Our Seed of Hope centre in Kariti has been one of the most active Vision Africa projects in terms of initiating income generating activities (IGAs) to help towards self sustainability. Head teacher Njambi and her team have been busy thinking about the needs of the community and how they can raise funds by addressing those needs.
Their latest project is the setting up of a computer centre at their school. This has been made possible thanks to a CDF (constituency development fund) grant and a donation of second hand computers from the UK. To help enhance the project, the board took the decision to sell a bull they had been rearing and invest the funds in the computer centre.
An announcement was made at the graduation of dressmaking and hairdressing students on the fourth of November. This let the community know that computer courses would be available in the new year and that computer services would also be available at the Seed of Hope Centre. Those present on graduation day quickly spread the word and customers started coming to see what services were available.
With limited resources, Njambi’s team have been offering restricted services but demand is very high. They have been printing fundraising cards, typesetting and preparing letters and documents for printing and also providing photocopying services using the printer. It has been discovered that two of the teaching staff are proficient with computers and have been able to help get the project off to a great start.
From January, the computer centre will offer courses to fee-paying students which will help it become self-sustainable. Kariti Seed of Hope students will also benefit from the centre as the intention is to add computer classes in to their curriculum.
Njambi has high hopes for this new IGA and believes that the high level of interest that has been shown so far is a good indication that the community will support the project. The school recently received a donation of a digital camera and hopes to get a high quality printer that will allow them to produce digital photographs for paying customers. In such a rural area, no internet connection is currently available. If one or two modems could be supplied to the project initially, it is hope they could allow paying customers to browse and also market Seed of Hope products to a wider audience. If a photocopier can be procured, this will allow the centre to do bulk photocopying which will be cheaper to run than photocopying on the printer they are currently using.
If you can assist this project in any way, Njambi and her team would be delighted to put your investment to good use and help develop their students and also the community of Kariti. Please use our contact form to get in touch or find us on Facebook or Twitter.