The project Avocado and macadamia trees — a path to environmental and socio-economic sustainability in Kenya focuses on supporting sustainable development in the districts of Trans-Nzoia, Meru and Murang’a.

Project goal

The main goal of the project is to contribute to environmental sustainability in Kenya and to improve the economic situation of poor farmers through the cultivation of avocado and macadamia trees. The measurable indicator of this goal will be an increase in the share of greenery and a decrease in poverty in the districts of Trans-Nzoia, Meru and Murang’a according to national statistics. The project aims to achieve its main goal through two project outcomes.

Building climate resilience and economic stability of farmers in the Kitale and Meru region

The first planned outcome is improved climate resilience of communities in Kitale, Meru and Makuyu, which we will achieve by growing 40,000 trees (25,000 avocado and 15,000 macadamia) on the land of 1,000 farmers. The second planned outcome of the project is an improvement in the living conditions and economic position of farmers. We aim to achieve this through specialist agricultural and business training for farmers, ongoing monitoring and the provision of advice to farmers, in the interest of successfully growing avocado and macadamia trees. We will also secure the second outcome by registering farmer cooperatives, which after the project will allow farmers to buy agricultural inputs collectively at lower prices, build partnerships with reliable buyers and sell their produce on more advantageous terms.

SAVIO development project worth EUR 250,000: Transparent help for farmers in the Makuyu region

The target group is small farmers from the districts of Trans-Nzoia, Makuyu and Murang’a. Direct beneficiaries of the aid will be 1,000 people, of whom at least 250 will be women, 300 young people under 29 and at least 20 people with special health needs — those who are among the most vulnerable groups in the population. The project is funded through SlovakAid with a grant of EUR 250,000.

SAVIO apprenticeship education project in Kakuma: supporting youth and economic integration in Kenya

In cooperation with the Salesians of Don Bosco in Kenya, SAVIO o.z. carried out a project in the town of Kakuma in north-western Kenya. The main goal of the project, titled Programme of apprenticeship education and economic integration of the Kenyan community and refugees in Turkana County, was to reduce the rate of poverty in Turkana County, which is the poorest county in Kenya. The project contributed to this goal by opening a new practical-skills course and through activities aimed at the economic integration of apprenticeship graduates.

The town of Kakuma neighbours the Kakuma refugee camp, which is home to more than 312,000 refugees and asylum seekers. More than 60% of the camp’s population are young people, and experience has shown that practical skills are what matters most in their education. The Salesians of Don Bosco are the largest provider of apprenticeship education in Kakuma. Their youngest educational institution there is the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Kakuma, which came into being in 2017 thanks to SAVIO o.z. and SlovakAid — within a joint 2017–2019 project, the first carpentry course was opened in the town of Kakuma. Today the apprenticeship school has more than 700 students in courses covering English, basic computer skills, information technology, electrical engineering, solar technologies, construction, plumbing, carpentry, turning, welding, accounting and secretarial skills.

The project delivered 3 results:

1. Expanded infrastructure of the Technical Institute – a new school building was constructed, which increased the institute’s capacity and significantly improved learning conditions. Students expressed high satisfaction with the new premises, reaching 93%.
2. Improved access to digital skills – the institute, equipped with computers and an internet connection, introduced digital literacy courses integrated into the tailoring courses. The project exceeded the original target — 92 students gained access to digital skills.
3. Strengthened practical vocational training – the project carried out two consecutive courses in tailoring and fashion design with national certification (NITA). 92 students improved their practical skills. Of these, 21 graduates started their own tailoring businesses.

Topics such as gender equality and environmental sustainability were an integral part of the project. The courses were inclusive, open to both men and women, thereby supporting gender equality (SDG 5). Environmentally conscious teaching methods — such as using recycled materials for practical exercises and waste sorting on the premises — contributed to the project’s environmental goals (SDG 13).

The project also placed emphasis on economic integration after course completion, supporting entrepreneurial initiatives among graduates, including training in business skills, mentoring and the formation of groups for small cooperative enterprises.

Overall, the project successfully addressed the lack of practical skills, supported social cohesion between refugees and the local Kenyan community and laid the foundations for sustainable vocational education and economic development in the Turkana region.

On 21 March 2022 we began implementing a project aimed at capacity-building for our long-standing partner in Kenya, the Salesian development organization Don Bosco Development Outreach Network. Within the project a Salesforce database will be programmed for the partner organization, local staff will be trained in fundraising and a pilot fundraising campaign will be organized.

