What we are doing and why

The need for a school is great
  • There are 71 primary schools for deaf people in Kenya
  • Only 5 secondary schools for deaf people 
  • None in the eastern Kenya
  • Currently 12% of deaf people are educated to secondary level in Kenya
  • Mbeere (East Kenya province) has a primary school for deaf people but no secondary school
A gap has been left where those with special needs can miss out on an education, due to local prejudice. 
Even where facilities are available parents can be reluctant to let their child out of the home to get an education. Having a deaf child is often seen as a curse. We align ourselves with the Mother's Union to change that culture. 
​​We want to show that we value every child. By building the most excellent facilities we can we hope to start changing attitudes towards disability.

Watch our 11min documentary (above)
​including a school tour hosted by the students!

Vision

​To contribute to the integration of the deaf and partially deaf people in eastern Kenya by building a specialised secondary school; with particular focus on boosting employment opportunities.

Mission

To build a specialised secondary school in Riandu with capacity for 200 deaf students to fully board. Prioritisation of construction sequence to be decided upon a needs basis as the project progresses.

Where we have got to

In the school design below the highlighted buildings have already been built
and the darker buildings are yet to be funded:
 Already built:
- Kitchen (blue), 2 dormitories (green) and 2 classroom blocks (yellow) including 5 classrooms, 2 offices and 1 store room
(at every stage of construction the school is operational)
As you can see, there's a lot left to fundraise for over the next few years!

Click here for the Newsletter Archive
(brief newsflashes on project progress including newest photos)

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How this all came about... :

The need: The Mbeere Mother's Union (Eastern Province) identified the need for deaf people in their community to access to secondary education and a school was established in 2012, running in a temporary facility in Mbeere Diocese.

The project: The Peter Cowley Africa Trust connected with the local Diocese in Riandu (including the Mother's Union) through Peter MacNaughton (Project Manager affiliated with PCAT) to launch Project Riandu to build a permanent boarding school facility for St Mary Magdalene's School for the Deaf which would cater for 200 students. 

​The project committee was formed in Riandu, staff and volunteers recruited.

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School teachers and maintenance are funded by the government once the school is established and built.
We all work for free - as we work on this project around our paid jobs.
All of our promotional material is funded by private donations specifically for this material.