2700 N. Military Trail, Suite 240
PO Box 273908
Boca Raton, Florida 33427-3908
1-800-914-2420
PROJECT 0122
Brother Beausang
Catholic School
Education for poor children
— Embul-bul, Kenya —
Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
Psalm 86:11
WWW.CROSSCATHOLIC.ORG
BROTHER BEAUSANG CATHOLIC SCHOOL
PROJECT 0122
Project Synopsis
Description
Provide vital operational support for Brother Beausang Catholic School so that its 760 students
can continue to receive excellent education, nutritious food and spiritual formation.
Goals
By providing funding for things like teacher salaries, food,
classroom materials, computers, administrative costs and
building maintenance, Cross Catholic Outreach helps this
school continue to offer low-cost but high-quality education
for its students — virtually all of whom come from very poor
families and likely wouldn’t receive an education otherwise —
and free schooling for children whose parents absolutely can’t
afford to pay the small fee.
Location
Embul-bul in Kenya, bordering Nairobi, in the Diocese of
Ngong of the Mary Mother of God Parish.
Cost
59,400 annually, or just $78.15 per student for a year of school.
Summary
• Brother Beausang Catholic School was started in a small one-room shelter to reach out to
desperately poor children who could not attend school elsewhere. Many of these were AIDS
orphans living in the streets or children from desperately poor families.
• Though Kenya offers free public education, in reality too few public schools exist — most are
full and turn children away. They also turn away children who are academically behind for the
ironic reason that they were previously unable to attend school.
• Even if they were admitted, most parents of these children cannot afford the required books,
uniforms or shoes. Many children aren’t even allowed to go to school because they must work in
the streets to earn money to help support their family.
• Poor children have flocked to Brother Beausang Catholic School, which serves 760 primary,
middle and secondary students. There is also a center for children with special needs.
• The school serves a daily meal — for many students it’s the only meal they eat that day — and
charges a very small fee to attend. For children from extremely poor families, the fee is waived.
• Catholic values are an integral part of the school’s philosophy, and it works to impart those
values to students to help them become faithful, moral individuals.
• By specifically serving poor children, Brother Beausang Catholic School is giving them access to
the skills they’ll need as adults to secure jobs and in turn lift themselves out of poverty. Without
school, poor children become equally poor adults who face extreme difficulty finding
employment and overcoming poverty.
• Cross Catholic is committed to providing essential operational support so that the school’s 760
students can continue going to school, eating nutritious lunches and learning Catholic teachings.
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BROTHER BEAUSANG CATHOLIC SCHOOL
PROJECT 0122
Kenyan children
often languish in
the streets, unable
to go to school.
The Need
Study after study has shown that education
and poverty are linked; without an education,
Kenya’s Poverty
children are trapped in a life of poverty and
• Kenya’s unemployment rate is 40%
suffering. Therefore, one of the best ways to
• Half of the population lives below the
fight poverty is by educating poor children.
Unfortunately, in poor countries like Kenya
poverty line
education is often only accessible to a privileged
• Life expectancy is just 63 years
few, instead of a right enjoyed by everyone.
• 1.5 million Kenyans suffer from HIV/AIDS
Though free public education is offered, far too
• Kenya’s infant mortality rate is 43 deaths
few public schools actually exist. As a result, they
for every 1,000 births, compared to the
are overcrowded, under-resourced and forced to
U.S. rate of about 6 deaths for every
turn away many would-be students. Public schools
1,000 births
also turn away children who are academically
behind; yet they’re only lagging because they were
too poor to attend private school. Even if they are admitted, children from poor families often can’t
attend because their parents can’t afford the required shoes, books and school uniforms.
Other children, sometimes as young as age 5, are compelled to work or beg in the streets to help
support their families instead of going to school. Children orphaned by HIV/AIDS rarely attend
school either — the oldest child is typically left to support younger siblings, and there’s often barely
enough money to eat, let alone pay for school.
But the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.
Psalm 9:19
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BROTHER BEAUSANG CATHOLIC SCHOOL
PROJECT 0122
Project Description
Vital operational support: what does that mean? In short, it
means that poor children can go to Brother Beausang Catholic
School for free or at a very low cost because, thanks to funding
from Cross Catholic and its benefactors, the school doesn’t
have to depend on student fees to pay for its services.
Cross Catholic funds teacher salaries, food costs, building
maintenance, classroom materials and furnishings, computers,
administrative costs and whatever else the school needs to
keep its doors open. That means the dollars needed to feed a
daily meal, hire excellent teachers, provide services for children
with special needs and subsidize poor students who can’t
afford the tuition don’t come from student fees, which generate
very little money — they come from generous American
Catholics instead.