A Slovak expert with extensive experience in managing and programming databases travelled to Kenya in March 2022, where he will be present for 4 months. In the first month he will carry out an analysis of the partner’s requirements, gather existing data, draw up a data model and ensure that the partner organization is registered with Salesforce, which provides non-profit organizations with free database licences. He will program the basic structure of the database and consolidate the existing databases. At this stage, the conditions will be in place for the first training session for the partner organization’s staff.

The fundraising training will be delivered in two parts. The first part will take place in the second month of the Slovak expert’s presence in Kenya. It will last one week and will cover an introduction to fundraising, the importance of a CRM database for fundraising activities, a presentation of the new database, an introduction to the Salesforce environment, and basic exercises providing hands-on experience with the database. A month later, the second part of the training will be held, also lasting one week, covering lead generation (searching for and gathering new contacts of potential donors), adding contacts to the database, reaching out to contacts via direct mail and Mailchimp, working with Mailchimp, donor segmentation, cultivating donor relationships, a practical exercise on working with Mailchimp using the database, preparing a fundraising campaign, donating online and via direct mail, and managing the campaign to maximize returns. The fundraising training will be attended by 10 staff members of the project partner. In addition to the training itself, thanks to his presence in Kenya the Slovak expert will continuously work on training the staff, in particular one staff member who will be responsible for the fundraising agenda within the organization.

From the third month, the Slovak expert will start working on preparing the back-end for running a pilot fundraising campaign in Kenya. He will set up the link between the partner’s bank account designated for donations and Salesforce, integrate payment gateways into the partner’s website and build the foundations for online donating by linking the database with the Mailchimp tool. He will create a donation landing page, oversee the choice of the campaign’s purpose, the preparation of materials for the campaign in the online environment and for direct mail, and ensure the technical setup of the campaign. In the last month the campaign will be launched with mailing, the direct mail will be carried out, and the campaign will also be supported through advertising on social networks and in the media. After the campaign, the Slovak expert will handle the import of gifts, the analysis of gifts, donor thank-yous, process automation and will support further activities within lead generation.

The EUR 23,720 project will end on 21 July 2022. Thanks to the intervention, the project partner Don Bosco Development Outreach Network will be able to independently create online campaigns, use effective fundraising tools and, in doing so, increase the organization’s financial capacity for projects aimed at supporting poor youth in Kenya.

The 17th edition of the Tehlička public collection for 2022 was registered by the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic in the register of public collections under registration number 000-2021-034292.

The collection ran until 31 October 2022.

The gross proceeds of the collection amount to EUR 71,426.43. The costs of running the collection were 24.57 percent. The net proceeds reached EUR 53,877.68.

With the funds raised, we helped to build accommodation for teachers. Together with us, you are saving education for more than 3,000 children and young people in the Kakuma refugee camp. We cooperate with the local Salesians of Don Bosco, who have been present in Kakuma since 1993. They came there at the invitation of the United Nations.

51 organisations were directly involved in the collection — kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, SDB youth centres and other communities, and parishes in towns and villages across Slovakia.

All participants were sent promotional and background materials, which served not only the collection campaign but also as resources for education and awareness-raising in the field of development cooperation. As part of the collection, schools carried out — with our consent — their own activities serving its purpose.

WE THANK ALL DONORS AND PARTICIPANTS FOR SUPPORTING TEHLIČKA 2022!

From August 2019 to July 2021, we carried out a development-cooperation project in Kenya titled Better Access to Skills for Youth in Marsabit County. Its main goal was to help reduce youth unemployment in Kenya by building practical skills. The project was carried out in Marsabit County, where youth unemployment remains high. The specific goal was therefore to improve young people’s access to practical skills specifically in Marsabit County. The site of the intervention was the Salesian apprenticeship school Don Bosco Technical Institute Marsabit in the county capital, where with SlovakAid support we had already carried out a project to support the education of women — between 2016 and 2018 we opened a tailoring course and a hairdressing and cosmetics course at the apprenticeship school.

The 2019–2021 project had three planned results, designed to follow on smoothly from the previous project. The first planned result was the opening of a new electrical-engineering course specializing in solar technologies, since there is high demand for electrical-engineering skills in Marsabit County. To achieve this result, one course building was renovated and equipped, although the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant delays to construction work and the delivery of equipment. The electrical-engineering course was finally opened in May 2021, when pandemic restrictions allowed. By the end of the project, the course had 6 students. The low number was due to the fact that, because of the pandemic, the previous school year had not yet been closed at many schools in Kenya — since prospective electrical-engineering students had not yet had the chance to complete their education by taking final exams at their schools, they were unable to start studying at the apprenticeship school either. Another factor in the low number of students was people’s fear of the COVID-19 virus — many young people were not allowed by their parents to enrol at the apprenticeship school for fear of infection, and some young people were put off continuing their studies by the repeated lockdowns.

