Amani works with and for at-risk children and their families in Kenya to break the cycle of vulnerability through decolonially-framed holistic education, mental health support, community development, and anti-human trafficking advocacy.
EDUCATION
Why Education when there are so many Schools?
The goal of Education in Amani is shalom- not just graduation rates or test scores, but the flourishing of the whole person in right relationships with the divine, themselves, their community, society, the world, and creation in totality.
A child who narrates community history through storytelling, or a youth who excels in creative arts performance and theater, is not ‘less intelligent’ than one who solves mathematical equations. A child whose hands build and repair furniture or a youth who is a skilled plumber is not ‘behind’ the child who reads fluently. A child whose emotional attunement holds together a fractured peer group is exercising a form of intelligence the world desperately needs.
In Masii, South-Eastern Kenya, Amani runs both a Pre-school and an Elementary School because we believe education is not a ladder to economic mobility alone. It is a formation of the whole person, mind, heart, character, and voice.
We enroll children from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, providing Bible-centred, holistic education that nurtures dignity, agency, justice, and voice. We provide need-based scholarships to ensure that financial barriers never determine a child’s future.
Our vision doesn’t stop in Masii; we dream boldly of a Pan-African Chain of Amani Primary and Tertiary / Vocational Schools- institutions that prepare holistic and dignified local and global change agents to the glory of God. We are currently envisioning a Vocational Institution in Kilifi County, Coastal Kenya.
LEADERSHIP @ AMANI SCHOOL
The School is run by a Principal (Head Teacher), a deputy principal, a senior teacher, a team of teaching and non-teaching staff, and a student government council.
A Parents ' and Teachers’ Association (PTA) Committee steers stakeholder participation.
Amani Complex Kenya Board, which comprises the community members, the School Principal, and the founders, provides oversight.
The current staff comprises 10 teaching staff members and 4 support staff members.
Aman School Ongoing Phase 1 Renovation of the Newly Leased Campus with Six Classrooms and an Office.
ANTI- HUMAN TRAFFICKING ARTIVISM
The Amani school in Kenya champions children-based anti-child sex trafficking advocacy through creative arts (artivism). Children participate in creative arts, including music, dance, theatre, murals, and digital art, to voice injustices related to different forms of sex exploitation.
Amani Complex International co-founder, William Maweu, a PhD Candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary in California, USA, is currently working with the Amani organization to conduct PhD research in Coastal Kenya. The research is titled: Children’s Participation in Social Change: Investigating the Effects of Childist Prophetic Artivism Against Child Sex Trafficking in Coastal Kenya. To learn more about the research project, click here to see the field research budget here, and hereis the research approval license from the Government of Kenya.
Please click here to donate in support of this research project.
MENTAL HEALTH
Amani is committed to meeting the mental health needs of at-risk children and their families.
The Amani school in Kenya hosts a mental health program through peer counseling, guidance and counseling, intergenerational mentorship, and art-based therapy programs.
This is a developing program.
