This is what Christoph Fischer, a former Nyendo employee, wrote about the months he spent with us in Kenya in 2015.
Christoph had a background as an art teacher at Waldorf schools. When he came to Africa in 2015, he worked in Nairobi – Kawangware/Kangemi Slum at the Love School Center, with Veronica Nduku. There, in addition to teaching, he also helped with manual work, in which he was very skilled.
Years later, the topic of his bachelor’s thesis was: “Struggle for education – Community schools in the slums of Nairobi – between poverty, marginalization and empowerment”.
It always gives us great pleasure when employees or visitors benefit from their stays and impressions in Africa. This is not uncommon, but in the case of Christoph Fischer, this impression left a particularly lasting impression.
And it was mutual. The principal, Veronica Nduko, was very enthusiastic about Christoph’s work and his personality. She wrote:
“We will miss him for his jokes, his personality, his responsible and helpful behavior. He will always be an enrichment for every school or social work.”
We don’t know whether he would have returned to Kenya at a later date. We don’t know because Christoph unfortunately left us very early, at the age of only 33.
Nevertheless, he had stipulated that his inheritance should be used for a very specific purpose. He bequeathed this sum to Veronica Nduku. She was to use it to realize a long-cherished plan that was very close to his heart. Veronica wanted to found a new school to enable even more children to receive an education. To do this, she needed money for a plot of land and, of course, the building costs.
The project would not have been realized without Christoph’s legacy. The school has now been in operation since 2020 and is home to 151 children. It is located just outside Nairobi in Masailand and is of course also open to Masai children.