The Academy's mission is to provide a well-rounded (quality) formal and practical education that will empower the mind, body, and spirit of Nairobi Slum's disadvantaged orphans. Most of these innocent children have no one to turn to. The huge number of . orphans and the corresponding deaths of the parental generation have overwhelmed the' country. There are many children with no relatives who can feed any more mouths even one meal a day, let alone provide school fees to give them a path to a self-supporting future as adults. Abandoned children die, become street children in the cities and towns, or maybe exploited in various ways as the price of daily survival These children urgently need our help. Jolly Christian Academy is an initiative to provide for the educational needs of these children in a boarding school environment that also feeds, clothes, loves and guides them. We will break the cycle of poverty for the orphan children living there.

Expected enrollment is 500 students when the Academy is fully operational About 300 will be AIDS orphans living on campus, and the other 200 will be residents of the surrounding community who are day students. When fully developed, the Academy will be comprised of a kindergarten, elementary school (grades 1 - 8), vocational training school, a community library, a computer training center, and a health clinic. Most of' the orphan resident students will be studying at the kindergarten and elementary level, and most students from the community will be enrolled in the vocational school We will open as a day school before the residences are built, and therefore will begin the vocational education first.

Nairobi Slum's literacy rate lags at 69%, and majority of illiterates are concentrated in slum areas, the communities we serve. To address the great need, the Academy will provide adult education programs in subjects such as literacy, small business management skills, Business English and basic math.

Vocational skills will include agriculture, hand crafts, carpentry, catering, brick laying and construction, tailoring, mechanics, electronics, hair dressing, design and decoration, plumbing, and computer training will be open to adults as well as youths from the local communities. We are working to bring many resources to an impoverished and resource-poor rural region.

JOLLY CHRISTIAN INTERGRATED ACADEMY - EDUCATION PROGRAM

Background:
We believe that educating the young is a way of ensuring a strong future generation. Our education programs endeavor to raise the plight 0 f the Slum child. A quality education program empowers the minds of individuals and fosters community development. In educating these young people, we are forming the leaders of the local Slum communities and well-informed citizens of the nation. In any society, education is a key to progress in all different structures that form the backbone of that society. According to the situation analysis carried out on February 2005, a low employable skill is a major cause of poverty affecting the people (especially the youth) in Kenya. This is compounded by low access to resources like land and capital in addition to shallow focus of the existing programs on the informal sector and agriculture.

The purpose of this program therefore is to start up a Christian Technical school in the Slums to enhance functional education among the Orphaned youth and enhance their participation in the development process of the Slums and improve their standards of life.

Jolly Christian Integrated Academy
The Academy's mission is to provide a well-rounded (quality) formal and practical education that will empower the mind, body, and spirit of Nairobi's Slums disadvantaged orphans. Our primary areas of concern include promoting the plight of these Orphans & vulnerable children, self-determination, critical positive thinking, and creativity through both formal education and vocational training. We believe that a well integrated education curriculum is the key to educating the whole person who is well fitted to the modern society that is constantly changing with the advancing technology.

Most of these innocent children have no one to turn to. The huge number of orphans and the corresponding deaths of the parental generation have overwhelmed the country. There are many children with no relatives who can feed any more mouths even one meal a day, let alone provide school fees to give them a path to a self-supporting future as adults. Abandoned children die, become street children in the cities and towns, or may be exploited in various ways as the price of daily survival. These children urgently need our help. Jolly Christian Integrated Academy is an initiative of Bethany Children Support Network set to provide for the educational needs of these children in a boarding school environment that also feeds, clothes, loves and guides them. We've proposed to break the cycle of poverty for the orphan children living these slums.

Expected enrollment is 500 students when the Academy is fully operational. About 300 will be AIDS orphans living on campus, and the other 200 will be residents of the surrounding slums community who are day students. When fully developed, the Academy will be comprised of a kindergarten, elementary school (grades 1 - 8), vocational training school, a community library, a computer training center, a chapel/Christian center and a health clinic. Most of the orphan resident students will be studying at the kindergarten and elementary level, and most students from the community will be enrolled in the vocational school. We will open as a day school before the residences are built, and therefore will begin the vocational education first.

Nairobi Slums literacy rate lags at 69%, and majority of illiterates are concentrated in Slum as where we are located and the communities we serve. To address the great need, the Academy will provide adult education programs to parents from the slums in subjects such as literacy, Business English and basic math. Vocational skills and computer training will be open to adults as well as youths from the local communities. We are working to bring many resources to an impoverished and resource-poor slum region in Nairobi.

PROPOSED SCHOOL PROGRAMS:
These programs will be established in phases. We will prioritize the needs of the children and the organizational structure and this is how we plan to implement the education program

A. Children's Residential Facilities: Before the school sets off, we want to make sure we have well-famished residences for our children. The children will be living in close proximity with the school. Because of the stigma usually attached to orphanages, we would prefer calling our facility a "Children's Center" than an orphanage. With this set up, we wouldn't need to send children to boarding schools to pay for room and board.

