You travel on one of the bumpiest roads in Kenya for seemingly an eternity and then you make the turn and see the gates of Rongai Agricultural and Technical School before you. “Welcome! You give us your boys–we will give you men.”
Going through the the gates you enter upon a 9 acre campus that is home to close to 400 boys. This educational community, under the principalship of Brother James Thiongo, is a thriving, lively, self-sustained community that offers the students in attendance an excellent education in areas both innovative and practical.
The young men, who live together in dormitories, are responsible for practically all of the chores to keep their home running well. The chores are divided according to the year of study of the student. For example, Form One students take care of the animals (pigs, chickens, cows, goats, and sheep). Form 2 takes care of the crops (corn, kale, beans, and tomatoes). Form Three are the managers. These students are the overseers of Form 1 and Form 2 since they have accomplished those tasks already. Form 4 sweeps the classrooms and chops the firewood, in addition to preparing for the National Exams.
The students are very serious about their studies and the school as a whole does very well on the National Exams. The teachers are accomplished in their subjects and take great care to guide the studies of the students. In conversation with a student, we were told “our teachers are always ready to help. If we have a question, they are right there to assist us. We are very fortunate!” Indeed these students are fortunate to have such dedicated teachers, who live on the educational compound as well.
You can easily tell as the students speak of their school with such pride that the Lasallian educational mission is alive and well in Rongai, Kenya!
To their “twin schools” in RELAN, the entire Rongai Educational Community thanks you for your prayers and support through the twinning program.