Toolkit, Nairobi, Kenya
This was our third visit in as many years with our friends at Toolkit.
Their primary purpose is to train and develop skills for young people in Kenya. This training includes welding, solar installation, entrepreneurship, and agriculture. Our friend Hosea gave us a tour of their school, which we had not seen before. Part of the agriculture training includes in-depth education on natural pesticides, including the use of plants to shield more susceptible crops from pests.
Last year, Toolkit was instrumental in introducing us to solar contractors in Nairobi for a project involving Mully Children’s Families' need for a solar power system in Denali. As a thank you, we purchased a 3.5 kW solar system for training purposes. It turned out that the system is not only used for training but also powers one of their classroom buildings.
The solar instruction classroom included a full educational electric circuit demonstration and teaching panel.
In the entrepreneurship classroom, there were several teaching aids demonstrating the process of converting a plan or idea into a successful business—even a really cool board game! The welding students start with a computer-based virtual reality welding program. Once they reach a level of proficiency, they move on to live welding machines. The welding program lasts 90 days, and the school produces about 350 graduates per year. Many of these graduates go on to work in France or Germany, where there is a shortage of welders.
Additionally, one of the goals of the program is to reduce the number of foreign welders in Kenya by filling those positions with skilled Kenyans.
The school has invented a cool cart with solar panels and a DC water pump for a portable irrigation system. The welding students build the steel cart, paint it, mount tires, and then the solar students install fold-out panels and the pump below. We saw two of these carts, which have already been sold, and the students are making more.
The agriculture program includes 65 demonstration crops—some are row crops, and others are vertical crops for cultivation in small spaces, like a backyard. Students learn all aspects of harvesting seeds, planting, cultivation, and watering. One of the graduating students has already started a successful nursery, selling plants to the public. In addition to the crops, the school also raises goats, chickens, geese, guinea fowl, rabbits, ducks, and quail. Students are taught the care, keeping, and selling of these animals.
After our tour, we met with our friend Jane, the founder and executive director. Jane mentioned an increased need to provide education in refugee camps in other areas of Eastern Africa. From there, I asked if it might make sense to have a portable classroom training facility, and Jane and Hosea responded favorably. We left with the intention of following up on that concept.
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