Partners in Mission
Our Lady of Grace School
Transformations
Beginnings
Our Lady of Grace School was founded in April 2008, serving the many needy youth from the Kisumu area of Kenya. This Dominican school is now home to both primary and secondary students who are orphans and those most marginalized by poverty in the Kisumu village area.
Although the site purchased for OLG in 2008 was not originally structured for a school setting, adaptations were quickly made to accommodate nearly 240 children. Make-shift classrooms were set up under trees. Students wore borrowed uniforms, shared limited text books and writing materials. In 2010 high school classrooms were renovated and a temporary primary school was built, that is still being used today.
Our Lady of Grace has been blessed by the generosity of sponsors and donors since its beginnings. St. Agnes Academy (Houston, Texas) in collaboration with St. Pius X High School (Houston, Texas), Mt. St. Dominic High School (Chicago Heights, Illinois), Immaculate Conception Academy (San Francisco, California), and the Robert and Emily Clay Family (Houston, Texas). Funds were raised to drill two water boreholes bringing fresh water to the school for the first time. In 2013, St. Agnes Academy made its first student mission trip to Our Lady of Grace and celebrated the blessing of the boreholes.
In 2012, St. Agnes Academy, Houston, Texas took an active role supporting the School. United by a common Dominican spirit, a dozen students from St. Agnes Academy (Houston, Texas) each year make the long journey to Kisumu, Kenya to live and work with the students and faculty at OLG. Armed with gifts of computers, calculators, and books the girls arrive bringing an energetic sense of compassion and hard work to provide a better community.