An already proud  history for Kapiti School, Kenya

Even prior to its construction, Kapiti School already has a very special connection with Kenya’s best known school – Starehe Boys' Centre, Nairobi.

As Starehe celebrates 51 years (started in1959) , Frano Schuster Keith, who is the daughter of one of Starehe’s founders -  Walter Schuster, has donated funds to purchase Kapiti School’s first piece of land.

In 1956, Frano’s father, who was at that time District Officer of Starehe, asked the government and Shell Petroleum Company to allocate land in the Starehe area of Nairobi for the construction of Starehe Boys' Centre. The school’s other co-founder; Geoffrey Griffin, remained as Director until 2006 when he passed on.

Today, thanks to the generous support and kind act of Walter, over 20,000 young Kenyans have received an excellent free education from Starehe.

Starehe graduates are known all over Kenya and many of them hold many positions of responsibility and many work in different countries around the world.

Starehe’s success has seen it develop close relationships with the royal families of the UK, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. England’s Princess Anne is a regular visitor to Starehe. Other distinguished visitors have included: Indira Gandhi, Mohammed Ali, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Senator Robert Kennedy, Jomo Kenyatta and many more. The current president of Kenya has been the school’s patron since 1959.

For over 40 years, Save the Children Fund was Starehe’s main sponsor until 1999 when SCF changed its mode of sponsorship from child based to institution based thus reducing sponsorship funds to the school. This led to the discontinuation of the primary school.

Kapiti School is a way to honour and to continue the work started by Walter Schuster and Geoffrey Griffin by providing education to poor children of between 7 and 14 years old.

"The greatest honour and gratitude we can show to Walter Schuster and Geoffrey Griffin is to carry on their work of providing education opportunities for Africa’s children".

To know how you can make a contribution, please click here.

ch , Frano

 February 2010

Edward participated in the Coast to Coast to raise over NZ$ 8,000 towards costs of establishing Kapiti School. Over 800 competitors turned out in the 28th Anniversary race on February 12th and 13th 2010.

The Speight's Coast to Coast is the world’s premier multi-sport event and it's the benchmark by which all other multi-sport events are judged, both in New Zealand and overseas. The race traverses the South Island of New Zealand from Kumara Beach on the Tasman Sea to Sumner Beach on the Pacific Ocean.

Thank you, Ed!

August 2010 

Josh von Pein (a spinal injury survivor who, four years ago, doctors ruled out the possibility of him ever walking again)  completed a 930km walk across Spain and raised about NZ$8,000