Kenya’s biggest slum Kibera has been earmarked for an upgrade, in a joint venture by one of China’s middle schools and AVIC International Holding Corporation.
Yali Middle School located in China’s central Hunan Province is teaming up with AVIC International to construct a school in the Kibera slums located in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Yali has sent a delegation to Kibera Girls Soccer Academy on a 12-day visit aimed at providing a platform for academic exchanges between students from both sides.
Already, the Chinese team has sponsored thirteen students from the Kenyan school in Kibera, paying their learning fees for a complete academic year.
Yali is also working to fund the construction of a fully equipped computer laboratory in Kibera Girls Soccer Academy, one that will enable learning in the school to be digitized.
During their visit to the school, the Chinese delegation met and interacted with students from the Kenyan school and encouraged them to continue working hard, pledging to sponsor more students who perform well in their studies.
This incredible relationship will also give an opportunity to three well performing students from the slums and one teacher to get a lifetime opportunity to visit China to attend Yali Middle School’s 110-year anniversary.
Yali’s authorities said the exchanges aim to promote better understanding between students from the two sides, and intensify interaction between them.
Yali Middle School, founded in 1906, was included in the “Top 100 Schools” list published by the Top One-Hundred Schools website in China in 2007.
Su Tianshu, Chief Representative of Kenya office of AVIC International Holding Corporation, said his organization would be glad to provide job opportunities to students from the Kibera school who make it into university in the future.
This project would ultimately see the beneficiaries get back to the slums to improve the livelihoods of others there.
