The Sisters of St Joseph Mombasa run Chalice’s Mombasa sponsor site, working in the low-income neighborhoods of this coastal city in Kenya. They run three homes for children: the Grandsons of Abraham Rescue Centre, Bakitah Girls Rescue Centre, and the Shanzu Orphanage.
The Grandsons of Abraham Centre rescues, rehabilitates and educates boys who have lived in dangerous and precarious situations on the streets of Mombasa.
The Centre desperately needed qualified case workers to support the boys, but the money to pay salaries wasn’t there.
But thanks to generous Chalice donors, through the Mombasa site, the Centre has hired four case workers!
With more staff, the Centre took in more boys, and with more one-on-one work, more boys achieved success and joined the connected school, Abrahams Education Centre.
And guess what? Thanks to Chalice supporters, the Sisters have money to pay salaries for the staff there, too.
“Our beloved staff are the ones with the responsibility of disseminating knowledge to our pupils after the rehabilitation,” writes Sr. Jane, Mombasa’s site director.
“The management is able to retain the teachers at the school and avoided the movement of teachers from school to school for good pay,” she explains.
Once the teachers commit long-term, they can build meaningful relationships with the children. The benefits are clear: students have already done better on exams this past year.
“There is an improved working conditions and the teacher’s morale towards work improved too,” Sr. Jane explains.
Before, the teachers needed to rush home as soon as the bell rang to get to their second job or business, which kept them financially stable. Now they can stay later at school for remedial lessons and homework help.
“This led to a tremendous improvement in class performance,” Sr. Jane says.
She expresses her ‘utmost’ gratitude to everyone who made these dramatic changes possible.
“May the Almighty God bless you and your families always as we pray for you to God to bless you abundantly to continue changing lives.”