The Pata Kitabu Trust

What we want to achieve
Our aim is to change the attitude of children so that future generations see high moral conduct as the way to success.

What we have achieved so far
The Pata Kitabu project is currently involved with two schools in poor rural areas of The Rift Valley province. The response by children, teachers and parents has been positive. The children try hard to emulate those that have won prizes and achieve similar levels of behavior. Teachers are finding a determination to succeed which encourages them to apply themselves to better behavioral standards with the result they work harder. Parents become enthused and support the project as they see their children become winners.

List of donors, partners and pledges
Celtel Kenya Ltd
TACK International
East African Educational Publishers
Nu Metro Media Store
Savani's Book Centre
Text Book Centre
Self Help Development International
Kenya Youth Education & Community Development Programme

The Pata Kitabu ('Give-a-Book') project aims to provide books to deprived school children in rural Kenya and to use the gift to promote social and ethical values in an environment where behavioral role models are lacking. The objective is to change the mindset of a generation of young Kenyans so that high moral values are seen as a way to success in life. The project works by making books available to children in poor areas of the country, doing this through recognition, awards and prizes for specific behaviours.

The project derives from the recognition that many children in the rural and urban areas have restricted access to books. Hardly does one find a child that has a book to call its own. Apart from lacking books in general, they also lack books which help instil values important to their future as useful members of society. These children live in communities where good role models are few or non-existent. Regrettably, greed, dishonesty and selfishness are more often perceived as means of achievement!

An equally important component is to build the capacity of teachers in the targeted schools so that they are able to support young people with life skills that are necessary for their personal development. This involves the provision of training to the teachers themselves. Pata Kitabu is thus a multi-level project with multiple mutually beneficial outcomes. It is simple in concept and design and can piggy-back on existing youth programs with an existing infrastructure. To continue to grow, the project now requires the leverage and support of partners with compatible aims and social responsibility programmes.

The project sponsor is Nick Paterson, previously CEO of James Finlay Kenya Ltd., the Kenyan branch of the multinational tea and flower growing company. In Kenya employing some 19,000 people and supporting 12 primary and secondary schools on its land. Nick is retired but is a director of several agricultural companies and is on the board of a local school.