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2013 +
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$750
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Profile

The Turning Point Trust works to prevent and rehabilitate street-children within Africa’s largest slum, Kibera, Kenya. When a child comes from the streets to the Turning Point Project, they bring with them behavioural characteristics that they have learnt in that environment. This behaviour frequently prevents them from immediately returning to school, and a period of rehabilitation is required.

Our School Transition Class provides a safe, nurturing, educational environment that enables the child to slowly readjust to a more structured way of life: for example: relating to adults in authority; lengthening their concentration period and adjusting to being within four walls.

During this time, our staff work to trace the child’s family and work alongside them to address the problems the family are facing. If appropriate, a parent or guardian might become involved in Turning Point’s Finance Programme, giving them the chance to start a small business and earn a steady income.

Each child that comes to Turning Point is assessed by our qualified and experienced teachers and any gaps in the child’s education are addressed over the course of the next 12 months. There are two teachers in Transition Class, teaching up to 35 children across Standards 1 to 7.

In addition to educational classes, life skills and counseling are also provided to help children get their lives back on the right path. We also provide children with access to regular meals and healthcare, ensuring they grow to become strong, healthy, young adults.

Once the child has been in Transition for a year, we assist the child in returning to school and support them to complete their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education.

At this point in time, depending on the marks achieved, we either enable the child to continue with their education at Secondary School or offer the child a chance of undertaking a vocational skills course.

History

The Turning Point Trust have been working with street-children in Kibera since 2003. To date, we have supported almost 200 children to access education, enabling them to create positive futures for themselves away from life on the streets.

Impact

Direct beneficiaries of the programme will be the 35 students per year who are rehabilitated through the Transition Class and then provided with school uniform and school bags, enabling them to commence education in a mainstream school.

Indirect beneficiaries will include the children’s families and children already in school as a result of Turning Point’s support who will act as role models, sources of encouragement and future mentors for the children. The local community will also benefit from a reduction in the number of street children and associated social problems such as crime, prostitution and substance abuse.

Team Credentials

The Turning Point Trust is a driven non-governmental organization which is duly registered in the UK and Kenya. We began our work in Africa’s largest slum, Kibera, in March 2003. Since this time, due to our many successes, we have grown both in the scope of our projects and the number of children we support. We currently provide a holistic range of programmes to over 300 children. We work to towards the Millennium Development Goals, particularly the end to poverty and hunger, universal education and the promotion of child health. Turning Poitn work by invitation from the local slum community and at a grassroots level, allowing local community members to be extensively involved in all of Turing Point’s work.

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Updates

  • 14 JAN 2012

    Turning Point Trust Update

    Students at the holiday clubs!
  • 27 APR 2011

    First Term Update

    This first term of the year in Kenya has seen the Transition class fill up to 36 children, around 12 of whom were sent from our satellite project in another area of Kibera. Others have come to the project from the streets or from the surrounding area, hearing about the project through word of mouth. These children have benefited from having a team of three teachers working with them. New teacher Philip has shown himself to be a dedicated, caring and proficient teacher, the boys in the class are particularly enjoying having a male teacher around. Having a third teacher has enabled teacher Margaret to spend more focussed time with six students who we found to have particular learning difficulties. Margaret has been assisted by some volunteer primary school teachers from the UK and South Africa who have given her some tips and fresh ideas to help the kids grasp the new concepts and the kids are really enjoying it! Edwin is one such kid, at 14 years old he has repeated the first few yea...
  • 16 FEB 2011

    Update on the Children

    A huge THANK YOU to all those who have donated through Givology towards the Turning Point Transition Class. This January, 19 children graduated out of Transition class to join government primary schools, these children have all attended primary school in the past but had to drop out due to lack of funds. Several children visited the project in the first week of term before they started at school to proudly show off their new school uniform! This is a great encouragement to our project teachers who are now launching into a new year ready to receive new children into their classrooms. The class of 2010 were a great group of kids, 20 children caught up with their classes so quickly that we sent them back to formal education earlier in the year. So in total 39 children passed through the transition class and back into formal education during 2010. Margaret, one of the transition class teachers remarked, “I am so happy that most of the children open up, get to know more about education a...
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Donors

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