The start of the first school and a twenty year friendship.
Our Story
Build African Schools was not founded in a boardroom nor was it the product of a strategic plan of any kind. It started with one man, one village, and something he could not walk away from. In 2005, Patrick O'Sullivan retired after a 35 year career in high-tech. He had plans, to write a book but first decided to mark the occasion with a long held wish to visit Africa. He went on vacation to go on a safari in Kenya.
While on safari, his guide was Dickson Mutaiti, a gregarious, knowledgeable, individual who deeply connected to the communities he moved through every day. While on tour in a Maasai village one day, they visited a school where he observed a rudimentary construction project which was underway. It was an effort to add some classrooms to an existing school building. When Patrick in asked Dickson about the project, he was told that the community would take whatever tourism money came in and put it toward the construction project, but it was a slow process.
Following further inquiries, Patrick offered to fund the completion of the additional classrooms. Dickson offered to assist and manage the project.
Village leaders and local civil servants were engaged and planning for the completion of the Ololaimutia Primary School got under way
An additional three classrooms were completed three months later. Patrick also funded the installation of solar power which would allow the classrooms to be used after dark.
What the Model Became
Build African Schools was formally established and registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2005. The model was simple by design: raise the funds, hire local labor, build to national standards, hand it over, move on to the next one. No permanent infrastructure in Kenya beyond the schools themselves. No layers of management or organization, just an effort to see that virtually every dollar donated goes to the construction of schools.
What began as a single act of practical generosity in a Maasai village has become an organization that under Dickson’s hands-on supervision, has built 17 permanent schools across Kenya, educated thousands of children, and produced alumni now working as professionals in accounting, business, and the public service in Kenya.
Help us continue what Patrick and Dickson started.