Pioneer Friends Harambee Schools in Western Kenya

Abstract

Friends African Mission (FAM) set forth an education department to train corps of African teachers- evangelists. The pioneer teacher-evangelists formed the basis of a new Luhyia elite that helped transform Luhyia society. And as education became more relevant in the emerging colonial structure, African Christians began to demand for more schools, learning in English and higher education, at a pace that neither the government nor the missionaries could match. Consequently, African Christians began thinking of establishing government and missionary supported independent schools. The case of the proposed Mbale School and the successive establishment of Chavakali day secondary school illustrate this point. The influence of the Chavakali experiment on secondary education in Kenya was deep and lasting, because it revealed what local self-help could achieve.