News & Events

The Big Give Christmas Challenge

December 2011

We are delighted to announce that StareheFuture raised £55,000 in this years’ Big Give Christmas Challenge. We exceeded our target of £50,000 and this is thanks to the persistence and patience of all of you who donated despite the fact that the Big Give website crashed on the first day of the challenge. We truly appreciate your support and we are looking forward to a fruitful year 2012 where our combined efforts will make a difference for the development and future of Kenya.

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Donor Board Unveiling Ceremony in Nairobi

November 2011

The Starehe Boys’ Centre hosted a thank you event on the 5th of November. Two donor boards were unveiled to commemorate the occasion and recognize the generous contributions from valued supporters. The guest of honor Dr. Julius Kipng’etich who is a former Starehean and currently the director of Kenya Wildlife Service held a very inspirational speech.

Prominent donors such as HSBC, Citi, Aggreko and Planning Systems attended the event.

To read more click here.

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Providing the Power to Shine

October 2011

Thanks to donations from the Daily Telegraph Christmas Appeal in 2009, several solar panels have now been successfully installed at the Starehe Boys’ Centre. The solar panels will go a long way to helping secure a sustainable power supply and will provide lighting for five buildings.

Moreover it is a cost efficient and environmentally friendly solution to ongoing problems of reliable electricity provision.

To read more click here.

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Pick our bouquet, and plant a future

July 2011

During the month of July, the StareheFuture Appeal benefitted from the Next Flowers "charity bouquet of the month". 10% of the retail price of each bouquet sold was donated to Starehe. Over 1,000 bouquets were sold and over £5,500 was raised from this promotion. A big thank you to Next Flowers for supporting Starehe in this way.

To all those who supported us by purchasing the Starehe bouquet and/or spreading the word to colleagues, family members and friends, thank you ever so much!

To read more please click here

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StareheFuture Ladies Lunch in aid
of the Starehe Girls' Centre

June 2011

The May Fair Hotel generously hosted a fundraising Ladies Lunch in aid of Starehe Girls’ Centre at their brand new restaurant Quince on 29th June 2011. The event was a huge success and raised over £6,500, which will go towards funding a lifetime scholarship at Starehe Girls’ Centre; this will enable generations of bright, but financially disadvantaged girls in Kenya to benefit from a life-changing secondary education.

To read more please click here

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Foundations of the Future

May 2011

Thanks to donations from a number of supporters and benefactors, work is now well under way on the brand new kitchen, dining room and laundry facility at Starehe Girls’ Centre. In a few months, the girls will move into their new dining hall, that will also be used as a focal point for the school, for assemblies, meetings and extracurricular activities, as well as for meals.

We are also delighted to announce that, thanks to donations from the Daily Telegraph Appeal in 2009, several solar panels for lighting of five buildings have now been successfully installed at Starehe Boys’ Centre.

To read more please click here

Playing a new tune

March 2011

Music plays a vital role in school life at the Starehe Centres. It breaks down ethnic and social barriers and helps students to interact. In March 2011, both schools received a donation of brand new musical instruments thanks to the generous support of the Umbrella Tree Trust in the UK and the German Embassy Nairobi.

To read more please click here

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"To whom much is given, much is required"

January 2011

On the 10th December 2010, The Starehe Boys’ Centre Voluntary Service Scheme (VSS) the scheme was awarded recognition of exemplary service to the community at the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ Awards in Kenya, hosted by the Ufadhili Trust and VSO Jitolee. By December 2010 through VSS, Starehe students had completed 44 consecutive years of Voluntary service given to communities across Kenya.

To read more please click here

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New Form 1's arrive at Starehe Centres

January 2011
The New Year heralds a fresh start and presents us all with a clean slate to achieve our goals. For 120 girls and 240 boys, January 2011 marks the beginning of a journey of a lifetime, as children arrive at the Starehe Centres from all corners of Kenya. This year saw an increase in the intake for both schools, due to a request from the government, as the number of disadvantaged and bright students in Kenya continues to exceed the free secondary school places available. This means your continued support is more important than ever to give these disadvantaged young people a passport out of poverty.

As you read this, the new students are settling into the ‘Starehe way’ and look forward to contributing positively to the development of their communities and Kenya.

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HRH The Princess Royal welcomes donation
to Starehe Centre

January 2011

During a lunch reception, generously hosted by Mr. Philip Dilley, Arup chairman, at their headquarters in London, HRH The Princess Royal thanked Starehe’s current supporters, and commented: “The quality of the education - the academic standards are extremely high, and the reputation of the young people coming from the Centres is also very high. But it’s not just the academic standard that makes them stand out... It’s the whole life experience of the Centres that makes such a difference.”

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New team member at Starehe

December 2010

We would like to welcome Ashleigh Thompson, who took up the position as the StareheFuture Appeal Fundraising Assistant on the 1st December 2010.

