Education at Lewa

The Lewa Education Trust (LET) was established in 2001 and is based at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy offices near Isiolo, Kenya. The Trust board is made up of twelve individuals who are affiliated to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.  The Ministry of Education is represented as well as the local community. The Board has a Chairman and an Executive Director.

The Trust is currently supporting eight primary schools in its immediate neighborhood. The funds to support these eight schools come from money raised during the annual Safaricom Marathon - a charity event. The schools get 20% of the total funds raised. The Trust also awards thirteen scholarships every year - seven to the top student in the schools, one to the son / daughter of a Lewa staff and five to other best performing students in schools that are in close proximity to the Conservancy. Currently we are supporting 71 students in high school, 4 in university, 15 in colleges and 12 orphans.

Majority of the schools that we are supporting have poor infrastructure and this was made even worse by the introduction of free primary education last year. This is because there have been a steady influx of pupils to the primary schools placing pressure on the existing resources especially books, stationary, desks, other teaching materials and even classrooms. The government is not able to meet the demand of the increasing number of children in the schools.

There are many ways that the schools can be supported. More details can be found below, or on the right hand menu.

• The Lewa Education Trust document details what major projects are currently needed in the schools. (pdf version here - 250Kb)
• The five-year plan shows what each school hopes to achieve in the coming five years with the availability of funds. The school gets to prioritize its needs and the Education Trust tries to assist as per need basis.
• What a donation can do is a basic summary of the cost of the different needs of the schools.