If you build it they will come - Kia Ora Children’s Learning Centre, Nairobi, Kenya

Denise surrounded by Kia Ora kids.

By Denise Carnihan, co-owner and driving force of Kia Ora
I’m not used to having my ideas taken too seriously – especially by my husband Chris.  So last year when I suggested we build a school in Nairobi I never thought for a minute we’d now be celebrating a whole year of operation with 300 students, eight teachers and a Masai warrior security guard.

It’s surprisingly easy to take a crazy idea and change your own life and those around you once you set your mind to it!

But let me rewind and tell you the story.



A couple of years ago Chris and I decided to take an extended holiday through Africa.  Apart from a two year ‘OE’ 31 years ago, we have always lived in New Zealand.  Not so long ago I discovered an African connection in my ancestry.  This seemed like a perfect opportunity to combine meeting long lost family with a long overdue exotic holiday.

There was something about Africa that touched my soul and once back at home I was soon feeling quite dissatisfied with my day job in accounts - I wanted to do something different.  Sitting at my desk one day I Googled ‘volunteering in Africa’ and happened across Global Volunteer Network.

That was me. I was back over there like a shot working a month in an orphanage and then two months in a Detention Centre for troubled youth – it was 2010.

During this time I met some fantastic people and wanted to get more involved and make a real difference to these young people.  I convinced Chris to come back with me at the start of 2011 and for us both to do a stint volunteering back at the detention centre.

That’s when we had the – ‘let’s build a school’ conversation and to my surprise Chris actually said – yes, we should look at doing that.    At the time we had another Kiwi friend Mandy staying with us in Nairobi and so asked her if she was keen to get involved too.  She was.

We secured the lease on a plot of land in a large slum area, hired local builders within the community and proceeded to start building the school, all the while working with the Kangemi Village Chief and Kenya Government officials to have the school fully registered, and recognised as an official learning institution of Kenya.

We opened the doors to Kia Ora Children’s Learning Centre in September 2011. The original building of three classrooms was designed to hold 50 children, however, on opening day we had 117 kids crammed in with huge smiles and a thirst for learning.

We employed a fantastic local school teacher Ayub Nasongo to run it for us and under his guidance the role has grown to more than 300 children.

In November 2011 we came back to NZ and started fundraising like crazy, holding movie nights, and garage sales to assist with paying the salaries, provide resources and supplies, build new classrooms and an office building.

I've just got back from another two month stint at the school helping out any way I could and getting to know our children and staff better (there's even more names to remember now).

I’m now on a mission to raise more funds and promote our sponsorship programme -$10 a month to sponsor one of our students.  This means we can continue to run the school for free for the children and still pay all our staff, provide the books, stationery and everything else the school needs.

Although my heart is in Kenya I know that the money we raise back here is vital to the viability of the school and that’s my focus for now – but it won’t be long until I head back over to get to know the names of more new children.

If you’d like to know more about Kia Ora Children’s Learning Centre or would like to sponsor a child contact Denise at denisecarnihan@yahoo.co.nz.  You might also be interested in checking out (and 'Liking') the Facebook page.