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Early in 1959, a young civil servant, Dr. Geoffrey Griffin, was attempting to raise funds for a private venture to help boys who were homeless or needy and to draw public attention to the enormous social problem existing among juveniles. With the assistance of Joseph Gikubu, who still serves to this day, and the late Geoffrey Geturo, and backed by the Shell/BP Oil Companies and the Sheikh Trust, he set out to establish a small residential centre in the crowded and depressed eastern locations of Nairobi City.
It was on the tiny Starehe site that two huts were erected in July 1959 to serve as dormitories for the first waifs to be brought in from the streets. Kenya was passing through a difficult time - although independence was looming ahead, the City was still clamped under the Mau Mau Emergency Regulations and it was amid suspicion and even hostility from some of the authorities, the local people and the first boys themselves that the centre was officially opened on the 14th November, 1959.
Primary education and simple trade training began at once but it was four years before Starehe was able to attain legal recognition as a school and was permitted to enter its pupils for recognized examinations. Meanwhile the quest for international support had begun in earnest and Starehe's first backers were soon joined by many others. The Save the Children Fund of Britain became Starehe's largest overseas supporter and was instrumental in interesting its counterparts in other countries. Starting with the Dulverton Trust and Oxfam, various trusts, foundations, charitable bodies and the technical assistance, volunteer agencies helped to build up the teaching staff, and a growing number of private individuals, schools and societies contributed to the running costs of the Centre by 'sponsoring' particular boys.
Many prominent Kenyans came to take a personal interest in Starehe to take a personal interest in Starehe and the Ministry of Education has given increasing encouragement and support. As time went on, the Centre became national by opening its doors to the rural, as well as the urban, poor. It was realized that disadvantaged boys should not be raised in isolation from the rest of the society, but should live and learn, work and play with the sons of normal families, so it was decided that fee-paying pupils could occupy one third of the places while the other two thirds remain free and are strictly reserved for the poor and helpless. The number of boys in Starehe's charge now stands at nearly eleven hundred.
THE SCHOOL MOTTO
Starehe's motto "Natulenge Juu" (Let Us Aim High), bestowed by Kenya's First President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, reflects the spirit that permeates the Centre. The founder set out, not merely to provide food, clothing and protection to boys in need, but to restore in them the self-confidence and self-respect so often injured by earlier misfortunes in lives, and finally, to provide them with sound enough-to serve them well in today's competitive world. Step by step across the years, Starehe has built itself an international reputation and has been honoured by visits from many famous persons. Among them have been Kenya's own Presidents, the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Mr. Daniel Arap Moi; and His Excellency the Hon. Mwai Kibaki. HRH the Princess Royal (who spent four days at Starehe), the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (when Crown Princess), the late Senator Robert Kennedy of the United States, T.R.H. Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex, HRH the Duke of Gloucester and notable sportsmen such as Pele and Muhammed Ali. |
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