Olympic Primary School and RGI Projects
The Olympic Primary School is a government-run primary school in Kenya. It is located in Kibera, a slum district in the capital Nairobi. The school was established in 1980.
The school consistently places near the top of Kenya's best schools. In 2003, Kenya introduced free primary schooling across the country. There were some 1,700 students at the school prior to 2003. As of October 2018, the school’s student population has swelled to 4,500. In fact, Olympic Primary School has the largest student population of any public primary school across all of Eastern and Central Africa.
The school has 49 active classrooms and many classrooms experience a teacher-student ratio of 1:100.
The school feeds these 4500 kids a lunch every day that consists primarily of rice, corn, beans. The school depends on Feed the Children to provide the bags of food as most parents are unable to help cover the cost of the lunch program.
In 2006, Rick and Nicole completed their first project for the Olympic Primary School: providing adequate library shelving and books – the gift of literacy – way before the RGI was even inaugurated!
They then started collecting school supplies from family and friends to bring to the school on their next trip to Kenya. In fact, when the RGI was officially launched in 2008 with its first charity golf tournament, the idea of collecting precious school supplies remained a key feature of the fundraiser – and it still does to this day! All golf participants bring loads of school supplies as they register for their day on the links. Rick and Nicole bring to the school 50-80 kgs of school supplies every year – pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, crayons, knapsacks, etc.
With funds flowing in from the annual fundraiser, the projects to improve the learning environment of the Olympic kids kicked off – with projects becoming bigger and more transformational every year – thanks to the RGI’s most wonderful supporters.
Follow the link below to see how RGI Charity has helped the Olympic Primary School over the years.
Our Partners
Rick and Nicole are surrounded by the most trustworthy and dedicated team of volunteer partners in Kenya who are instrumental to the success of RGI projects and programs. They work closely with Rick and Nicole to oversee the implementation of each and every project and are their "eyes and ears" on the ground.
Follow the link below to meet our partners!
Desks
On one of their visits to the Olympic Primary School, Rick & Nicole noticed that there weren't enough desks for all of the students. Many children had to sit on the floor and the desks they did have were in pretty rough shape. So they decided to start building desks! A $90 donation is all it takes to provide a desk that seats 3-4 students and includes having a special message written on the front of the desk (they make great gifts!).
Once the desk is built and moved into a classroom, the local RGI partners send Nicole a picture of the desk with the smiling faces of the Olympic kids sitting at their treasured desk. Nicole then provides the sponsor of the desk with a presentation certificate that can be customized to meet any special occasion.
The benefits of the desk drive are far reaching – way beyond classrooms – as the carpenters and workers assigned to the desk building project are parents of Olympic school kids. Building desks is a precious source of income for these Kibera families.
Follow the link below to find out more about this program and how you can build a desk!
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