ST. CHARLES LWANGA HIGH SCHOOL - NAIROBI

St. Charles Lwanga Secondary School and Children’s Centre started as place where orphaned, homeless and abandoned children were rescued and provided with shelter, food and a place to call home. Brother John started by gathering children, rehabilitating and relocating them into schools, but later realized it was becoming difficult in some cases, as existing schools did not want to integrate children from the street into their classrooms. This necessitated, in part, starting the school, which in just four years he transformed the little used residence, owned by the Order of St. Charles Lwanga, into classrooms, a dormitory, dining hall .The students, all former street kids living a difficult life in crime-ridden neighborhoods, now proudly wear their school’s uniform and call the Children’s Centre “home”. The children were rescued from the dumpsites, streets and slums of Nairobi and given a chance to gain an education and end the cycle of poverty and homelessness. Today they are provided with a safe place to live, a reliable source of nutritious food and the opportunity to gain high school education with the possibility of post-secondary education. The founder hopes that with donations to the Centre, he and his team can build a bigger school with an integrated approach to nurture children through academics to become responsible citizens of the world.