You can help shape the future

Watu Kwa Watu is not affiliated with any donor organization. For direct support of  education of specific children and youth it depends entirely on private donations from within Kenya and from friends abroad. In cases of projects of improvement of infrastructure, services and  teaching of the poorest schools, it also uses targeted grants from assistance agencies and charitable organizations.

We welcome any kind of financial support, be it large or small. We guarantee that the funds will be used exclusively for education and overall welfare of the children and for upgrading of their schools. There are no administrate costs of any kind involved with assisting children and youth. The contribution of the trustees is fully voluntary, including the identification of needs, assuring that the assistance is used exactly as intended, continuous follow-up with children/youth and with the schools, and reporting to sponsors. There are also no administrative costs of upgrading the schools, with the exception of the larger, externally sponsored projects, for which Watu kwa Watu employs administration/financial assistant and logistical assistant, both with local level salaries.

How can you help?
Watu kwa Watu is currently involved in three major areas of educational development all in great need of support.

Educational Support: There is a desperate need for educational support in Kenya. Whilst high school and further education fees may not seem high, they are way beyond the reach of so many talented and motivated young people in Kenya. Primary education, while in principle free, requires also significant additional payments (salaries of teachers not covered by  government transfers, school books and stationary, school uniforms, feeding program etc), which are beyond the reach of many children, especially of the orphans, whose proportion in some schools approaches 50%. Your donations have a huge impact on defining the future of young people in Kenya.

We make every effort to provide detailed information about each student, whilst also taking care to protect their privacy, confidentiality and safety. For each student, we state how long he or she needs to be supported and what that support will cost. Having committed to supporting one of the children, you will receive regular updates on the student’s performance and receipts of all school fee payments made with your donation will be sent to you.

Medical Emergencies: Students in the poorest schools are in majority either orphans, or come from very low income families, usually without regular employment, they do not have any medical insurance, even for the life-threatening emergencies. The same applies to all teachers in the community-based self-help schools. Teachers and staff in public schools have usually a limited insurance, which pays for a part of the hospital accommodation costs, but not for the medical assistance, tests, operations, medicines etc. As result, the Trustees are occasionally faced with the situations of needing to pay for the life-saving medical emergency costs of children and school staff. Contribution of funds  for such emergency medical assistance, would also be highly welcome. Detailed accounting on how the donation was utilized will be provided.

School Infrastructure: Another category for possible assistance is funding  for upgrading the infrastructure  and services of the poorest schools to provide safer and more hygienic conditions to learn and to teach. A large proportion of schools, especially in slums and in poor rural areas have very deficient sanitary facilities, leaking roofs, no rain drainage resulting with muddy water entering classes during the rainy seasons, some structurally unsafe and leaking walls, damaged floors, greatly insufficient furniture, no electricity etc. To remedy these situations, Watu kwa Watu tries to assist in remodeling and construction of hygienic latrines, harvesting of rain-water for washing of hands and preparation of meals, construction of gutters and rain drainage canals, repairs of roofs, walls and floors, repair and construction/purchasing of basic school furnishings and other similar essential improvements.

In sum, you can contribute to:

1. The overall program of activities of Watu kwa Watu Charitable Trust, leaving to the Trustees the decision on the specific use of the funds to the specific programs.
2. Support of education costs of specific children and youth in following categories: general (to be assigned by Trustees to cases of most urgent need); or indicating specifically: girl or boy; primary, or secondary/high school; post-primary vocational; post-secondary technical; college; university.
3. Support emergency medical costs.
4. Support improvements of infrastructure and services of the poorest schools.

Please send your contribution to the Watu kwa Watu Charitable Trust accounts, as specified below:

Watu Kwa Watu Charitable Trust
Kenya Commercial Bank
Village Market Branch, Nairobi, KENYA
Swift # KCBLKENX
US$ account # 1131023579
Ksh acc # 1131023528

Contributions from abroad should be send preferably to the US$ account. This allows us to negotiate the exchange rate with bank, what is almost always resulting in a rate slightly better than the one officially published.

Kindly, please, also send us an email to our address indicated below, confirming the amount, date, and your preferred designation of your transfer to our email address, indicated below, so that we can follow-up with the bank, confirm to you the receipt of your donation, inform you about the use of the funds, and maintain possible further contact.

“Watu kwa Watu Charitable Trust” watukwawatu@gmail.com

You can also contribute to Watu Ka Watu through African Childrens Haven, our partner in the United States. All donations are fully deductible for US income tax purposes.

 Please note that African Childrens Haven does not charge for this service which means that 100% of your donation will be applied directly to our projects.

 Pay by Check: Please send US dollar checks payable to African Childrens Haven to the following address: 4012 Pirates Beach, Galveston, Texas, 77554-8035. It is also possible to pay in non-US dollar currencies though some bank fees may apply.

 Pay On-line: You can also contribute on-line through Paypal or Network for Good by visiting http://www.africanchildrenshaven.org/donate.asp.