Hello, my name is Jenny, and I’m fundraising for African refugee teens living in Cairo, Egypt. The goal is to increase their access to academic and sports opportunities.

In particular, I’m looking for funding for the buses that can bring students from African Hope Learning Centre (a charity school set up to assist refugees from numerous African countries) to Cairo American College (CAC, a private international school with excellent facilities where I currently teach) so that they can partake in a variety of STEAM-oriented academic activities and sports trainings. This community service after-school activity is called 'Global Citizenship with African Hope'. Please click here to view a video of last school year's activity.

Context of the refugee students

The facilities of African Hope Learning Centre do not include any extracurricular options or sports as the building and lot are extremely overcrowded. To give a sense for how much they are squeezed for space, the school building was originally a single-family home and now has more than 450 students attending it. There are no facilities or equipment for science or technology lessons, nor do they have the funding for arts. There are no courts or fields for playing, and the jam-packed classrooms have bare walls. While the students are grateful to be attending school in Cairo, and are all fluent English speakers as a result of their teachers' excellent efforts, it can be easily understood that the opportunity to experience the technology, science, arts, and sports opportunities at CAC is of enormous significance to them.

Egypt is home to many refugees and they are not always treated well. Racist and unfair behaviors are rampant, and these teenagers must stoically bear the brunt of being scapegoats as refugees are often stereotyped as being thieves or taking jobs. As well, refugee children are not welcomed into Egyptian public schools, and instead, charities like African Hope offer schooling for refugees.

All of these students' families have fled their homes due to war or political persecution and are not able to return. Many have lost family members and friends to war or have experienced terrifying violence and persecution in their countries of origin. Some of these students will end up being sent to third countries as a part of UNHCR's (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) efforts to provide asylum to refugees. But many of them will languish in this process for years and Cairo will be their temporary home for the foreseeable future. To be a teenager is difficult enough, but to be one without an option to go home or even to feel at home due to discrimination is even more brutal.

That is why enabling them to experience the creative, physical, and interactive parts of schooling in a wonderful and safe space like CAC has so much meaning. It provides a secure, consistent, caring community for them to enjoy the freedoms that being within the CAC campus entails.

After-school activity focus

This activity is co-planned with teachers from African Hope where they have indicated which students will join the activity (they have selected the entire 8th grade, the oldest students, to participate in 2024) and have helped plan the kinds of activities and opportunities they feel would benefit their students most. The teachers have specified science, arts, sports, and technology as being the areas of greatest need. African Hope students have also had a say and for them it is the opportunity to learn more about the arts and to play sports that hold the most interest. CAC students also partake in this activity and look for ways to be global citizens by sharing their school with the wider Cairo community and participating in coaching.

Hosting them at CAC once a week for exposure to classes like robotics, science, art, and drama as well as training in basketball and soccer is a distinct bright spot in an otherwise uncertain existence. The students who participated in 2023 were extremely grateful to experience and play on the green grass of CAC (for some it was the first time in their lives), create art to take home, laugh and play sports with CAC students, perform on the stage in the theater, check out recent manga books from the library, and appreciate the facilities, technology, open space, and welcoming community that CAC provides.

How the money will be spent

This after-school activity happens once per week, and the money raised through Gofundme will be spent on renting buses to bring them to CAC. The cost of the bus rental is $50 and seats 12. The plan is to host 22 students (the entire 8th grade) and 2 teachers each week for a total of 10 visits over the March - June 2024 timeframe. This is the second year for this activity, and the hope is that each year we can add more students. The goal for this year is to double the number of students from 11 to 22 who come each week.

Your donation makes it so that these students, who have already had disruptions to their learning and difficult circumstances to overcome, have an opportunity to learn, play, create, socialize, and otherwise have opportunities to access facilities, technologies, and coaching that their school does not currently offer. They are not only inspired and enriched by the experience, but they also have a lot of fun. Offering a weekly opportunity to learn and play at CAC puts a smile on the faces of kids who have endured enormous hardship and uncertainty.

Volunteer history of Jenny Kremer

Aside from teaching internationally, my background in volunteer work in Africa goes back more than 20 years. After teaching in a Kenyan village school and volunteering in the Peace Corps in Guinea as an education volunteer, I managed a sports and education NGO called Ball For All from 2003-2008. This NGO focused on creating partnerships with the Ministries of Sports in Congo and Senegal as well as working with organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Federation of Football (FIFA). Together, we transported sports equipment and uniforms to village schools, and arranged the logistics to enable more than 4,000 boys and girls in underprivileged rural areas to access sports trainings and participate in tournaments.

Additionally, from 2014-2016, I worked with Selous Safari Company in Tanzania to provide support to rural schools by adding to their libraries. Through fundraising in the company's hotels, I helped coordinate the purchase and delivery of several thousand books. While working in Tanzania, I also volunteered and helped fund the NGO, Pamoja Sports, from 2015-2018, which provided coaching, refereeing, and tournament logistical support to the Tanzanian Football, Volleyball, and Handball federations.

Over the years, I have found that providing the underlying support to enable access to sports and other educational opportunities means that people who might not otherwise be able to afford something as small as the cost of a bus ride or access to learning materials have an experience that can last a lifetime. I hope you will consider making a donation and supporting the chance to share some of what many of us took for granted as a part of our schooling experience. Consider the impact that after school activities -- sports, drama, arts, etc., have in people's lives. They give lifelong leadership skills, confidence, and the opportunity to be creative and set one's spirit free. No donation is too small and the potential for impact is unlimited.

Click the link below for a video of our past year’s after-school activity which we call 'Global Citizenship with African Hope'.

Global Citizenship with African Hope 2023

Thank you for supporting this community initiative.