KIMbia’s Charity Work

KIMbia is dedicated to using its position in the running world to improve the larger world. The KIMbia Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that funds education programs in Kenya. Take The Magic Step™ actively supports KIMbia’s charity work.

The main way the foundation helps is by raising money for secondary-school fees. Although primary education (the equivalent of grades 1-8 in the U.S.) is free in Kenya, students can continue their education only if they can afford the yearly fees for the four years of secondary school. A year’s fees total about U.S. $500, which is a lot in a country with a per capita income of about $1,000.

Through the funds it raises, the KIMbia Foundation pays the secondary-school fees of students who show both academic and athletic promise. The goal is to allow the students to develop enough to be able to earn university degrees overseas, and then return to Kenya to use their education to improve their country.

The foundation is also working to repair the track at Singore Girls Secondary School, in Iten, Kenya. This project entails installing a new drainage system for the track so that it remains useable during Iten’s two rainy seasons.

The KIMbia Foundation also raises money for an HIV/AIDS education program led by Brother Colm O’Connell, the legendary coach and educator based in Iten. Through instruction at Tambach Teacher’s College, Brother Colm educates Kenya’s future teachers on one of the worst health problems in Kenya, thereby giving them the knowledge and tools to teach Kenya’s youth about HIV/AIDS.

All donations to the KIMbia Foundation are tax-deductible. Thanks to the work of volunteers, 100 percent of contributions to the foundation go directly to funding education programs.

KIMbia’s athletes are also directly involved in charitable work. Paul Koech, for example, used money earned from his running to build and finance the Silgich Hill Academy, a primary school in Kipsomba, Kenya, 30 kilometers north of Eldoret. The school opened in 2004 and has a student body of 80.

To learn more or to donate, visit the KIMbia Foundation section of the ChasingKIMbia site.