Brother Beausang Catholic School’s strategy — quality
education combined with nutrition and Catholic spiritual
formation — is working. The school has a retention rate of 90
percent, is running at maximum capacity, and has a long waiting list for all grade levels. A majority
of its students go on to high school after finishing secondary school, and many later achieve scores
worthy of admittance to public and private universities.
The school staff realizes their mission wouldn’t be complete without meeting the children’s
spiritual needs as well. Daily prayer, student retreats and youth groups are an integral part of the
school and work to teach children the moral values that will help them become faithful adults.
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BROTHER BEAUSANG CATHOLIC SCHOOL
PROJECT 0122
The “Academy of Love”
When the Mary Mother of God Parish was established in Embul-bul more than a decade ago, the
only solid building in town was the Muslim mosque. The priests quickly built a small wooden structure
where they could hold Mass. Soon the one-room shelter was doubling as a schoolhouse for the children
they saw running the streets who were going uneducated because their parents couldn’t afford to send
them to school. Gradually it became a structured school for Embul-bul’s primary-age children, and
within a few years the school had hundreds of students crammed into two other small buildings.
When free public primary
education was introduced to
Kenya in 2003, the priests
expected empty classrooms
as a result. But on the first
day of school, hundreds of
excited students clamored
through the doors. When the
principal asked, “Wouldn’t
you rather go to the public
school?” the children replied,
“No! This is the Academy
of Love!”
Brother Beausang Catholic
School was established
specifically to serve the poor,
the children who were
desperate to learn but lacked
the required uniforms,
books, and fees. The school
even provides daily meals —
the only meal of the day for
most students, who no longer
need to forage garbage to stave
off starvation. The children
and community adopted a
school motto, the Latin phrase
“Carpe Diem.” Though literally
translated as “Seize the Day,”
its meaning is best translated
in this case as “Seize the
Opportunity.” At Brother
Beausang Catholic School,
students seize the opportunity
At Brother Beausang Catholic School, children know they’ll receive a hearty meal,
a solid education and the saving message of Christ — now that’s seizing the opportunity!
for a brighter future.
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BROTHER BEAUSANG CATHOLIC SCHOOL
PROJECT 0122
The new block of 12 classrooms allowed the school to offer education to more students.
Expanding and Growing
When the school was founded, the idea was for students to continue their secondary education elsewhere.
However, it became apparent to the priests that a secondary school was necessary. Their graduating primary
students could not afford the uniforms, books and bus fare to the nearest overcrowded public secondary
school. As a result, the Brother Beausang secondary school was established.
Brother Beausang Catholic
School is part of the larger
Brother Beausang Catholic
Education Center, which
includes a library and science
laboratories built with help
from Cross Catholic several
years ago. Cross Catholic also
helped the center build a block
of 12 classrooms so the school
could offer even more students
the opportunity to attend
school — 760 in all today.
In addition to education, the
parish also runs a counseling
center, dispensary and
evangelism outreach program.
Secondary students engaging in conversation with their teacher during math class.
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.
He will not rebuke you for asking.
James 1:5
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BROTHER BEAUSANG CATHOLIC SCHOOL
PROJECT 0122
Help Now!
Poverty in Kenya will only continue if poor children are left uneducated. Without basic skills
like reading, writing and arithmetic, they won’t have what it takes to secure a job or start their own
business as adults. Education opens the door to what life is like beyond poverty, beyond just scraping
by with no visible way out. And if children never see the opportunities available to them through
education, it’s unlikely they’ll ever find the path out of poverty.
Brother Beausang Catholic School in Embul-bul works to guide children to a road leading out of
poverty, but they can’t accomplish this mission on their own. The school needs the loving support of
generous Catholics like you to continue offering quality, affordable education, nutritious meals and
loving Catholic guidance to 760 poor boys and girls. Cross Catholic is committed to helping Brother
Beausang Catholic School provide these valuable services. Won’t you join us in our efforts? A gift
from you is more than just classroom materials, food or teacher salaries — it’s way to show children
through education and love how much God has planned for them beyond the prison of poverty.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
Our Promise to You!
100 percent of the proceeds of this appeal will be used for this project. In the event that we receive more than
needed to fund this project, additional gifts will be used for other urgent needs in the ministry.
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[Ucm1301]
2700 N. Military Trail, Suite 240 • PO Box 273908 • Boca Raton, Florida 33427-3908 • 1-800-914-2420
© 2013 Cross Catholic Outreach. Cost effectively written, designed and printed in-house.