CES Canada Chair visit to Kenya, June 2025
Sarah Nabongo, CES Kenya Administrative Assistant, with CES Canada Chair Carl Friesen, plus three of the Leadership Program students who received computers to do their work”
Building relationships and a shared vision for the future of CES were two of my priorities in visiting our work in Kakamega, Kenya in June 2025. It’s become an annual tradition that I hope will continue.
As ever, I was received with warm hospitality by our CES family in Kenya. There was plenty of time for mandazi and tea – mandazi being the Kenyan equivalent to a donut, and tea being the local equivalent of coffee. It’s a beautiful part of the world – green and lush. There is also a lot of poverty, and with high youth unemployment, our work of providing options and opportunities for young people has never been more important.
The CES Kenya board meets at the Rondo Retreat near Kakamega. Left to right: Juma Nyongesa, Hellen Kulundu, Florence Lirhanda, CES Kenya Chair Ben Udoto, Administrative Assistant Sarah Nabongo, CES Canada Chair Carl Friesen, CES Kenya patron Malik Khaemba, Hillary Lukhafwa
Visits to schools
One of the highlights of the trip was the visits to secondary schools where CES has sponsored students. In most cases, this involved travel of many kilometres on back roads. While Kenyan paved main roads are generally good (partly because they don’t have the freeze-thaw cycles most Canadian roads endure), the side roads are gravel and badly eroded. Thanks to board members Hillary and Ben for taking the steering wheel and navigating these frustrating, exhausting surfaces. But it’s important that we support students at some remote schools, in order to provide more opportunities for those who might not otherwise have a chance.
A shared vision for the future
One of the issues we discussed was how to ensure that the work of CES continues. One of the strengths of the organization is its two-board structure – (1) A board in Canada that focuses on providing financial resources and strategic planning, and (2) a board in Kenya with respected members of the local Kakamega community, who decide on operational matters such as which students to provide with scholarships. Many of the people on the Kenyan board have served faithfully since the organization’s founding over 20 years ago. Some are looking forward to stepping back from their responsibilities. So, we talked about the need for a succession plan within CES Kenya, to look for younger members to join and carry on the work. One issue is finding people who will do the work out of a sense of public service, and will not be looking for what they can earn from their involvement. Malik Khaemba and the others agreed to look for potential new board members.
I was honoured to meet the students CES is supporting at Namirama Girls Secondary School, a well-regarded institution that has been academic home to many of our students. Here the six students we support, along with Francine Muhati who is our designated teacher contact at this school.
Visiting the Itumbe Learning Centre project, CES Kenya Patron Malik Khaemba, standing, addresses the board of local stakeholders. CES Canada Secretary Charles Mayenga is championing this project.
Pushing forward the Itumbe Learning Centre project
I did a trip to Kisii, 140 km south of Kakamega, to visit the Itumbe Learning Centre project. Their board was well represented, and I presented a cheque to support the venture, some of the funds from CES and partly funds raised by Charles Mayenga, the board member of CES Canada who has been promoting this project in his home community.