|
When I
stumbled upon the domain business 22 years ago, as I
writer, I loved finding an industry where powerful
words are the primary product. That would have
been enough for me, but an even more pleasant surprise
came as I got to know other people who had entered the
business. Since it was an enterprise based on the
still nascent Internet, I assumed it would attract,
for the most part, nerdy people with a single minded
focus on cutting edge technology. Instead I found it
populated with extraordinarily creative people
who cared about and paid close attention
to everything happening in the world around them. In hindsight,
that is what made many of them so successful -
the more you know about a wide variety of things, the
easier it is to recognize valuable words in multiple
fields.
It has also
been uplifting to see so many people in this business
devote much of their time and money to helping
others. The need is great so they tend to
ignore the odds and aim high. That makes it
especially gratifying to see one of their own dreams
being realized. At the beginning of this year, that
happened for industry veteran Shaun
Wilkinson, whose vision of opening a sorely
needed high school for children in Mombasa, Kenya
became a reality.
Shaun
recently began his second tour of duty with Sedo,
the company where he first entered the domain industry
in 2007. He started as a domain transfer specialist
and returned last month as Partner Success Manager. In
between he spent six years at Nidoma.com as the
Director of English Speaking Markets, then COO. Stints
as the Premium Domains Manager for .CLOUD and
Business Development Manager for Bodis.com
followed before he returned to his original home at
Sedo.
Shaun's
mission to expand educational opportunities for poor
children in Kenya began at the Hope
Children's Centre that was founded in Mombasa
in 2010. After hearing about it, Shaun volunteered to
go there and help in any way he could.
|
Shaun
Wilkinson
Founder, Hope High School
Mombasa, Kenya
Hope
High School
opened in Kenya in January 2024.
|
Shaun
Wilkinson with eager to learn students in Mombasa, Kenya.
|
Emily
Oroni
Founder, Hope Children's Centre |
Shaun
recalled the start on his journey, noting, "The
Hope Children's Centre was founded by Emily Oroni
who, in 2010, had recently qualified to be a teacher.
She lived (and still lives) in a part of Mombasa that
is very poor, and there were many kids who were not
going to school at all. Primary education in Kenya
is “free” in the sense that there are no school
fees for State schools, but the families are
responsible for buying school materials, uniform etc. and
many of the families in Likoni, where the
school is located, cannot afford that so
don’t send their kids to school. Emily wanted to
found a school specifically for those kids who were
getting no education due to their families’
situation."
"A
couple of months after Emily rented a small building
and started the school, I went to Kenya as a
volunteer. I organized the trip via an agency
that, in return for a fee, finds you a home stay and a
place to work. A lady at the agency knew Emily
personally and knew she had just started the school,
so described the project to me and asked if I wanted
to go and volunteer there. Thankfully I said yes, as
it was exactly the kind of project I was looking
for," Shaun said. |
"As much as I
loved my experience as a volunteer, the facilities at the time
were non-existent. It was just literally a two-room
shack with no tables, chairs, chalkboards or anything. If we
wanted to make the school a long-term, sustainable project, we
needed to build a new school building with proper
facilities and more space so that we could take in a lot more
kids. When the school started, it was an unofficial project,
unrecognized by the Kenyan State, so we needed to get our
facilities up to scratch to make the school official. I
bought some land over there and construction began on the new
school building. I took on the fundraising but Emily was
responsible for overseeing the whole thing, especially with
regard to finding and choosing construction companies etc. to
carry out the work. That the building was finished in 2011 and
gave the school official recognition from the
government."
Kids
at the Hope Children's Centre were given a new path to escape
poverty.
While that was a
major achievement - Shaun knew more needed to be done.
After finishing primary school, the kids needed access to the
next level of education, a secondary school (equivalent
to high school in the U.S.) they could afford to
attend. After several years of planning that project finally
got underway thanks to a boost from the domain industry.
