Kisima Academy

For people who send Kisima Academy donations directly to FTKI, the address has changed. It is now: FTKI, 6614 Van Winkle Dr., Falls Church, VA 22044.


Kisima Academy, a mission of COS, is a Christian orphanage and school in rural western Kenya.


Kisima Academy was started in 2006 by a Kenyan couple, Martin and Margaret Simiyu, who saw the need to take care of orphans in their rural area.  They built three mud buildings and took in 83 orphans in grades K-2.   A class was added each year as the children grew.  In the beginning the orphans slept four to a blanket on the dirt floor and walked a mile for water.  A COS member met the director in 2007 and became aware that he needed help.  Support grew slowly but today by God’s grace and the help of friends and church members there are 11 brick classrooms, dorms, library/computer classroom, and dining hall; cows, goats, rabbits, and chickens; four acres of maize and beans and extensive vegetable gardens. 

The number of orphans eventually grew to 135, mostly due to election violence, and Martin also began to take in needy community children, now numbering about 250.  When the orphans graduate from Kisima we send them to boarding high schools.  This year there are 35 orphans in high school and 78 in colleges and vocational/technical schools.  All of the oldest class and most of the following class have finished their schooling.  

Martin gets no government support.  He charges the community children a small amount for tuition and there are a few undesignated donations but the greatest amount of support comes from orphan sponsorships.  Most of the orphans have sponsors.  It is a continuing challenge to find sponsors for all of them.

The government has reorganized the schools from a primary-secondary arrangement to an elementary-junior high-high school arrangement.  By the time the new school year starts in January 2025 a 9th grade classroom and a science lab will have to be completed—an additional challenge for this year.


If you are interested in being a blessing to a deserving student by helping him achieve his dreams please contact Gerda Fink at 865-458-3295 or at gerdafink@gmail.com. Thank you


Gerda Fink, COS Kisima Committee Chair-person,  www.friendsofkisima.org, on Facebook at Friends of Kisima Academy.

update

News From Kisima Academy


At the last update we had four unsponsored high school graduates with no money for college or vo-tech school. We thank God that some current sponsors of recent college graduates were willing to take on sponsoring a recent high school grad headed to college. All the high school grads will soon be headed off to begin the next stage of their academic career. Many in the oldest class of orphans have graduated from college or vo-tech; some were delayed by the pandemic and are still in school. Several have started teaching careers. It’s very gratifying to see these orphans on their way to a productive future. Many have been cared for and educated by Kisima since they were in early primary school.


A couple of months ago a hailstorm severely damaged Kisima’s gardens and crops. The plants were able to recover but in June an even worse hailstorm occurred. The vegetables will have to be re-planted but it may be too late to replant the maize and bean fields. Crop failures inevitably cause price inflation of those foodstuffs. Maize and beans (augmented by a small amount of vegetables) form the basis of their diet and will now have to be purchased, making a sizeable dent in the budget. Kisima not only feeds the orphans and staff but also provides two meals a day to the 250 or so community children attending school there.


Bonnie Lefbom, who came with a group I took to Kisima in 2012 and who subsequently became active in the effort to support the orphanage/school, is in Kenya right now (July 15) with the first group of visitors since the pandemic started. I put out a feeler to see who might be interested in going this year and only one person responded. If you might be interested in going next year, please let me know. Trips are two weeks and in addition to working at the school we visit the elephant orphanage and the giraffe refuge outside of Nairobi, spend two nights in a retreat center in the last tropical rain-forest in Kenya, and go on a short safari in Maasai Mara.


Gerda Fink