ST. VINCENT DEPAUL ACADEMY – THIGIO

St. Vincent DePaul Academy-Ndiguini is a non-profit school project that began in 2010 by the Congregation of the Mission Priests, working in collaboration with the local Christian community at St. Ann outstation of Holy Cross Thigio Parish in the Archdiocese of Nairobi. The school started as a feeding program centre just to help the local people around to get some food for their children. But as time went by, the feeding program centre began the process of becoming an Early Childhood Development Centre, and a nursery school was established in 2010. During this time, the classes were being held under the old church, which was a temporary structure.
Later, the Vincentian priests working there, together with the local Christian community, saw the need to expand the school by putting in place some temporary structures to act as classrooms in order to address the growing number of poor Children joining the school in pursuit of education. Currently, the school has grown from nursery school to class six, and the number of children has increased from 30 in 2010 to over 500.
The school now has a few permanent and decent classrooms, which were built with the support of the Congregation of the Mission through Walking with the Poor funds from the Western Province Development Office. As the school keeps growing, there is a continuous need for more decent classrooms, and thanks to Fr. Ron Hoye, CM, through his God Minute community, for helping with the construction of the two new classrooms on the ground floor of the new permanent structure in the school.
Since the introduction of the new Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) by the Government of Kenya in schools, the school is facing challenges when it comes to digital literacy. The school needs laptops, tablets, projectors, printers, and photocopiers in order to align the education service being offered with the new education curriculum in Kenya and also to be able to give the very best to the learners.
The feeding program, which was the initial idea of the school, has also become a challenge. This is because the school is located in a semi-arid region with very limited agricultural activities that can ensure food sustainability. Food therefore remains among the necessities to keep children in school and make them acquire the skills and knowledge they need.
The community here is very grateful for the support they have received from various donors through the Congregation of the Mission, and they are confessing that they are where they are because of the hand of God working through their donors.

Barack Omondi Odhiambo
Communication Officer