The nyendo retreat is an important event for everyone during the year. At the end of January, 31 pupils from Rosenheim and Prien and their coaches met on the Fraueninsel in Lake Chiemsee. On the first day, they had company: pupils from five of our partner schools in the unofficial settlements of Nairobi joined them via online connection. They were accompanied by their principals and nyendo employees on site.

The many thousands of kilometers of distance between the groups completely disappeared. Only the online connection, which was sometimes shaky, was a reminder of this.

The 31 pupils from Rosenheim and Prien put their heart and soul into their projects throughout the year. The effort paid off: in 2023, they generated around €12,000 with their student companies, enough to fund various projects in the local schools.

What exactly happened to the money?

The answer was presented today by young people in Kenya. “Seeing what has been achieved so far”. This was the main motivation for one of the pupils from Prien to take part in the retreat. He was not disappointed.

The young people in Germany are delighted with what they have achieved. And the pupils in the Kenyan schools are just as proud of the results.

Brenda and Maggie gave an impressive presentation on the latest successes: we can welcome five new schools in Nairobi, whose principals were also attending. In addition, many improvements were made to the school buildings (especially the sanitary facilities) and the furnishings.

Of course, both the Kenyan and German pupils had the opportunity to ask the others questions. All of them centered around everyday life in a foreign country.

With music it’s even better

Dancing together is a tradition at the joint retreats. Pupils in Germany and those in Kenya each rehearse a group dance. The groups teach each other the steps during the meeting. In Prien and Rosenheim, “Macarena” was rehearsed, in Nairobi it was a popular dance there. No matter what happened in the short time available – it was great fun for the dance-loving children and young people.

By the time they were dancing, the 6,000 kilometers (as the crow flies!) between Chiemsee and Nairobi were finally forgotten.

Dancing for our Kenyan friends

African rhythms respond

Get to work for even greater success in the new year

Work was on the agenda for the second day on Fraueninsel. The students eagerly threw themselves into optimizing their student companies. A business canvas helped them visualize and structure their business models. Each of the student companies was analyzed economically. This revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the model. Based on the results, the young business people made plans for the coming year and further developed existing product ideas.

Leonard from Prien was satisfied: “The retreat was very successful for me. We heard a lot of news from Kenya and were also able to work on our planned projects.”

Elias and his colleagues also went home with a good feeling. They even wrote a short report on the event from their point of view – with a focus on the cooperation between the student companies. Many thanks to the team!