"Construction of the high school started in 2018, shortly
after we raised some money at Domaining
Europe 2018 in Valencia, Spain," Shaun
said, "That school took a lot longer to build and open,
due to Covid, financial constraints (especially around
raising enough money to hire and pay teachers). Still, we
never gave up, because we saw what a difference to the
community the Primary School made, so we were determined that
those same kids (and others too hopefully) could also get
Secondary Education and qualifications, so that they can
find better jobs and escape the cycle of poverty.
That perseverance
finally paid off in January of this year when the new
Secondary School opened. In March, Shaun returned to Kenya for
the first time in five years to see the finished project.
"It was amazing to be back there and I am really
happy with the progress that has been made under
incredibly difficult circumstances!," Shaun said,
grateful for those who stayed the course with him.
Shaun
Wilkinson with staff members at at the newly opened Hope High
School
The
impact this will have on the community cannot be overstated.
"Unlike primary education, secondary education in Kenya
is not free (aside from a small percentage of students
who perform exceptionally well and receive scholarships). If
our kids are from families too poor to afford Primary School,
they have no chance of paying for Secondary School,' Shaun
noted. "Secondary education is not compulsory in Kenya,
but if you want to have any prospect of a decent career, you
have to have attended and completed it. Therefore, a cycle
of poverty exists whereby if your family can’t afford to
send you to Secondary School, you can’t get a good job,
which keeps you in that same situation, and the cycle repeats
itself. If the Kenyan State will not assist the poorest in
society by making Secondary Education free for them, then the
only other option is for schools like ours to open that
cater to those less fortunate."
The
new Hope High School building opened in January 2024.
"We
are able to give them all of Kenya's official curriculum
with core subjects such as Maths, English, Swahili, Science
etc. In addition, students receive a certain amount of time
reserved for both physical education and creative subjects
such as art. At the moment we cannot offer subjects beyond
what is mandatory as we do not have the funds to hire the
additional staff that would need," Shaun said.
|
Shaun also emphasized
that getting the school built could not have happened
without help from friends in the domain business who
supported the effort. "Over the years, many
people have made donations small and large, without
which the Secondary School would never have been
completed (or at least not yet). I would like to
mention two people in particular – firstly, the late
Dietmar Stefitz, whom I met in 2016 at Domaining
Europe in The Hague, and who immediately
took a personal interest in the project and
allowed me to fundraise at more than one of his
brilliant Domaining Europe events, including for
example a live domain auction in Valencia in 2018,
where Domainers donated the domains to be auctioned,
and all proceeds from the auction went to the school.
I will never forget Dietmar’s help." |
Dietmar
Stefitz |
|
"The other person I
would like to mention is NamesCon
Advisory Board Chairman Soeren Von Varchmin,
who is also on the Advisory Board of Groundbreaker,
an organization based in Cologne that does
fantastic work around the World promoting educational
opportunities for disadvantaged children. After I
talked to Soeren at length about our project, he
connected me with the Groundbreaker team and they
added us to their portfolio of supported projects,
which was an absolute game changer. The
majority of the funds to construct the actual High
School building came from Groundbreaker, so I cannot
thank Soeren and the Groundbreaker team enough. I also
know that a lot of the funds raised through
Groundbreaker came from the Domainer community, so to
all who have contributed – Thank You!" |
Soeren
Von Varchmin |
With
the new high school opened with 30 students and Shaun hopes to
quadruple that number to 120 over the next three years. What
will be needed to make that happen? "As things stand, it
is mostly a matter of spreading the news that the
school is now there and places are available," Shaun
said. "We expect organic growth due to word-of-mouth
alone will be enough to reach our goal of 120 students by
2027. We intend to build at least one more classroom,
plus auxiliary buildings such as a separate office for the
teachers. The other thing that would be ideal is a school
bus, as the building is quite far away for some of the
kids and I want to make it more accessible for more
families."
A
chemistry class at Hope High School in Mombasa, Kenya.
Shaun
closed by noting, "Where we need help at the moment is
for the ongoing costs, rather than for one-off costs
such as construction. We especially need to hire new staff,
such a one (maybe two) more teachers, and a night watchman.
Anyone who is interested in donating can get in touch with me,
I know it’s a cliché but every donation
helps, no matter how small!
"
*****
|
