
Kimlea Girls Technical Training Centre
Kazi Huvuna Matunda - "Hard Work Pays"
Kimlea Girls Technical Training Centre is located in Kiambu District, between Kiambaa and Tigoni. The Centre is surrounded by tea estates with villages of tea pickers, as well as families living off small holdings at subsistence level. The tea pickers come from all over the country in search of a better life. The workers are exposed to difficult work, having to be on their feet for long work days, 6 days a week come rain or shine, and in the process, earning very low wages paid according to the number of kilos of tea picked.
The casual labourers in Limuru’s tea picking villages are faced with numerous problems. They live in difficult conditions. One finds a family of 8 sharing a one roomed house provided by the tea estate. Women led households are common in the area. It is also common to find older children, especially girls forced to stay away from school in order to take care of their younger siblings so the mother or both parents can go off to earn the daily wage. When it comes to education, boys are normally given the priority.In an effort to uplift the women and girls living under these difficult conditions, Kimlea Girls Technical Centre was started in 1986. Informal classes were initially held in a wooden prefabricated building.
Later on, full-time courses were introduced to equip the girls and women with technical skills that would enable them to start their own businesses (small income-generating ventures) or find employment. Kimlea offers students with the necessary technical skills and other relevant competencies in the hospitality field required for food and beverage service, techniques on taking -processing-serving orders, basic aspects of housekeeping and laundry services needed by hotels, resorts, guest houses and office blocks. The institution offers students an opportunity to explore career(s) in Hospitality and Tourism that will help them develop the skills, attitudes and expertise that will assist them in their future workplace.