Where women rule . . .

Umoja Muehlbauer Academy was launched on Wed 14^th –May-2014 with a principal objective of offering quality education and empowering vulnerable girls from humble background to secure a future through offer of basic education and scholarship.

The first three standard classrooms blocks and an administration office were built courtesy of Muelhbauer Foundation in Roding, Germany.

 

Fig 1: A section of the first 3 standard classroom blocs and an Administration Office

In Aug 2019 additional four blocks were constructed with the support of German Government BMZ through Tartort Verein e.V and Freundeskreis Umoja – Friends of Umoja e.V.

Fig 2: School extension with additional new classrooms blocs

The school observes Ministry of Education standards of a maximum of 40 pupils per class. Umoja Muehlbauer Academy has a strict policy of restricting over enrolment and trying to manage available resources to best utilization of school operations and the fraternity.

The school experienced exponential potential in growth of its enrolment, curriculum and physical infrastructure. It currently registers 75% (240) of its intended maximum population (320 pupils); girls enrollment is higher at 167 (69%) and boys 73 (31%).

As a result many parents who could afford to pay an affordable and lowly charged school fees of KES 5,000 (USD 50) per term, were encouraged to send their children to the school. The school enrolment grew with time in good pace. Slowly as the school advanced, additional classrooms were constructed to accommodate the progress and even to an extent of parents pleading with the management to fast track upper classes construction and admission of pupils from other schools with desire to join the institution. That resulted the school to prematurely sit for National Exams 3 years earlier than its intended time, and to our surprise, the school had performed marvelously in the first two sittings coming position 10 and 4 in 2017 and 2018 respectively in the total rankings of the county and a slight drop to position 6 in 2019 but more importantly with improved mean score than previous years. In Year 2020, the organic class that commenced the school from its inception was expected to sit for final Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) being the final test to join high school; in Nov but due to COVID-19 pandemic, the academic calendar had been scraped until some other time in 2021 to be communicated by Ministry of Education.

The school management, the members of teaching and support staff, parental association and stakeholders are happy and hopeful that this will be the time to shine with source products.

GIRLS SCHOLARSHIP

Through benefactors, the school initiated a scholarship programme in 2017 dubbed P+7 for young girls from vulnerable families joining Grade One, taking 20 girls a year. In any circumstance that sponsors exceed 20 supporters for a given year; the excess is assigned to boys from humble backgrounds.

The beneficiaries have to sign an agreement alongside their parents of not getting the girls to undergo FGM, early marriage and practicing other retrogressive cultural practices. Today the project boasts of supporting and protecting 79 girls and in addition 7 boys as multipliers for the outlawing of FGM in their families

 

The following is the outline of P+7 Scholarship:-

No	Code	Beneficiaries			Year
		Girls	Boys	Total
1	P+7-JC-2017	19	0	19	2017
2	P+7-JC-2018	20	2	22	2018
3	P+7-JC-2019	20	0	20	2019
4	P+7-JC-2020	20	5	25	2020
Total		79	7	86

 

This cause is made possible through avid contribution and overseer Freundeskreis Umoja – Friends of Umoja e.V.

WATER ACCESS

In 2017 the school received a major boost from a donor sponsoring drilling of Solar powered borehole that provided constant and adequate supply of clean and safe drinking water to the village, the academy, the gardens and the camp site resolving the once perennial acute shortage of water that left people with no option but sourcing water from contaminated flowing Ewaso Ng’iro River.

Fig 3: Pupils celebrating the operationalization of the school's borehole. Also on the next picture, Solar panel can be seen on the background, it is near the borehole, the small structure with a plastic tank on top is a water desalination system using reverse osmosis technology

Through Freundeskreis Umoja – Friends of Umoja e.V, Mr. Seong –Yong Cho came in handy with the life transformative gesture.

 

SCHOOL TRANSPORT

 

Due to risks of young children crossing busy highways, riding on motorcycle taxi and bumping wild animals on the way, the school had embarked on plans of sourcing two vans that will cover two major settlement zones at ago making it convenient and safer for learners. In the past when the school disagreed with a transport supplier on hiking of transport cost per kid, the service was withdrawn denting on enrolment progress.

 

Through benefactors, the school secured funding to buy two vans and procurement plans are underway albeit inhibited by COVID-19 pandemic because of restricted movement. It is the hope of management that in due course before the schools reopens in Jan 2021; the vans shall be ready and standby.

 

OTHER AMENITIES

 

The school is rated the best private academy in Samburu County with adequate physical infrastructure that meets the standards stipulated by Ministry of Education. Some of these are like:-

1. 23 toilets – 16 for girls, 4 for boys and 3 for staff
2. Water desalination system – purifies saline water making it safer for drinking and other uses
3. 4 shower bathrooms
4. Standard Food Store – allows bulk order of foodstuff from wholesalers cutting on cost from middlemen
5. Power connection to National Grid
6. Metallic and burglar-proof wall lockers for learners to store their bulky valuables

 

FUTURE EXPANSION PLANS

 

1. An independent and separate Administration Block from the classrooms creating space for an extra standard classroom
2. Stone wall school fence and gates
3. A school library
4. A school multi-purpose hall
5. School boarding