Tool Monster tradies transform Kenyan school and share skills

In April 2023, a dozen members of the team from Tool Monster in Northern Ireland flew to Kenya to spend a couple of weeks in the remote Kenyan village of Kiambururu, using their trade skills to forever change the lives of the locals.

The team had been invited by the charity Vision4Kids to upgrade the electrics of the village school, create an IT suite for the children to use for learning, build and upgrade other important facilities, and pass on their plumbing, electrical and other trade skills to local tradesmen.

From Northern Ireland to Kenya

Kiambururu is in the mountains about an hour from Nairobi. The landscape is a mixture of jungle and coffee plantations. Facilities at the local school were rudimentary.

Adam Gilmore is the director of Tool Monster and its sister company, AG Electrical. He and his team self-funded the trip, raising £21,600 to pay for materials before they left Northern Ireland. Adam said some of Tool Monster’s partners, including Steel Blue, jumped at the chance to help, contributing donations to the cause. Steel Blue donated 12 pairs of boots and some clothing for the team to wear.

“The school itself was basically tin structures,” Adam said. “They had one or two good buildings. Basically, we put a new electrical infrastructure in.”

A major modernisation for the village school

The work included new cables and switchboards, classroom lighting and sockets, security lighting, and a new plant room.

“The Kenyan education system has recently changed the rules and now schools have to have an IT suite,” Adam said. “Previously, there were roughly 130 pupils in the school and the only form of IT they had was the headmaster’s desktop computer. So, we took out some laptops and some projectors and set them up a full IT suite.”

It has already opened up a world of opportunity for the children.

“There’s a girl from the village, who now lives in France, who can now do a Zoom call and teach French to the kids in her village back home,” Adam said.

Sharing skills with local tradespeople

While the Tool Monster team were in Kiambururu, they worked closely with local tradespeople to upgrade a range of other facilities. A proper amenities block with flushing toilets was built. The school’s security guard now has electricity and a tap in his house. And a new home was built for a local family who were having a very tough time.

“We employed some of the local tradesmen as well, which was great as we were teaching our skill sets to them, and when we left we gave them all our Steel Blue boots,” Adam said.

“I found out everyone’s shoe size and right down to the last pair of boots we handed our boots over to the local tradesmen, which was great. Obviously, a pair of boots to them is huge. They were loving it. It was magic to see.”

Vision4Kids secretary Stephen Fletcher said Tool Monster’s visit had been “a massive encouragement to the local tradesmen who worked alongside them — offering training, advice and teaching new skills” and the team’s work had transformed the school and “left a lasting legacy for the children and families in the area”.

Head to your local Steel Blue stockist to discover work boots that are a mark of true skill, or shop online.