Developing Friends schools in Kenya

Roger Sturge and John Welton describe a recent educational visit to Quaker schools in Kenya

by Roger Sturge and John Welton 2nd September 2011

‘American Quakers brought the Bible and British Quakers brought education’. This recent statement by a Kenyan teacher still partially reflects the contrast between American and British Quakers in our relationship with Yearly Meetings in Africa.

The first Quaker mission in Kenya was established by mid-Western American Quakers in 1902 and the Friends Church became one of the leading protestant denominations in western Kenya. Now there are sixteen Yearly Meetings with more than half the worldwide membership of the Society.