Let me introduce myself before telling you about the Ingrid School. My name is Douglas Monene and I currently work at Ingrid as a principal and have always had a passion for Children. Following many years of volunteering in different institution working with vulnerable children I longed for one day to start a centre helping needy and orphaned children in my own community. After completing a 4 year volunteer work in Somaliain 2005 I came back home in Kenyato set up and start Ingrid centre. In The same year 2005, a friend of the school, Ingrid Gertrude and her husband who were on the tour to Kenya, kindly donated funds for 2 classrooms to be built, sowing the seeds for the school as it is today. Since then, the school has grown to accommodate an office and 5 more classrooms, now hosting pupils from baby class right through to Standard four. From the earliest stages in its development however, the school has solely relied on charitable donations from the district officer, Ingrid & husband, friends and the online community to keep it alive. Until it finds a   sustainable way of gaining an income, it will continue to rely on these gifts.

How do you start a project?

 Following the donation from Ingrid and the husband we put up two classrooms and an office and the first old tins constructed classroom were opened. This was built on co-owned land which later has been officially now owned by the Ingrid Centre. Ingrid and the husband were also able to equip the classroom with desks and blackboards. Two teachers Douglas and the wife took their time to teach the children aged between three and seven years as volunteers. Many of these children had not previously attended school because their families could not afford to pay the fees and could accompany their parents to a nearby quarry to crash stones for building. Older siblings often looked after very young children and so they were also not able to attend school.