The Baraka School was a small education program that took at-risk 12-year-old boys from the

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

public school system State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

to the

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

for two years to live and study. The school was located in

Laikipia District Laikipia County is one of the 47 Counties of Kenya, located on the Equator in the former Rift Valley Province of the Country. Laikipia is a cosmopolitan County and is Listed as County number 31. The county has two major urban centres: Nanyuki t ...

and the program began in 1996 with funding from th
Abell Foundation
a local Baltimore philanthropy. The program was shut down in 2003 because of security threats. After the 2002 hotel bombing in Mombasa and the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

, the school administrators decided not to re-open the school. The school program was featured in the 2005 documentary ''

The Boys of Baraka ''The Boys of Baraka'' is a 2005 documentary film produced and directed by filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. The documentary follows twenty boys from Baltimore, Maryland who spend their seventh and eighth grade years at a rural boarding s ...

''. The campus has since been transformed into

Daraja Academy Daraja Academy is a secondary school for Kenyan girls located outside of Nanyuki, Kenya. History Daraja Academy is a secondary school to educate Kenyan girls who cannot otherwise afford the fees associated with public secondary schools in Kenya. ...

External links

Baltimore City Schools - Baraka ProgramBaltimore City Paper: The Baraka School Gets Back on Its FeetBaltimore City Paper: A Kenyan School For At-Risk Baltimore Boys Holds Promise For Some, A Mere Respite From the Streets For Others
1996 establishments in Kenya Boarding schools in Kenya Boys' schools in Kenya Defunct schools in Kenya Educational institutions established in 1996 Laikipia County {{Kenya-school-stub

See also

External links