Our Community

Our school is located in Nyamboyo Village, eight hours from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.

 

A Snapshot

Nyamboyo Village is a community of 58,000 people located in southwest Kenya.  We are part of Kisii County, one of the 46 counties in the Republic of Kenya and 125 kilometers from Kisumu, a port city on Lake Victoria with a population of 260,000.

 

 

A map of Kenya showing the location of our school.

Nyamboyo Technical School (NTS) is located in Nyamboyo Village, a community of 58,000 people in southwest Kenya, nearly 400 kilometers (or eight hours drive) from the capital city of Nairobi and 30 kilometers (1 hour drive) from Lake Victoria, the largest body of water in Africa.

The region is safe with virtually no crime. People leave their homes unlocked with a feeling of safety. We are a real community — neighbors truly respect and care about each other, as if all are family members.

In Nyamboyo Village, natural resources are abundant while access to modern necessities is limited. Clean drinking water is plentiful from fresh springs found throughout the community, but most homes do not have indoor plumbing or running water. Most village residents use community toilets and bathing facilities. 

Housing is also plentiful, although homes are modest and often crowded with several generations of families in two to three rooms. This has created a health challenge during times of communicable disease, most notably COVID-19.

Electricity arrived in Nyamboyo in 2005 but most homes are still not wired.  Most families (over 80%) use kerosene for lighting and cooking because they cannot afford electricity

COVID also revealed another limited resource – access to information.  Without electricity, few families own televisions, one phone is generally shared by an entire extended family (sometimes upwards of 15 people), and newspapers are not widely available.  Cellular data is expensive and purchased in small amounts, as needed.  As a result, students and their families often rely on untrustworthy news sources and rumors. Many students held inaccurate beliefs about COVID, vaccines and virus spread.

Our local government is democratic and led by a community elder (local representative).  The village holds regular community meetings to address local issues and concerns. We also proudly enjoy freedom of worship and protection of our differing beliefs.  Nyamboyo’s major religions are Christianity (90%), Engoro, the local traditional religion (7%), and Islam (3%).

Upper view of part of village
Upper view of village