The second planned result of the project was higher employability of graduates. Within the project, two career-orientation training sessions were held, attended by 55 young people. Students were introduced to topics such as setting personal goals, preparing a good CV, doing well in interviews, work ethic, practical skills, self-employment and turning a business idea into reality. The other activities planned under the second result (distribution of start-up packages, placing graduates on the job market and accompanying graduates) will be carried out only after the project ends, when the electrical-engineering course will have its first graduates.

As the third result of the project, the plan was for better access to practical skills for women from rural areas. Girls from rural areas in Kenya generally have limited access to practical skills, mainly because of the long distances to apprenticeship schools and the lack of boarding facilities. Until recently, even Don Bosco Technical Institute Marsabit did not offer a girls’ boarding option. Thanks to the project, however, a girls’ boarding facility was built, in which 20 girls were accommodated over the course of 2 months, and the number of female students at the apprenticeship school rose from 28 in 2019 to 43 in 2021. For girls, the boarding facility means better access to apprenticeship education on their path towards self-reliance, which for women in Marsabit County is still a rarity.

We will continue to monitor the progress of activities and the achievement of project goals even after the project ends. The project was financially supported from SlovakAid resources through a grant of EUR 240,630. Co-financing of EUR 24,100 for the purchase of solar equipment for the electrical-engineering course was provided by the Swiss Salesian organization Don Bosco Jugendhilfe Weltweit. Thank you for the support.

The 15th edition of the Tehlička public fundraising campaign for 2020 was entered in the register of public collections of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic on 16 November 2019 under number SVS-OVS2-2019/032436.

The gross proceeds of the collection amounted to 71,198.54 euros. The costs of running the collection were 24.89 percent. The net proceeds were 53,475.10 euros. With the funds raised we will help relocate a school in danger of collapse to a safe site. In the first phase, we will help build replacement housing for teachers, since the current quarters are being destroyed by water. Together with you, we are safeguarding education for more than 3,000 children and young people in the Kakuma refugee camp. We work with the local Salesians of Don Bosco, who have been present in Kakuma since 1993. They came at the invitation of the UN.

The costs of running the collection reached 24.89 percent. This was caused by the fact that the materials prepared and sent to schools and centres — which were subsequently closed because of COVID-19 — did not reach the pupils. In the demanding situation at that time, it was difficult to find an effective way to make people aware of the initiative.

Directly involved in the collection were 97 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, 19 Salesian youth centres and other communities, 7 parishes and also 1 company in towns and villages across Slovakia.  All participants received promotional and background materials, which served not only the campaign for the collection but also as resources for education and awareness-raising in the area of development cooperation. As part of the collection, schools — with our consent — carried out their own activities serving its purpose.

For schools, parishes and youth groups we also prepared spiritual materials such as Stations of the Cross, adorations and retreats.

THANK YOU TO ALL DONORS AND PARTICIPANTS FOR SUPPORTING TEHLIČKA 2020

The main goal of the Supporting Employment in the Electrotechnical Industry project is to reduce youth unemployment in Kenya by building practical skills. The target group is poor young people from the slums of Nairobi who have limited opportunities to access education. The specific goal of the project is therefore to improve the chances of disadvantaged youth in Nairobi to enter the job market. The project aims to achieve this by building practical skills in the electrical-engineering specialization of refrigeration and air-conditioning, as well as through further employment-support activities. It is being carried out at the government-certified Don Bosco Boys Town Technical Institute in Nairobi. The electrotechnical industry is developing rapidly in Kenya, but the market lacks the qualified workforce needed to install and maintain equipment. The project therefore plans to open an electrical-engineering course specializing in refrigeration and air-conditioning. The new specialization will complement the existing solar-energy specialization and thus expand the range of practical skills in the field. The teaching space will be renovated and equipped with the necessary furniture and study materials, after which teaching will begin. An important part of the project will focus on connecting graduates with the job market. Students will complete internships with future employers, a career-orientation seminar and a business-skills course; talented students will receive a start-up package to launch their own business. The project will monitor and accompany employed graduates. The project also aims to support higher quality of education and services at Boys Town. The project will help equip selected trades with new tools and materials, which will raise the quality of practical teaching and make students more attractive to future employers. The project will also achieve higher quality of education and services through training in teaching skills and the preventive system for teachers, as well as through psychological support for Boys Town students. The project was launched on 7 August 2018 and will run until 31 July 2020 and was supported from SlovakAid resources through a grant of EUR 175,352.

