The ARES Project
Providing educational materials for rural schools in Kenya
By Sean Hogan
Past Governor of Rotary District 5050 (British Columbia, Canada; Washington, USA)
Member of the Rotary Club of Pacific Northwest Passport
Rotary has been a big part of my life since I joined at age 27. It’s given me friends and opportunities that I would never have had otherwise, including serving as District Governor in 2012-13 (Peace Through Service). One of those opportunities was to be part of Rotary service projects in Kenya, starting in 2009.
The project we’ve been doing in Kenya is called ARES (the African Ruggedized Education System), and our philosophy is that if you truly want to change the world, you begin by educating the children. CLICK THE PICTURE FOR MORE
Bonnie Sutherland joined the Rotary Club of North Delta, British Columbia, Canada after retiring as a teacher. She had been working in Africa since 1992 and invited my wife and I to join her on one of her Rotary projects. Bonnie’s NGO, Afretech Aid Society, works with Rotary clubs and Rotary World Help to ship libraries, computers, medical equipment and more to Africa and elsewhere.
Mark Knittel, a member of the Rotary Club of Bellingham, Washington, USA, joined us on a trip in 2011. Mark created a small server with educational content from pre-school to post-grad, including thousands of video tutorials and books, the Khan Academy, STEM resources, TED Talks, Wikipedia, textbooks, and much, much more.
The ARES project focuses on remote, rural schools where children and their teachers have never even touched a computer. Remote rural schools often have limited access to books, paper, and writing materials, as well as intermittent power and no internet access.
An ARES server is installed in each school, along with laptops, a projector, and speakers and a mesh network to connect all classrooms in the school to the ARES server.
We have now provided ARES servers and computer labs to around 100 schools in Kenya, thanks to generous support by Rotary Clubs, Rotarians and The Rotary Foundation (Canada).
We return every year and for each of those years we have received Rotary District Grants. In 2020 we were able to add 15 new schools with the help of a Rotary Global Grant. Four local Rotary clubs in BC and Washington each donated $5,000 USD which, with matching grants from Rotary and the Government of Canada, provided funding of over $129,000.
We install an ARES server in a school along with 20 laptops, a projector, speakers, earplugs, and mesh network units to share the wireless access throughout. Everything runs on rechargeable batteries, so if the school loses power, the system still operates. The project also provides training and support for teachers through local teams to ensure sustainability.
Our most recent visit in January 2025 added five more schools thanks to the donations of three Rotary clubs and another Rotary District Grant. Our team included Rotarians and supporters, each of whom paid their own way so that all proceeds go directly to the benefit of the schools, students and teachers.
The project is a partnership. The schools provide the room for the computer lab, a secure storage locker, electrical connections, tables and chairs. We work with local Kenyan partners, such as the Rotarian led Computers for Schools Kenya, local conservancies and others. The project employs local IT support workers who continue to maintain, teach and support throughout the school year. A significant part of the success of the project is the teacher training and engagement.
It is a life changing experience for us, as well as for the people that we help.
To use a common Swahili saying – Asante Sana. Thank you.
