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About Us
Our Story
Grace Community Education Centre was founded in the year 2007 by Girum Getachew Haile. Our founder had first interacted with the children from Njathaini in the 90’s while on an Evangelism assignment given to him while in Bible College. While on the assignment, it was apparent that the people of Njathaini, approximately 40,000 in population, lived in extreme poverty conditions and the most affected were the children who were left to fend for themselves as their parents went out to seek daily casual labor to make a living (The children in Njathaini account for more than 50% of the population).
Years later, this led to the founding of Grace Community Education Centre as an aim towards meeting this need by providing a safe place for the children to spend the day while they received basic needs such as food and clothing while still getting an education.
Initially, the organization started as a pre-primary school where the children received a free quality education, daily meals, and spiritual nourishment. After completion of their pre-primary school education, a number of the children were not able to continue with their education due to the over-burdened single public school in the village. To help meet this new arising concern, Grace Community Education Centre in the year 2010 established a free primary school section for the children to join after completing pre-school.
Currently, Grace Community Education Centre has an established pre-primary and primary school section providing the children of Njathaini with free quality education. GCEC has now had four classes complete their primary school education and going on to join different high schools all over the country. We give God all the glory because this has all been made possible through years of working with a committed partner, well-wishers, and qualified teachers who over the years helped us ensure that the children had all they needed to do well in school.
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Our Story
About Us
Grace Community Education Centre was founded in the year 2007 by Girum Getachew Haile. Our founder had first interacted with the children from Njathaini in the 90’s while on an Evangelism assignment given to him while in Bible College. While on the assignment, it was apparent that the people of Njathaini, approximately 40,000 in population, lived in extreme poverty conditions and the most affected were the children who were left to fend for themselves as their parents went out to seek daily casual labor to make a living (The children in Njathaini account for more than 50% of the population).
Years later, this led to the founding of Grace Community Education Centre as an aim towards meeting this need by providing a safe place for the children to spend the day while they received basic needs such as food and clothing while still getting an education.
Initially, the organization started as a pre-primary school where the children received a free quality education, daily meals, and spiritual nourishment. After completion of their pre-primary school education, a number of the children were not able to continue with their education due to the over-burdened single public school in the village. To help meet this new arising concern, Grace Community Education Centre in the year 2010 established a free primary school section for the children to join after completing pre-school.
Currently, Grace Community Education Centre has an established pre-primary and primary school section providing the children of Njathaini with free quality education. GCEC has now had four classes complete their primary school education and going on to join different high schools all over the country. We give God all the glory because this has all been made possible through years of working with a committed partner, well-wishers, and qualified teachers who over the years helped us ensure that the children had all they needed to do well in school.
Grace Community Education Centre was founded in the year 2007 by Girum Getachew Haile. Our founder had first interacted with the children from Njathaini in the 90’s while on an Evangelism assignment given to him while in Bible College. While on the assignment, it was apparent that the people of Njathaini, approximately 40,000 in population, lived in extreme poverty conditions and the most affected were the children who were left to fend for themselves as their parents went out to seek daily casual labor to make a living (The children in Njathaini account for more than 50% of the population).
Years later, this led to the founding of Grace Community Education Centre as an aim towards meeting this need by providing a safe place for the children to spend the day while they received basic needs such as food and clothing while still getting an education.
Initially, the organization started as a pre-primary school where the children received a free quality education, daily meals, and spiritual nourishment. After completion of their pre-primary school education, a number of the children were not able to continue with their education due to the over-burdened single public school in the village. To help meet this new arising concern, Grace Community Education Centre in the year 2010 established a free primary school section for the children to join after completing pre-school.
Currently, Grace Community Education Centre has an established pre-primary and primary school section providing the children of Njathaini with free quality education. GCEC has now had four classes complete their primary school education and going on to join different high schools all over the country. We give God all the glory because this has all been made possible through years of working with a committed partner, well-wishers, and qualified teachers who over the years helped us ensure that the children had all they needed to do well in school.