The project Building Peace Through Practical Skills aimed to reduce unemployment among disadvantaged youth in Turkana County by opening a carpentry course. The course was intended for two groups of young people — the disadvantaged group of refugees from the Kakuma refugee camp and a group of young Kenyans living in the vicinity of Kakuma. There is long-standing animosity between the local community and the refugees, stemming from unequal opportunities.

The project increased the number of young people with carpentry skills in Kakuma and its surroundings, provided students with entrepreneurship training, accompanied graduates in their search for employment and thus improved their chances of entering the job market. At the same time, the project contributed to peaceful coexistence between the student communities by training local teachers in peace work and organizing peace workshops and seminars for students.

The project started in September 2017 and ran until October 2019. The project was supported from SlovakAid resources through a grant of EUR 249,190.

The 13th edition of the Tehlička public fundraising campaign for 2018 was entered in the register of public collections of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic on 23 October 2017 under number SVS-OVS2-2017/035609.

The gross proceeds of the collection amounted to 163,310.50 euros. The costs of running the collection were 17.49 percent. Net proceeds: 136,902.51 euros. With the funds raised we helped the local inhabitants of Korr to gain better access to drinking water and energy, raised awareness about the importance of education for everyone, and made concrete contributions to both formal and non-formal education for children and young people.

Directly involved in the collection were more than 99 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and almost 36 youth and other organizations in towns and villages across Slovakia. All participating schools and organizations received promotional and background materials, which served not only the campaign for the collection but also as resources for education and awareness-raising in the area of development cooperation. As part of the collection, schools — with our consent — carried out their own activities serving its purpose.

Everything you supported with your gifts in KORR, KENYA — TEHLIČKA 2018:

1. A new metal water tank was purchased to replace the old rusted, leaking tank. As part of the project, unsuitable parts of the piping were also replaced with new ones and the necessary refurbishment work was carried out to fully restore it. Excavation work was done with the help of the local community, as part of their contribution to the project. The drainage system of the large hall and its connection to the tank were also repaired, to ensure that the tank fills up during rains.
   This part of the project significantly improved the rainwater-collection system for the Don Bosco Mission and the local community in Korr.
2. Renovation of the existing basketball court and spectator benches — implementation of this activity was delayed because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The contractor is under contract.
3. Fencing of the football pitch with wire mesh. The football pitch had previously been an open space, where young people kept running into problems — in particular, balls were puncturing on sharp thorns. Young people themselves took part in building the football-pitch fencing, to the extent of their abilities and skills. The youth now have suitable conditions to play football and develop their sporting talent.
4. 150 metal chairs were purchased and delivered for the main hall. Metal chairs were chosen with a view to the high level of use and long life of this kind of furniture. Also delivered were 10 tables and 10 benches, the installation of a satellite, a decoder and the hall sound system — 4 centre speakers, 2 microphones, 1 amplifier, 4 speaker stands, a laptop, a 50-inch television and accessories for connection to a desktop computer. The youth in Korr now have access to a well-equipped hall and can also learn through study videos.
5. A modern-equipped library was set up for primary, secondary and even university education. Various teaching materials were purchased. A range of sports equipment was bought for indoor and outdoor games — including table tennis, a dartboard, badminton, footballs, chess… The youth in Korr now have better access to relevant study materials and games.
6. Equipping the boarding facility with mattresses. 100 mattresses and 100 mattress covers were purchased and delivered to the Don Bosco Mission. Improved housing for the boys and girls boarding at the school in Korr.
7. Programmes for youth — such as life-skills training — were carried out three times a year during school holidays. Each training session was 3 days long. The training was provided by the organization Stings for Life — Kenya, from Nairobi. On average, 43 young people, both boys and girls, took part in the training.
8. Improving access to energy by purchasing solar panels and solar batteries. The Don Bosco Korr mission is not connected to the national grid and therefore relies on solar energy for lighting. The project includes the purchase of 12 solar panels and 12 solar batteries. So far only 4 solar batteries have been installed because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The original solar system was planned for a smaller complex of buildings, which has, however, grown by a food-distribution point, a kindergarten and a community hall, and has thus become insufficient.
9. Strengthening the position of women by offering seminars and training on: early marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), nutrition, natural family planning and the education of girls. Women in Marsabit County experience discrimination and insufficient participation in society’s development process because of cultural and social limitations in the community. This is in particular because of early marriage, female genital mutilation, dropping out of school early and limited access to information about their sexual and reproductive health. Several women, however, have overcome these limitations by joining up through the Catholic Women’s Association at the Korr mission and forming a self-help group (Fatima Women Group). The project worked closely with the leadership and members of this group as one of the ways to reach women in the community. The seminars were also enriched by the participation of a local health-care representative from Marsabit County. Women and girls shared their life experiences with other women and girls, and so enriched and supported one another. The seminars were held in the towns of Farakoreni, Lapendera, Lokichula, Legima, Ngurunit and Korr. Field activities were held on Friday afternoons — they included conversations with community volunteers about treatment and raising health awareness. The community appreciated the access to health-care services, because most government dispensaries are closed due to a shortage of medicines.
10. The project also included support for a group that wants to run a maize (Posho) mill in Don Bosco Korr. They provide a service that members of the local community need, and so secure an income for themselves. The proceeds from this activity will contribute to the sustainability of the project and will allow them to continue raising awareness among other women about the issues affecting them.

