Funding initiative
Nairobi, Kenya Kawangware Slums
About 30,000 children are living on the streets of Nairobi.
One in eight Kenyan children die before the age of eight due to lack of medical care, clean water, and health education.
65% of the adult population in Kawangware has no permanent job.
80,000 people are living within a 1.2 mile area in Kawangware, many without running water or sewage.
THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
Our Calling
In the summer of 2019, I was walking to a dirt field in the middle of the slums, with a soccer ball in hand. Alongside me were several classes of students, all in school uniform, who were excitingly anticipating playing a game of futbol on the field. As we approached the field, the students started running and cheering, all chasing the one ball. I, however, stood there stunned.
As the sounds of the playing and cheering spread, kids, none of which were in school uniforms, started coming out from all over the place. As more and more children came flooding to the field, more and more questions flooded my mind. Why were so many kids not in school? What were they spending their time doing instead? Were they going to go their entire lives uneducated and without the opportunity to attend school? In the midst of the questions, I heard God speak… “I want you to do something about this.”
A few years later, God opened the door for us to purchase land in the middle of the slums, with a vision to build a school that would provide high quality education and discipleship to kids who wouldn’t have access to it otherwise. We are so excited to see this vision come to life, and to partner with God in empowering children in the slums to be everything He has created them to be.
Michele Quiros Founding Board member of Grant Abundant Life -OUR FUTURE OUR INITIATIVE OUR PARTNERS GIVING JOIN US
Who We Are
Our Organization
GRANT ABUNDANT LIFE, INC. IS A REGISTERED 501C3 NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA. We have felt called to start a school in the Kawangware slums, where there is a lack of accessibility to high quality education. We desire for students living in the Kawangware slums to receive a high-quality, holistic education that addresses their physical, spiritual, academic, and emotional needs. We long for children in the Kawangware slums to be discipled in the love of Christ, and to reach their full potential. Additionally, we look forward to using the school as a teacher training hub, where our teachers, and others from neighboring schools, can receive training in current, researched-based teaching strategies. The Grant Abundant Life school will engage with the surrounding community and positively impact it for generations to come.
Founder and Board member Keri & friends receive burden and take first trip to the slums of Nairobi.
Eric, one of our board members, spends summer in Nairobi, & starts connections with schools in the slums.
Grant Abundant Life is founded as a 501(c)(3) and Emma Mwangi, head of GAL Kenya, is hired.
THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
2004 2011 2012 Timeline
Our Mission
We are on a mission to grant abundant life through educational excellence and discipleship in the ways of Jesus.
Our Vision
Our vision is to transform generations in the slums of Kenya to fully thrive.
Our Values
Discipleship Education Empowerment
Indigenous Partners
Two vision trips are taken to look at over a dozen pieces of land.
Grant Abundant Life Kenya trust is officially formed in Kenya with a vision of building a school.
2021-2022 2022 2023
2015-2022
Starting Preschool Program, and beginning Phase I of the development process.
Partnered with Third Lens
Purchased Land in Kawangware, Nairobi
2012-2022
Grant Abundant Life begins partnership with a school in Nairobi slums to provide resources, training, and discipleship.
1st of 7 missions trips are taken to Nairobi, both in large groups, and smaller Board member visits.
2024
Expected in 2024
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Our Impact
School Partnerships
For 8 years, Grant Abundant Life partnered with a school in the slums of Nairobi by investing in one class, and supporting that class from grade 1 through grade 8. Each year, we purchased text books and supplies for every student in the class, to ensure the students had sufficient learning materials until their graduation to high school. Additionally, our Kenya Director, Emma Mwangi, worked with this class daily to lower the teacher to student ratio, mentor and tutor students, and act as a social worker for the students as they grew up.
THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
Individual Sponsorships
We have been sponsoring students in elementary through high school over the past decade, and our desire is to have long-term relationships with these students. When the students in our school sponsorship graduated 8th grade, we also began sponsoring several of them to attend high school, as well as continuing mentorship. This past summer, our Kenyan team sponsored and took a number of these students to a weekend retreat where they were able to get away from the slums and go into the countryside to be refreshed and focus on their relationship with the Lord.
Teacher Training
At least half of our Board has a background in education or youth development and we are passionate about training, encouraging, and equipping teachers. Grant Abundant Life has held several trainings for teachers in the slums of Nairobi over the past decade. During these trainings, teachers from multiple schools gather together and are equipped with teaching strategies to enhance student learning as well as resources for their schools.
Our Kenyan staff maintains connections with these schools and teachers to provide continued support.
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Our School’s Vision
Educational Excellence
Low student/teacher ratios
Sufficient supplies & resources not readily available in most schools in the slums
Continual investment & partnership with Kenyans and school professionals from the USA on long-term basis
Light to the Community
Teacher training for GAL school and surrounding schools.
VBS (Vacation Bible School) during school holidays.
Community outreach and eventual community center.
THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
Discipleship
Social Worker committed to every student & their family.
School culture from the cook to the headmaster focused on caring for every child with the love of Christ.
Previously sponsored students returning to mentor others.
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Development Plan Overview
Purchasing Land
Last year, after multiple years of looking for property to start the school on, we finalized the completion documents for a property in the heart of the Kawangware slums in Nairobi, Kenya. The property is in a densely populated area with great needs in the community.
Phase II
2-story building for grades 1-6. In Kenya, primary schools go through grade 6, and our phase II building along with a few other temporary structures will take us through up to a full primary school. Our vision is for this to be completed between 2026-2028.
THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
Phase I
In 2024, we aim to build a fence and temporary metal buildings on the property so that we can start a pre- school. We have hired Third Lens, another non-profit that assists organizations like ours with guiding building projects. Our vision is to have the school up and running by the end of 2024.
Phase III
Our phase III building will be for grades 7-9 and will include more space for classrooms, large gatherings, labs, kitchen, and other activities.
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Our Initiative
Land Aquisition
Phase 1
Purchase Land- $200,000
Purchased October 2023
Building- $75,000
Temporary Structures and Minor Landscaping / Site Work- 2024
THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
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Phase 2 Building- $500,000 Two-Story Classroom Building- 2026-2028 THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
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OUR
Additional Two-Story Classroom Buildings, Administration Hall, and Rooftop Gathering Area.
Phase 3 Building
THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
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Our Partnerships
Stewardship Together
Grant Abundant Life is working with Third Lens Ministries, a nonprofit organization which manages the design-build process in order to ensure a successful building project for ministries.
THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
Our Team
Brad Neel, Board Member
Keri Neel, Executive Director
Donna Kolb, Board Member
Brandon Bowlin, Treasurer
Michele Quiros, Secretary
Angelica Suarez, Board Member
Robbie Johnson, Board Member
Eric Leightman, President
Reggie Gichanga, Board Member
Nimrod Sila, Kenya Board Member
Brooke Bauzon, Vice President
Wilson Ogweno, Kenya Development Team
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Emma Mwangi, Kenya Director
Giving
THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
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Join Us! THE KAWANGWARE SLUMS WHO WE ARE OUR IMPACT OUR VISION
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www.grantabundantlife.com
info@grantabundantlife.com
Grant Abundant Life is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization | Our EIN # is 46-1711050