KMMA after its first year. Students, faculty, and staff gather with Kathy and Mike McNulty outside of the rented school buildings.

Students gather around the Kenyan flag at the start of the school day.

A typical class complete with chairs, tables, and hand-drawn teaching aids.

Both English and Swahili are taught in Kenyan schools. Here, Head Teacher Charles Okongo teaches about capital and lower-case letters.

Some of the hand-made teaching aids used at KMMA. In this case, information is drawn on “recycled” grain bags cut into strips.

Students join hands in a great circle to sing songs, play games, and build community.

A slide, monkey-bars, carousel, and see-saw provide recreation and fun during recess.

A student runs back to class after recess.

With school enrollments at an all-time high, the lunchroom had to be converted to classroom space. Now, students enjoy lunch under a canvas tarp.

The Kathy and Mike McNulty Academy is currently housed in two rented buildings that are at capacity. Here, CAITHS members and Kieran McNulty survey land recently purchased to serve as the future home to KMMA!

The Kenyan government requires that every student wear a uniform. With the purchase of a sewing machine, KMMA provides free uniforms to all students at a fraction of the cost of purchasing them.

Each KMMA student receives a pair of durable shoes to protect their feet from lacerations and diseases.

Friends of KMMA-CAITHS provides a clean water system for the household of every student. These systems include water purification drops, a canister to store clean water in, and a stand to keep the water off of floors and away from animals.

While each student gets fed two meals at school every day, KMMA and CAITHS also distribute food to students’ households during school breaks and holidays.

Students are taught the importance of hygiene in maintaining their health, and purified water is always available for washing up.

Two stone hearths are used to provide two meals each day for 138 students. A recent donation enabled us to enclose the kitchen with sheet metal, protecting it on rainy and windy days.

Opening of St. Patrick Clinic means that sick and injured students can be treated without having to leave school. This Level 3 clinic also provides medical services to the local community.

A full-time nurse and social worker staff St. Patrick Clinic. Here, a KMMA student is treated after a minor injury acquired during recess.

Purchase of a sewing machine provides opportunities for community members to learn skills for future employment. It also helps to repair and replace government-mandated uniforms for KMMA students.

CAITHS is helping to improve the soil and landscape on Rusinga Island by planting hundreds of new trees and training students and community members to nurture them.

In addition to operating a school for children, CAITHS provides education on health, hygiene and sanitation for the entire community.

As part of its community education and outreach, CAITHS provides sanitary products to young women. Girls who do not have access to sanitary products will often miss school during their periods, hindering their educational progress.

To some, graduating from lower primary school may not seem like an event for dressing up. But for these students - who have overcome poverty, disease, and death - graduation is an important ceremony that underscores the importance of education. Congratulations!

Teachers also celebrate their students’ graduation. It is their dedication, patience, and love that help students overcome life’s difficulties and focus on academics.