The project started in late 2011 with a casual conversation with Rebecca Saunders who, at the time, was in charge of Kenya-Imagine, an Australian project. She was organizing a full container of reading books to be shipped to KAG Olympic Educational Centre in Kibera – Kenya. The small school had little space to receive over 4.000 donated books. Catherine Cerdan Cawood and Catherine Guillou decided to found AKEK-OK to assist getting all the paperwork done and clearing the container and by finding sponsors who would support a few children by taking over the annual school fees. They started spreading the word and did their first collection of donations through friends, acquaintances, family and business partners. At that time, Pastor Eliezer Kiratu was managing the school and thus was the solid foundation for the partnership between AKEK-OK and the existing school. His commitment to the project has since remained strong – you can listen to his words from 2019 here.

The first challenge was to set-up a library that could hold all those books. This iron sheet structure is still today’s heart of the school yard and holds besides several reading lectures, all educational books according to the country’s official syllabus.

Furthermore, a few repairs and renovating the existing school were accomplished during the school holidays and with funds from the project. Most importantly, sponsors had to be found for children whose families could not afford the yearly school fees.

In no time sponsors from all around the world, mainly from Roxcel Group (Austria), started to join in. Thomas Brunnauer based at Roxcel headquarters in Vienna took over linking up further colleagues with that project and has been an advocate for the project and team member since then.

Due to Catherine’s business connections Kenyan manufactures contributed with in-kind donations such as exercise books and dishes for the children to eat their daily hot lunches. The shelves of the library were sponsored by Nelion children of Hillcrest Preparatory School, the classrooms have been revamped and new ones created.

Each year, KAG is proud of the results on the KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination) which are constantly improving since the project was launched, which shows the high quality of education and the effort of the children. We do see that the sponsored children are more focused on their studies, not having to miss class due to missing school fees. In addition their parents do not have the financial pressure of the school fees and can be reassured that their children have a hot meal, although it being only once a day.

In February 2015 Liz, an austrian based sponsor, visited the project for the first time. Working as an Roxcel employee for the local branch in Kenya, she was also allowed to visit and pursue the charity project on a weekly basis. From that day onwards she felt committed to engage more and managed to expand the project together with new director of the school Pastor Ayub Leonard Nygani.

After a period of transition in the year 2016 both Cathies decided to retire and lay the project in Liz’ & Thomas’ hands.

Early in 2018 Angelina joined the team, she has been a sponsor for quite some time but always felt the desire to contribute more. Her ideas, her commitment to the project and the editorial skills are not only vital but very appreciated within the team. With her helping hands she is present at charity events and the woman behind our social media channels.

Not too many months later and after a few messages back and forth we could welcome another sponsor Brian to the Team. His accounting competence and excel knowledge are essential for the project with increasing numbers of sponsors, funds and calculations to be done on a monthly basis. Furthermore he contributes with his visionary thinking and does reality checks of ideas that might not be feasible.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the project in 2021 allowed us to reflect and ask the sponsors but also partners on their take on the project. It was also a time for internal meetings, clarifying responsibilities as well as team bonding.

Our recent team member Shirin has been a sponsor for several years and was always interested in allocating more time to the project. Howeverher previous work commitment including travelling activities didn’t allow her to work for the team on a regular basis. With her new job assignment, she was able to join us early 2023 and took over our first big fundraising campaign – thank you Shirin, for your “go-getter ”qualities, your motivation and your energetic spirit with a big smile that you bring to the Team!

We are looking forward to many more years of success and want to say a heartfelt: THANK YOU – ASANTE SANA – DANKESCHÖN!