PATHWAYS Leadership for Progress

Levis is the second PATHWAYS scholar selected in 2005. While his family is economically disadvantaged, he is an exceptional student, earning an A- on the national school leaving exam. Levis began his studies at the University of Nairobi in October 2005. His project is to start a Hands On Kenya (www.handsonnetwork.org) with the purpose of organizing Kenyans to give their time and effort to serve their community. “It would be of great satisfaction seeing my humble society move to strength.”

2007 Update

Levis has had a very exciting year. His PATHWAYS project “Hands on Kenya” has really taken off among the university students and has even reached beyond the University of Nairobi to other Kenyan universities: Egerton University (10), Kenya Methodist University (12), Moi University (1) and Maseno University (16). It progressed from an initial 12 volunteers to over 100 volunteers within its first six months of establishment.

Hands on Kenya is a non-profit volunteer organization, affiliated with Hands on Network which seeks to enhance volunteerism by engaging Kenyans in flexibly-scheduled, hands-on projects to meet the critical human, educational and environmental needs of its citizens. In its first year, Hands on Kenya sponsored a high impact cleanup at the Kenyatta National Hospital on July 5, 2006. This was attended by 60 people offering over 180 hours of meaningful volunteer work cleaning over 30 wards. In its second year, Hands on Kenya sponsored another high impact project at the SOS Children’s Village in Nairobi on the 12th of December 2006. Fifty student volunteers participated in slashing 250sq meters of grass, planting 40 trees and flowers and giving gifts to 45 children. It was a huge success. Levis applied for PATHWAYS project funds and received the maximum of $500 in 2006 to support his volunteer organization and their projects.

Levis says “We are also glad that over 150 University students volunteer with us. This is such a positive response and a sign of a future volunteer Nation. We are looking forward for a day when citizens of developing countries will look beyond their loins and give back to the society the great potential they possess. We believe that lack of generational thinking is the cause of the major problems that Africa as a continent is facing. This, we also believe, can be solved by enhancing volunteerism right from the early stages of growth of our children, that they will grow in an environment that values giving more than receiving.”

Importantly, Hands on Network was impressed with Levis’ progress with the Hands on Kenya organization and brought him to Atlanta Georgia in May 2007 for an affiliate training. Levis learned much about organization, management and fund raising to take back to help Hands on Kenya grow into a productive and recognized volunteer organization.

2008 Update

Levis and his Hands on Kenya volunteers will be working on addressing the educational needs of disadvantaged vulnerable youth who live in a rehabilitation center, Lower Kabete Children’s Rehabilitation Center to provide tutorial services in reading, writing and arithmetic skills.

The school’s main problem is understaffing. They have only two teachers – a head teacher and his deputy. Most of the youth are aged between 12 and 18 years and are all cases of juvenile delinquency having committed crimes such as truancy, theft, and drug abuse. For one of the students, Antony, Mathematics and English are very crucial. He states, “I want you to teach me Mathematics and English. After my education I would like to be the president of this country, just like Obama wants to be in America. I can then bring about change, promote businesses and deliver our nation from this state of peverty.” Levis says, “Hands On Kenya volunteers hope to mentor these children as we teach them on the examinable subjects.”

2009 Update

Levis and his Hands on Kenya volunteers continued to provide teaching support to the headteacher of the Lower Kabete Rehabilitation School. As a result of the volunteer teaching efforts, scores on the standardized tests have improved. In addition to teaching on all subjects, some volunteers also provide bakery training so the boys can acquire a marketable skill. The boys have very much appreciated having the college students around in that they offer a source of inspiration and encouragement. [Picured is Levis speaking to the boys at a recent gathering, one of the students gifted in architecture, and the headteacher]

Levis will graduate from the U of Nairobi in December, 2009. Having finished his coursework, startng in September, 2009 he will begin serving a one year graduate apprenticeship with iServe Africa (www.iserveafrica.org) to serve the community. In addition, he will work as a sales associate for Peak Performance, a corporate and personal development training firm that coaches, trains and develops leaders through culture transformation.

2010 Update

Levis graduated in December 2009. He is currently working for iServe Africa.

2011 Update
Levis was awarded a full scholarship to pursue a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) majoring in Marketing. He began his classes in January 2011.