THANK YOU TO ALL DONORS AND PARTICIPANTS FOR SUPPORTING TEHLIČKA 2018!

The project Empowering Women Through Practical Skills aimed to help reduce women’s unemployment in the poor Marsabit region in Kenya. During the project, new practical-skills courses for women were opened – a tailoring course and a hairdressing and cosmetics course. The desired impact is to reduce unemployment in the region and to strengthen the position of women in society.

The project was implemented at the established Salesian apprenticeship school Don Bosco Technical Institute Marsabit in the county capital of Marsabit. Until then, the apprenticeship school had provided technical education only to men; the project expanded its scope with new courses for women.

 During the project, the first 25 women were trained. To give the trained graduates a better chance of finding employment, they had the opportunity to take part in business-skills training and to receive start-up packages to launch their own self-employed activity. The business-skills training was also attended by youth from other courses — a total of 90 apprenticeship students. The second part of the project focused on improving the quality of education at the apprenticeship school by raising the qualifications of teachers. A certified course in teaching technical subjects was completed by 6 teachers, which raised the quality of the teaching process. A mediation-skills course for 10 teachers helped bring together young people from different ethnic groups in the interest of peaceful coexistence among the residents of Marsabit. In addition, the project also organized regular educational seminars for youth, with an average attendance of 30 students per week.

The project started on 1 November 2016 and ended on 31 October 2018. It was financed from the state budget of the Slovak Republic through the official development aid programme SlovakAid thanks to a grant of EUR 226,150. Co-financing of EUR 25,150 was secured thanks to the Women in Kenya collection.

From 1 October 2015 to 31 May 2017 we carried out a project in Kenya that is financially supported from SlovakAid resources. The project helped street children gain quality education and practical skills, and thereby supported their gradual social and economic integration. None of this would have been possible without an experienced local partner. The project was carried out in cooperation with the Salesian centre Bosco Boys for street children, which has been helping poor youth for 25 years. In the initial phase, the centre works on the social rehabilitation of the children; subsequently, it focuses on integrating them into the basic-education process. Later, it helps them acquire practical skills in the areas of carpentry, welding, tailoring and agricultural production, and arranges secondary-school studies for them.

The project raised the qualifications of the centre’s teachers for working with at-risk youth through certified courses in counselling skills and child therapy. They are now able to provide adequate support to the children at Bosco Boys. In the area of basic education, three upper grades were equipped with modern technologies that combine spoken word and multimedia in teaching. Using modern technologies will make the teaching process easier, faster and more effective. Since many Bosco Boys graduates have difficulty finding suitable employment, the project provided them with training thanks to which they are able to prepare a good CV, identify and approach potential employers, and prepare for an interview; graduates were also briefed on the rights and duties of employees and on work ethic. For those interested in starting their own business, a business course was provided.

The Bosco Boys centre is largely dependent on external sources of funding, which threatens its sustainability. The centre’s greatest potential for generating income lies in its carpentry and welding workshops, where the centre’s students acquire practical skills. Based on the high demand in the area around the workshop, they tested the production of made-to-order furniture, with positive results. The project tapped into the centre’s potential in this area and increased revenues from furniture production by equipping the carpentry and welding workshops with the necessary machines and tools that the centre had been lacking. The workshop staff were also trained to use them. For the students, the acquisition of practical skills thus took on a new dimension — they came into contact with clients, with receiving and processing orders, which is valuable experience for their future employment. The workshops also became a potential employer for talented students.

