KIPP Atlanta teachers give gift of reading to Kenyans

Finishing a long school year can be exhausting, but that didn’t stop educators from KIPP Atlanta Schools from traveling 7,900 miles to teach reading during their summer break.

KIPP reading coach Kristal Peterson said she relished the opportunity to be part of a mission trip to Nairobi, Kenya, to establish literacy clinics in the Kibera slums.

Through teacher training, clinics and ongoing partnerships, KIPP educators are helping their Kenyan colleagues give thousands of students the gift of reading.

“When you are presented the opportunity to do the work that you love in another country, with a phenomenal team, you take it,” said Peterson, an educator of 20-plus years, including 10 years as a classroom teacher.

KIPP Atlanta Schools is a network of 11 tuition-free, public charter schools and a partner school operating in Atlanta and East Point.

Kenyan teachers face the same challenge every teacher has, said Peterson, who is in her 13th year with KIPP Atlanta Schools and fourth as reading coach.

“They really want to have the answer to how we can teach every scholar to read. I wish we had the answer to that question,” she said.

The KIPP team left on June 2 with modest expectations of hosting a small networking session with 10 teachers.

But word spread quickly and more than 40 teachers arrived, many walking miles to attend, said Torrey Bates, KIPP Atlanta Schools managing director of advancement.

“They asked for learning, not networking, so we shifted to hands-on training teachers could use right away,” Bates said.

He said students showed the same hunger to learn. They were given books to take home, and the next morning, brought them back, eager to read and ready for more.

Kenyan students were eager to learn and use the letters and other literacy resources given by KIPP teachers. (Courtesy of KIPP Atlanta Schools)

The KIPP team brought additional materials and taught extended sessions to meet their enthusiasm.

Peterson said the faces of teachers lit up when they received reading aids like letter cards, foam dice with letters on them, picture cards and books for the classrooms.

During the trip, the KIPP team met with 65 teachers representing multiple schools in Kenya, including a large public school serving thousands of students, smaller schools and after-school programs that help students with homework.

Teaching conditions in Nairobi were challenging, with dimly lit classrooms, chalkboards and a few charts on the walls.

“It was humbling to see the teachers doing the work with such limited resources,” Peterson said. “It reminded me to be grateful for the things we have access to.”

KIPP Atlanta Schools’ first global literacy mission was years in the making, Bates said.

In 2017, KIPP partnered with Texas A&M University to build a Highway of Hope, a network of school-connected basketball courts in Nairobi that provided students with safe, mentored spaces after class.

“While the early focus was athletics, we saw an even greater need to add an academic bridge to that Highway of Hope,” Bates said.

“We realized a single court might reach about 100 students, but literacy clinics and teacher training can reach thousands at a time, including more than 6,000 in a single school, because educators take what they’ve learned back to every classroom.”

The literacy mission has continued into the school year.

KIPP teachers hosted a virtual literacy clinic in October with 50 Kenyan teachers representing 10 schools of grades K-2. Other virtual clinics are planned for February and April.

“The work of Kristal, Mia and our team on this mission trip captured the best of who we are at KIPP Atlanta Schools — educators who don’t just talk about impact but cross oceans to make it real,“ Bates said.

He said the goal is to make an annual trip to Nairobi so more teachers and scholars can benefit from the experience.