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Our Community
About Us
Njathaini village is a semi slum-based community that came into existence through a strong organization of 57 pioneer members. Most of these members were employed as casual laborer’s in the adjacent coffee estates, tanner factories, and quarry zones. The size of the land is 97 acres, whose current population is about 40,000 people, with over 50% comprising of children. About 95% of the adults are casual laborers who are low-income earners (a daily minimum wage of KSh100 which is the equivalent of $1). This living condition is what has made many unable to provide the important needs to their children such as daily meals, an education, clothing, and good medical care. Unfortunately, the hardship and poverty level has also contributed a great deal to drug and alcohol abuse which has increased the prevalence of single parenthood, high divorce rates, child abuse, and abandonment.
Grace Community Education Centre has over the last 15 years been working towards ensuring that the children of Njathaini have access to free quality education and their basic needs that will help elevate them towards a better future.
Njathaini village is a semi slum-based community that came into existence through a strong organization of 57 pioneer members. Most of these members were employed as casual laborer’s in the adjacent coffee estates, tanner factories, and quarry zones. The size of the land is 97 acres, whose current population is about 40,000 people, with over 50% comprising of children. About 95% of the adults are casual laborers who are low-income earners (a daily minimum wage of KSh100 which is the equivalent of $1). This living condition is what has made many unable to provide the important needs to their children such as daily meals, an education, clothing, and good medical care. Unfortunately, the hardship and poverty level has also contributed a great deal to drug and alcohol abuse which has increased the prevalence of single parenthood, high divorce rates, child abuse, and abandonment.
Grace Community Education Centre has over the last 15 years been working towards ensuring that the children of Njathaini have access to free quality education and their basic needs that will help elevate them towards a better future.
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Founder's Story
About Us
Girum Getachew Haile
Founder and Executive Director - Grace Community Education Centre
It was during my four years in Bible college that I got introduced to the village of Njathaini. Then, we used to visit the community once a week for evangelism and it was during this time, I noticed many children who had reached the school-going age were still out and about their neighborhoods during regular school hours. After some time, I began to question why and decided to find out why this was so from some of the children’s parents and members of the community. Two reasons stood out to me during my interactions, first, it was brought to my attention that the single public school in the village was over-burdened and was not able to admit all the children that lived in the village, secondly, the parents were not able to afford to take their children to private schools because of the large number of school fees that they needed to pay.
Ever since that time, God began working in my heart to do something about the situation. This burden on my heart moved me to seek advice from others to see if there was something that could be done for me to go about it. The first person I spoke to who was instrumental in my future decision was my lecturer at the time who told me to write down on paper what I felt in my heart about what I had encountered at the village. I immediately did this, and God slowly began to reveal his purpose through a vision to start a school where the needy and orphaned children would come and get an education while being safe as their parents were off in search of labor.
About 8 years went by without me taking any action on this plan. I had a difficult time trying to convince myself that it was a good idea to start a school in a country that I am a foreigner in and might one day leave. I finally in 2007 made the hard decision to start a school with the belief that God would one day bring someone to take up my role if the time came for me to leave the country. I started by renting four rooms in the village and had 6 children enrolled, one of whom was my daughter. By the grace of God, we have over the years grown the ministry. We now have 151 children enrolled and 17 staff members. Every year from 2017 we have had a class graduating from primary school and going on to high school.
Despite the challenges over the years, I thank the almighty God for his faithfulness and all that he has made possible through Grace Community Education Centre. We have along the way met and made great partnerships with people who have held our hands over the year through prayer and financial assistance. The dream that started over 2 decades ago to start a school and provide free primary school education has grown to one of having a dream center for the African child from their pre-school level education to having a vocational school after they complete their high school education.
In this great and noble way my wife, Aster, has played a great role and shown commitment towards what God has started. My children, I can proudly say, love and support the work in a big way.
May God bless every plan we have for Grace community Education Centre and the people that have dedicated themselves to this cause.