B. Kindergarten and Primary School Program: In Kenya's education system, kindergarten takes 2-3 years and primary/elementary school takes 8 years. Most of the children in our program fall in the age of primary pupils. It is therefore appropriate to start with this structure’s.

C. High School Program: After a very solid foundation has been set for the elementary school program, then we will move on to set up the High school program. At this stage some of the children will be getting ready to start High School education. Emphases will be put on both sciences and arts subjects and practical skills classes. This section will be open to private students from the local areas who will pay a subsidized tuition. This is intended to raise some funds to meet" the needs of the schools like teachers' salaries and acquiring scholastic materials.

D. Vocational School Program: Considering the logistics of administration and funding structure. this program will not be run independently; it will integrated within the other programs. The students in High school and those in upper primary will have an integrated curriculum that will include vocational training classes. The goal here is that in case these kids drop out of school, they can still have some useful skills to take with them. Since we are here to serve the local communities. this structure will also include an adult vocational training program; it will be open to individuals especially local who do not have an education and have no jobs who may want to acquire some vocational skills that would help them create their own jobs. The vocational program will include: computer training. carpentry, brick laying, mechanics. Sewing, pottery. gardening, and other related agricultural practices.

E. Disability and Special Needs Education Program: Recognizing the neglect and shortage of support services for the disabled in our slum communities, we have realized the need to address their concerns. As we get ourselves established. we intend to design a program that will be able to cater for the needs of the mentally and physically disabled in our slum communities. The first phase of this program will be to set up simple programs to support children in our school who have learning disabilities.

F. AIDS Education Program: HIV / AIDS as we all know are a critical issue in our society today and being a major cause of deaths in Kenya. There is still a great to design effective education programs tailored to the goal of cubing the epidemic especially like here in the slums where we are based. Children and general society need to learn preventative measures 10 cut down the rate 01 which HIV / AIDS Is spreading. So Our curriculum at all levels will integrate such programs 10 raise awareness, prevention, and control of the diseases.

G. Sports. Music and Theater: Physical health is important in the growth of young people; recognizing this necessity, our program will also encourage students to participate in extra cultural activities like sports. drama. music, and theater. This will at the same time give them opportunity to develop talents and acquire skills. It will also be promoted for recreation purposes and building team work as well.

The King David Community Library

Hereinthe Slums of Nairobi, Kenya, it is rare for a school to posses a handful of copies which are not enough for students. If a school happens to have a library, it is often not well stocked and students can not get access to all the books they need. In the rural areas, actually 90% of the schools, primary and secondary schools do not have a library. The few textbooks available are only for teacher's use. However, it often happens that even the teachers do not have enough academic resources to help them make good lesson plans. This hinders their ability to do research and thus results in poor academic standards of the schools. In the long run, it is the students who suffer the effects--often manifested in poor performances at national level. Students in rural schools are disadvantaged because they can not academically compete with their counterparts in city schools who have access to good academic resources. These schools also have a hard time recruiting well-trained teachers due a number of reasons: most teachers are hesitant to teacher rural schools; the communities served are poor and thus the salaries are low; and also lack or academic resources.

We all agree that to achieve academic success, students need to have access to academic resources that can make their learning process smooth. We would therefore like to address this educational need for our rural communities. The proposed library is aimed for the sole purpose of serving the vast slum communities herein Nairobi who do have not previously had any access to a public library or any information center. The facility will be located in a slum area of south-western Nairobi along the Thika Road 20 kilometers away from Nairobi City Center. The facility will have enough space for both materials needed for students at all levels and useful resources for the local people. The proposed plan is to establish a well stocked library, a computer center both of which will act as an Slum community information center. This will not only serve the school population but also the wider slum communities. Students attending over 15 other local schools will gain access to academic resources.

Objectives:

i)                    The community will be a resource for local students and teachers. Students will have access to useful study material which are not available at the schools.

ii)                  Having access to educational resources, students will be able to improve their performances in school and compete favorably on national level exams.

iii)                Local, national, and international news papers, bulletins, and magazines will made accessible in either electronic or paper formats. The community will become well informed because people will have access to a wealthy information resource.

iv)                Agriculture being the backbone of Uganda's economy and acknowledging the fact that the rural population is dependent on agriculture, books on modern methods of farming and sustainable agriculture will be made available to the farmers.

v)                  Entertainment and media materials will be made accessible to people. This will be a resource for recreation and learning.

vi)                Employment opportunities will be created for the local people.

We are looking for sources of funding to cover the costs of the Putting up the Library building and to purchase books. Same to any organization that can offer to donate computers for the Center and any to cover for us the shipping costs.

Jolly Christian Community Health Center

The clinic will provide health services for our students. We realize that is important to have a health center right on campus serve the health needs of the students, teachers, and support stuff. The center will have two full time nurses and a visiting doctor from the nearest hospital.

Our services will be extended to people in the slums and the surrounding villages. These services will be offered at a subsidized charge. However, in the future when resources become available, we shall provide free health services to the community.

• Medical supplies (you can donate whatever you can)
• Volunteer nurses
• Funds to purchase drugs locally

Donations of these items are welcome