Learning & Innovation
A planned learning center in Kenya where orphaned children and elders will learn side by side.
The school day ends. Learning doesn't.The planned Hands 4Life Learning & Innovation Center in Homa Bay County, Kenya will have 8 classrooms. Its end goal is people who can earn a living: school for children, then skills, mentoring and starter resources so young people, adults and elders can start small businesses.
Learning that leads to a living
From the classroom to a small business of their own.
Church comes first on the campus. The Word will be the foundation for what we teach here.
At the Hands 4Life Learning & Innovation Center, orphans and vulnerable children will learn and grow into young adults with skills for work. Young adults from the wider community will learn entrepreneurship too. Elders will teach, and turn their farm and craft skills into income.
It is one part of the Generations of Wisdom Micro-Campus. The Multi-Purpose Space will hold worship, discipleship and leadership workshops, and the All Things Good Farm will be a hands-on place to learn agriculture, nutrition and STEM. Learning will spill beyond these walls.
Hands 4Life serves everyone, regardless of faith.
From first bell to evening training
One building. A different purpose every few hours.
Here is how one Hands 4Life building will serve every generation once it opens, from the first class of the morning to Sunday worship.
Morning
Learning at their level
Preschool will give the children of teenage mothers a safe place to learn while their moms stay in school. Elementary students will learn through a Montessori-style model that meets each child at their level rather than grouping only by age.
Afternoon
When generations meet
When the elders arrive, the energy will change. There will be room to be silly, curious and patient. Elders will tutor and share stories, traditions and wisdom. Children will bring technology, new ideas and questions. Both will teach, and both will learn.
Evening
Turning knowledge into opportunity
Classrooms will open to the wider community for entrepreneurship, small business, healthcare education and job skills training for adults and young people. Classes will draw on a university-developed entrepreneurship curriculum and partner-led skills training.
Weekends
The community takes over
Workshops, leadership development and community training will fill Saturday. Sundays will bring kids' church, Bible studies and small discipleship groups.
Expected outcomes
Learning should lead somewhere.
We choose hands-on training over theory: tech, business finance, farming and STEM. The main goal is income and small businesses.
These are goals, not results yet. Hands 4Life will track each one and report on progress.
The main goal. Planned for the years ahead
Young people, adults and elders start and run sustainable small businesses
Orphaned children as they grow into young adults, young adults from the wider community, and elders through farm and craft work, each earning their own income.
- SDG 1 No Poverty
- SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
What we will track
- People who finish entrepreneurship and skills training
- Businesses started
- Businesses still running after 12 months
- Income earned by trainees
Building on work underway now
Children stay in school and keep moving up
What we will track
- School attendance of sponsored children
- Children who move up a grade each year
- SDG 4 Quality Education
- SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
Building on work underway now
Knowledge and skills pass from elders to children
What we will track
- Regular times when elders teach or mentor children
- Children and elders taking part together
- SDG 4 Quality Education
- SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
SDG labels name the UN Sustainable Development Goals each outcome contributes to.
The facility
Eight classrooms. Sun up to sun down.
The Hands 4Life Learning & Innovation Center is designed to stay busy from the first morning class to the last evening session.
240 is the building's planned maximum capacity, not a promise that every room will be full every hour. Morning groups will be smaller for younger learners.
How much learning can one building hold?
Projection, not a result
- Weekday mornings
- about 140 children
- Weekday afternoons
- about 160 children and elders
- Weekday evenings
- up to 240 participants
- Five weekdays
- about 2,700
- Saturday
- up to 240
- Sunday
- about 120
That adds up to about 3,060 learning opportunities a week, and about 110,160 across a 36-week program year.
Before the building opens
Your gift can help training start sooner.
Hands 4Life plans to begin training in rented community space, with local teachers, before the building opens. That way learning does not have to wait for the campus.
Hands-on tech and health training
Planned technology skills and healthcare education training people can use right away.
Entrepreneurship and practical skills
Planned entrepreneurship and practical skills tracks built on a university-developed curriculum and partner-led skills training.
Classroom support
Help that keeps kids in school and strengthens local teachers.
$950
Send a child to school for a year
Tuition, supplies, a uniform and school lunches for one student.
Fund ThisHelp training start sooner. Build toward the campus.
Build the Micro-CampusFAQ
Questions people ask
What is the Hands 4Life Learning & Innovation Center?
The Learning & Innovation Center is a planned learning building on the Generations of Wisdom Micro-Campus in Homa Bay County, Kenya. Children, elders and people of all ages will learn there, from school to technology, entrepreneurship and practical skills. The end goal is people who can earn a living and start small businesses of their own.
Who can learn there?
Everyone in the community. When it opens, preschool and elementary children will learn in the morning, elders will join them in the afternoon, adults and young people will train in the evening, and the community will come for workshops and church on weekends. Hands 4Life serves everyone, regardless of faith.
How many people can it hold?
The planned Learning & Innovation Center will have 8 classrooms and hold up to 240 people at one time, 7 days a week. That is the building's planned maximum, not a promise that every room will be full every hour. Morning groups will be smaller for younger learners.
Can training start before the building is finished?
That is the plan. Hands 4Life plans to begin training in rented community space, with local teachers, before the building opens. A $108 gift funds one training session.
Open the door to what's possible.
Help Hands 4Life create a place where orphaned children will learn, elders will teach and young adults will gain the skills to earn a living.