Project results

• 16 centre staff trained in financial planning and fundraising
• 1 business plan drawn up for the centre
• 680 pieces of furniture sold
• EUR 40,000 earned from furniture sales
• 2 counselling-skills courses delivered for teachers
• 18 teachers trained in counselling skills
• 2 therapy rooms set up
• 65 children per week using counselling
• 3 upper grades equipped with modern technologies
• 20 teachers trained to work with modern equipment
• 110 centre graduates trained for a successful job search
• 4 educational seminars for children and youth
• 1 seminar for parents of at-risk youth
• 3 camps

Tens of thousands of children live on the streets of Nairobi, without the care of their own family or of society at large. The Bosco Boys centre has already rescued several hundred of them. It provides them with a home and an education up to the end of the eighth grade of primary school. Most graduates cannot access further education, which is financially demanding. After finishing primary school they need to enter working life. Because of insufficient qualifications and lack of work skills, they risk ending up back on the streets.

Thanks to this project, alongside basic schooling the Bosco Boys centre ran informal practical-skills courses for older pupils in tailoring, carpentry, welding, crop growing, animal husbandry and cooking, so that young primary-school graduates could find a place in the labour market. Emphasis was placed on developing the children’s talents, especially in music, dance, drama, sport, acrobatics, and creative handicrafts producing artistic items and souvenirs, since these areas, too, can offer them future employment. The subsequent sale of hand-made items and of products from the various workshops and courses helped finance the centre’s day-to-day running costs.

Alongside practical skills, the pupils’ social skills were also developed. Holiday camps were organised for them and formal schooling was combined with informal activities to support their healthy social development. School teachers and the children’s caregivers were also given training so that they could respond better to the specific needs of children from disadvantaged backgrounds and with experience of life on the street. The project was supported from the state budget of the Slovak Republic through the official development assistance programme SlovakAid with the sum of EUR 217,574.

Tens of thousands of children live on the streets of Nairobi without adult care. The goal of the project was to lift children out of the street environment and enable them to fully reintegrate into society. It ran from November 2010 to February 2012. It supported formal primary-school education at the Bosco Boys centre as well as numerous informal training courses (in agriculture, cooking, carpentry, welding) and leisure activities (sports competitions, cultural performances, educational trips, children’s camps and the like).

The 2011 school year (which runs from January to November) was completed by 329 pupils, with 34 eighth-graders sitting the final state exams. School fees were paid for 35 graduates at secondary and technical schools so that they could continue their studies. The children’s parents and relatives were also included in the project. Home visits by the social worker helped enrol 145 new boys, who had previously lived on the streets, in the centre’s rehabilitation programme. In early April 2011, Bosco Boys pupil Peter Mwaura visited Slovakia together with the centre’s director, Father Sebastian, SDB. On their tour of Slovakia they met many supporters of the Salesians’ missionary work in Stupava, Žilina, Námestovo, Prešov, Banská Bystrica and Bratislava. In February 2012 the Bosco Boys centre was visited by the Slovak Ambassador to Kenya, Michal Mlynár, who took part in the finale of the traditional Jesus Cup football tournament. On that occasion he unveiled a commemorative plaque thanking the project’s sponsors.

The project was supported from the state budget of the Slovak Republic through the official development assistance programme SlovakAid with the sum of EUR 135,000.

The goal of the project was to support the education of street children and youth in Nairobi. To that end it was necessary to build and equip a carpentry workshop at the Bosco Boys centre in Nairobi, where training in this trade then began. The Salesians of Don Bosco were actively involved in the project and also delivered the carpentry instruction. The project helped to educate disadvantaged young people, to build not only their technical but also their social skills, and to improve their chances of finding a place in the labour market.

The project was supported by Slovak official development assistance SlovakAid with the sum of EUR 137,734.

The goal of the project was to raise funds to purchase 10 complete computer sets for the primary school at the centre for street children (Nairobi). Thanks to them, basic computer-skills classes for 293 pupils and evening computer courses for older residents of the neighbouring Kuwinda slum were added to the curriculum.

The new computers will also help the school’s own teachers expand their skills, and the computers will be used directly for the centre’s administrative needs as well — for example, preparing tests and questions, archiving photographic documentation, and so on.

We thank the company HOUR, spol. s r. o. for the financial gift of EUR 5,075, thanks to which we were able to carry out the project.