networking through provision of quality and holistic education to vulnerable children in a participatory approach. SERVICES OFFERED BY THE SCHOOL 1. Kenyan curriculum. Education remains a key driver to a developing economy. It has been proved to break the vicious cycle of desperation and apathy as a result of poverty. The institution aims at offering quality and holistic education to deserving and needy children to shield them with power to enable them face today’s life challenges. We offer the competitive Kenyan curriculum of education. 2. Co-curricular activities. We value the wellbeing of the children as they grow thus we engage them in activities aimed at helping them become more activities outside the class. The kids engage in ball games, athletics, art and clubs. Guidance and personal development. Education is paramount in the life of a child as he grows up. Apart from academic excellence understanding and appreciating oneself goes further to enable success in an individual child. At our center we value this too and we take our children through guidance, counseling and coaching to develop their talent, self esteem and special life skills e.g. critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, among others. This program is successfully running amidst challenges like lack of textbooks, story books, balls and art materials. 3. Child care Our focus is on children. Any issue concerning child’s welfare is taken seriously. We experience cases like lack of food & malnutrition, diseases & illness among other issues. We thus advise the parents in case of diseases on available referrals in hospitals and we follow up on the same. We also provide lunch to the children. 4. Sponsorships We are working on partnerships that can assist some children. Most of our children hail from families that are not well financially. They require continued support to help them complete their education. It is for this reason that we are seeking partnership with private and government institutions to assist our children once they sit their final examination.