On 8th December, the team welcomed the first 40 students, between 10 and 11 years old, together with their families. During the open house, the first activities were presented, pending the formal launch in January 2021 of the international school programme, the first on the African continent dedicated to refugee and disadvantaged children. When fully operational, Still I Rise International School will be able to host up to 300 students.
The school is located on the border of the slum of Mathare, a valley of a few square kilometres in which about 600,000 people live. Every space has been studied in detail to welcome the classes with love, care and serenity. From the library to the canteen, from the sports field to the classrooms, from the office to the common room, nothing is left to chance. All this was made possible thanks to the fundraising launched in September, which led Still I Rise to collect in a few weeks the 67,000 euros needed to renovate the building, make it safe, purchase furnishings and cover notary and legal expenses.
«We are the first international school for refugee and disadvantaged children in Africa. We will offer one of the most prestigious diplomas in the world, free of charge, to the forgotten children of the Earth», says Nicolò Govoni, President of Still I Rise. «We strongly believe that our project will bring about a substantial change, not only in the lives of our students, but also in our host community and, in the long term, in the world of education in general. This is our way of changing the world, one child at a time». (Press release)
