History Of The Trust
The Saramek Trust was set up in 2006 with the aim of sponsoring children through secondary school in Kenya.
In January 2005 Will Tudor-Evans and Ollie Webb spent three months teaching in a primary school in Kenya made possible by Africa and Asia Venture (AV). Saramek Primary School is on a tea estate near Kericho in the south west part of Kenya. Whilst there, the boys took classes of up to 80 children teaching a wide range of subjects. They soon realised that the next step for many of the children would be, at best, picking tea, as many of the parents were unable to afford to pay for their children’s further education.
On arrival back home Will and Ollie began raising funds to sponsor a Kenyan child through secondary school. Through Nigel Warren, the Kenyan Director of AV, they were lucky enough to be put in touch with Roger Hollingworth, a ‘retired’ Physics teacher from the UK who had gone out to do a two year voluntary teaching placement at nearby Marinyn Secondary School. Roger was already sponsoring a child himself and agreed to help Will and Ollie find a suitable candidate, monitor their progress and arrange the payment of school fees. The Saramek Trust was then born and in January 2007 they started sponsoring their first student.
As of December 2024 there have been 27 students sponsored, 11 of whom are still in the system and who we shall continue to sponsor until they have completed their studies at university/college. However we decided not to take any more after the end of 2022 – for various reasons and mostly age related! You will see that they aren’t all success stories but hopefully we have given them an opportunity they might not otherwise have had. Needless to say we are still in need of funds so we can help our students finish their education.Any contribution would be much appreciated.