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Starehe Girls' Centre borehole up & running

November 2010
The physical geography of the site of the girls’ school presented considerable challenges to the development of infrastructure. The elevated site of the Girls’ Centre meant that water pressure from pipes was non-existent. Until recently, sometimes water had to be brought to the school by tanker. This was not only expensive, but insufficient and unsustainable. The good news is that as a result of StareheFuture’s generous donors, the borehole at the girls’ school is now up and running. As a result Starehe Girls’ Centre now has its own safe water source for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Water supply, sanitation, hygiene and health are crucial to the schools’ success. We are delighted that future generations of Starehe girls will benefit from improved hygiene and sanitation.

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First UK alumni ‘Mbuzi’ meeting held in London

September 2010
On 24th September Shell Centre kindly hosted the first ever ‘Mbuzi’ meeting of the UK Chapter of the OSS (Old Starehean Society). ‘Mbuzi’ means goat in swahili, as roast goat is traditionally offered at important gatherings in Kenya. The OSS meetings in Kenya are called an ‘mbuzi’.

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Summer-Term Fundraising at Benenden School bears fruit!

July 2010

A huge thank you goes out to the girls of Benenden School who very generously dedicated the fruits of their summer-term fundraising efforts to StareheFuture. This consisted of a spare change collection at the school's Speech Day service, where The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster Abbey, addressed the girls and their parents.

The Dean spoke of his time at Starehe, where he volunteered during a year out between School and University, and where he says he was particularly inspired by Dr Geoffrey Griffin, Starehe's founding father. We are particularly grateful to two girls - Fiona Grant and Sarah Raffan - who sold refreshments during their breaks from lessons, donating all profits to Starehe.

Altogether the girls raised a fantastic £1,015, a superb amount which could buy shorts and t-shirts for each student to participate in P.E.! We are extremely grateful to all who took part and we hope their example will lead the way for other schools to fundraise for Starehe too!

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US Vice-President's wife visits Starehe Girls’ Centre

June 2010
On 10th June during a brief visit to Kenya, Dr Jill Biden, wife of US Vice-President Joe Biden, took time out from a busy schedule to visit Starehe Girls’ Centre, meeting Director Margaret Wanjohi and sitting in on an English class.

Dr Biden was impressed by what she saw, saying: “This is all about empowering young girls. And today, they’ve inspired me.”

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Charity scrum at London Rugby Sevens!

May 2010
We were delighted to have been granted a fantastic opportunity in May to make a charity collection at the London Rugby Sevens at Twickenham, where some 30,000 rugby fans gathered to watch teams from sixteen different countries compete.

Thanks to the enthusiastic and committed efforts of a number of our treasured volunteers in the scorching heat, and with the generosity of the spectators, we were able to collect a fabulous £1,350 for the Starehe Centres! This could pay for a student’s fees and board at Starehe for two years, which includes all their food and clothing as well as costs for their education and medical care, so thank you to everyone who helped make this happen.

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Buckingham Palace opens its doors to StareheFuture

May 2010
The summer season kicked off to an exciting start for Starehe, with a private dinner for around twenty supporters in the Queen’s private dining rooms at Buckingham Palace, in the presence of our guest of honour HRH The Princess Royal. Her Royal Highness, as a long-term supporter of Starehe, engaged and motivated guests with her personal enthusiasm for the Starehe Boys’ and Girls’ Centres. We are also extremely grateful to the Centre for Young Musicians (CYM) which provided a string quartet for the evening, and whose music complemented the stunning surrounds of the Palace perfectly.

This is the third StareheFuture event HRH has generously attended as guest of honour, and we remain grateful for her ongoing and invaluable support.

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Marathon runners celebrate success in Brighton!

April 2010

We are feeling ever-indebted to our three incredible athletes who ran 26.2 miles in the sunshine on 18th April in the inaugural Brighton Marathon! All three runners achieved impressive times by anyone’s standards. It was an unforgettable day, with a great atmosphere and an excitable crowd who turned out in droves to show support for the runners.

Altogether the runners raised more than £3,800, which is an incredible fundraising effort! Thank you to those who signed up to run for Starehe and helped raise such a staggering amount – and to those who generously sponsored them – your contributions will have a real impact on the Starehe Centres.

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Starehe students repeat success in March 2010 KCSE Results

March 2010
Both Starehe Centres enjoyed fantastic results in their recent KCSE exams, with Beatrice Anyango Ogolla coming third nationally in Kiswahili, and with Starehe Boys’ Centre coming second in the country and top in Nairobi province. Our congratulations go out to all the students for their hard work and excellent results. Please download our Spring Newsletter to read more.

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HRH The Princess Royal addresses Starehe supporters
at The May Fair Hotel

February 2010
On 3rd February we had the pleasure of welcoming HRH The Princess Royal to a buffet luncheon at The May Fair Hotel. The purpose of the event was to introduce the Starehe Boys’ and Girls’ Centres to those attending, in the company of both friends of the Appeal and a number of Starehe alumni.

Her Royal Highness delivered an inspiring speech about her visits to Starehe Boys’ Centre and expressed her hopes that those present would help secure the futures of these two remarkable schools.

We are very grateful for Her Royal Highness’s ongoing support.

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