ACI is one of the long-time benefactors of Eastlands College of Technology. Since 2005, ACI has provided grants of $157,550 in scholarships for students. For information on how to contribute to ACI’s Eastlands Project, please see the note at the end of this article.
When Joseph Adewa finished high school in Siaya County in Western Kenya, he felt completely lost. College was unaffordable for his family.
“I come from a really humble background, and my parents had no funds,” recalled Adewa.
Adewa ended up staying at home for four years after his high school graduation, doing some odd jobs – but nothing concrete. Adewa grew desperate.
“I remember one day going to a church to pray. A friend of mine saw me there and asked why I was praying,” he said.
It was this friend who directed Adewa to Strathmore University. The friend had heard that Strathmore could step in, if needed, and help students with their fees. It was after a little bit of research that Adewa learned about Eastlands College of Technology (ECT), which is a project of the Strathmore Educational Trust.
“When I remember this, I am so nostalgic,” said Adewa. “I had finally found a light to guide me.”
Today, Adewa is 25 years old and in his third year of studying information communication technology at Eastlands.
A Different Kind of Trade School
Eastlands College of Technology was founded in 2015. Its mission is to help young Kenyan boys get out of poverty. Since opening its doors, they have trained over 2500 students. They currently have 500 students at the school. The teacher to student ratio is 1 to 15. It is a 100% scholarship school.
“Our students cannot afford to pay fees. So, scholarships are a very important element to helping these boys,” said Andrew Olea, project manager of Eastlands.
The school offers degrees in several fields: automotive engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, information communication technology, building and construction technology, plumbing and pipe-fitting, instrumentation and control fitting, shielded metal arc welding, electronic mechanics, solar photo voltaic, solar water pumping and solar water heating.
Most of the degrees take 18 months to complete, though some more-in-depth degrees take 3 years to complete.
During the last decade, Eastlands has made a name for itself as a school that produces highly professional and ethical workers.
The Power of Mentoring
From the first moment that a student sets foot inside Eastlands, they get a mentor who will meet with them regularly throughout their entire time in the school. Though Eastlands is a school of Catholic-inspiration, boys from all faith backgrounds are welcome. Mentors help the boys with any issue that they need: be it academic or personal. If the student is a Catholic, the school also offers the boys spiritual accompaniment.
“Eastlands is so different from other institutions in this regard,” said Adewa. “It is so unique. I have had the same mentor for three years. The mentor stays with you until you graduate. They track your progress and help you move to the next level.”
All teachers are available to help students one-on-one after class with extra questions.
“Everyone is so friendly,” said Adewa. “When I joined Eastlands, I did not know anything about computers. I was really an amateur, but all the teachers really spend ample time with the students.”
The Dual Training Philosophy
One of the most powerful tools used by Eastlands College of Technology (ECT) is their Dual Training Program, inspired by the German System. Every student spends 50% of their time in class learning, and 50% of their time working at paid internships with reputable companies in Kenya.
“Most of the students are really poor, so it is very important that they are paid,” said Olea. “We tell the industry, that we aren’t just giving them a boy for three months, but an employee.”
Eastlands works with 150 companies that take their students for three-month internships at a time.
Auto Springs East Africa PLC, a manufacturer of auto-parts in Kenya, began a partnership with Eastlands in 2022 to take students for internships.
“Since we started, we have interacted with 89 students. Of these, we have hired 36,” said Fancy Cherono, human resources manager at Auto Springs East Africa.
Cherono says that her company noticed an immediate difference with Eastland boys. Though they have partnered with other similar institutions, their experience with Eastlands has been superior to other schools.
“Eastlands prepares their boys really well. Their boys are disciplined and professional. They have a strong work-ethic and they are willing to adapt to the industrial environment. It has been a very good partnership,” said Cherono.
Another thing that Cherono notices is how Eastlands tracks their students, even when they are doing their 3-month internships.
“Eastlands does follow-up with us. They ask us how the students are doing, and they ask the students how it is going. The boys are really well-behaved. We notice that even when they get hired, they have leadership skills and confidence in themselves. We really like them,” said Cherono.
Successful companies, such as Samsung Electronics, have set up laboratories within Eastlands to help the students learn about programming, coding and A.I.
“This is very important. It changes the outlook of the student,” said Olea.
The majority of Kenya’s economy is within the informal sector. In other words, about 85% of all employment in Kenya is with self-employed street vendors. Because of this, Eastlands makes sure that all students study entrepreneurship, so that graduates have the knowledge to start their own businesses: accounting, management, computing, and marketing.
After students graduate from ECT, they need to take national industrial exams in their specific fields in order to be certified in Kenya. The College prepares all of their students for these exams.
Teaching Ethics
Besides teaching the hard skills of each vocational field, Eastlands tries to teach what they call “soft skills”.
“This is a very important subject,” said Olea. “It is what makes the student able to get employment: good behavior, honesty, punctuality. It is what employers see. All of our students have classes on virtues and good manners.”
Expanding to Other Schools
Eastlands has been so successful at helping Kenyan young men get jobs or start their own companies, that other schools have reached out to them.
“We have 8 boys from Somalia who came here. They are looking to start a school like ECT in Somalia,” said Olea. “We also have a group from Ethiopia that wants to do the same thing. We have also received inquiries from Tanzania, South Sudan and Congo.”
Besides these requests, other schools from inside Kenya have reached out to Eastlands.
“We have ten schools in Kenya who have requested that we mentor them, to help them copy our model of schooling,” said Olea.
The students at Eastlands are grateful for the opportunity their school is giving them.
“I am studying auto-motive engineering,” said Brian Kavoi. “So we are learning about technology for vehicles. We are learning about 3D objects and how to apply them to vehicles. We don’t just study theory here. We go to the workshops, and then we work at companies.”
Clinton Kakai, a teacher at Eastlands for two years, feels great satisfaction from his job.
“I try to give the students confidence in themselves. I teach them in a holistic way – not just about automotive skills, but also about their attitudes, virtue and morality,” said Kakai.
The results of this method of teaching have had far-reaching consequences.
“I see that most of my students get jobs in the formal sector after they graduate,” said Kakai. “Most of the companies will hire our students after their last semester. And once our students start earning money, this transfers back into society. They support their families, and it is a wonderful thing.”
How to contribute:
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By Check payable to “ACI, Inc.”, memo: “SERT Scholarship Program (Eastlands)”, and mailed to:
Association for Cultural Interchange, Inc.
420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 300
New York, NY 10170
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Or Email us at [email protected] for instructions about sending a wire transfer or other forms of payment.