Central Kenya · ~30km from Nairobi · Est. 1980s
BG has been in Ruiru since the 1980s. Today 125+ students live and study on one campus — with social workers present daily, three meals served, and every school cost covered in full.
2015
1980s
That pass rate is not accidental. It is the consequence of building a school around what children actually need to learn — which includes emotional stability, consistent adult relationships, and freedom from financial anxiety alongside the curriculum. BG Ruiru is the proof of concept for that philosophy.
Monthly sponsorship — one high school student
All secondary costs and national examination registration
Safe campus accommodation including school holidays
Daily access to qualified social workers — every school day
Not occasional. Not crisis-only. Every school day, qualified social workers are on campus and accessible to every student. That consistency is what makes the pastoral care at BG Ruiru genuinely effective.
How this location came to be.
Every milestone here was a response to a specific failure of the previous approach — not a plan, but a series of decisions to do better.
Basic residential care. Shelter, food, and primary education.
When the orphanage faced closure, Ria Fennema assumes management and moves to Kenya permanently. Structured programs and qualified Kenyan staff follow.
BG builds its own secondary school. Small-scale, socially supported. 98% pass rate maintained every year since.
Dormitory expansion and ICT facilities are current priorities. Alumni now work as doctors, engineers, and teachers.