Gap Africa

GAP-AFRICA is a Henley charity working in Kenya to educate more than 7,000 children.

We have a proud record of using 100 per cent of donations to support our work as we are all volunteers and absorb any costs, such as airfares, ourselves.

The construction of a matron’s house at Utithi Primary School is complete. It is made from quarried lava blocks so will stand for ever.

The house means matron can oversee the girls’ dormitory, which was unveiled in 2017.

The advantage of boarding in rural Kenya is particularly good for students from very poor families and those who don’t have parents, due to AIDS or covid. This all boils down to poverty and these students are usually undernourished and under mental pressures as they watch siblings and family struggle in every way.

Boarding brings a stable environment that improves mental health and the girls receive sufficient food of good quality.

These students begin to shine academically and become deserving recipients of a UK sponsor to see them through secondary school. Primary education is free but secondary is not and we constantly need sponsors here to step forward, especially now with the knock-on effects of the pandemic still around in the community.

Since our first visit to the area and finding Kikunduku Primary School in 1994, modernity of sorts has caught up. There is now mains electricity. This does not mean they have constant power lines that we are used to, but it has made a huge difference to the simple things in life like charging a phone.

Matron also has the benefit of electricity and running water in her house, a first in the area because of the well Gap-Africa has provided and serves the primary and adjoining secondary school.

Covid stopped all our trips to the Kikunduku Schools Project and it seems we will no longer have any UK school trips.

Our strong bond with these African schools came out of our visits there and these visits inspired the trip participants to fundraise for all the projects we have completed since our first visit in 1994.

A visitor from the mid-Nineties would be astonished to see how Shiplake College’s work over the years has raised the entire extended community over all the schools we have worked with.

Our last visit was in 2017 but the happy news is that one of our trustees, George Lawley, visited in December last year.

George was thorough in his visit and produced a comprehensive report that has clarified many things and given us a fresh start.

We now know that many projects have been completed, for example, the staffroom at Kyaani Primary School.

We do need regular visits by UK schools to keep this amazing story alive.

To make a donation, please send a cheque made out to Gap-Africa to: Marcel Wagner at 22 Wilson Avenue, Henley, RG9 1ET or make a payment direct into the charity’s account at Barclays Bank, Henley, sort code: 20-39-53, account number: 33422186. Please reference with your name.

For more information, email marcel.wagner@gap-africa.org

Marcel Wagner