A Home Before It Was A School
How a small refuge for orphaned and vulnerable children in Kemondo Bay grew into a school more than 900 learners now call home.
How a small refuge for orphaned and vulnerable children in Kemondo Bay grew into a school more than 900 learners now call home.
In 2000, the Nehemia Christian Aid Foundation opened its doors in Kemondo Bay with a simple, urgent purpose: give orphaned and vulnerable children a safe home. A classroom came soon after, because the founders believed that caring for a child properly meant caring for their mind as much as their wellbeing.
Word spread through the surrounding villages, and families who were not in crisis began asking for a place too. What started as a home with a classroom attached slowly became a school that happened to also be a home — and it has held onto both identities ever since.
Meet The People Leading It Today
Fear God and gain wisdom.
Bethania's founding motto, chosen in 2000 and still opened in assembly every Monday morning.
The Nehemia Christian Aid Foundation opens in Kemondo Bay as a residence for orphaned and vulnerable children, with a single classroom for the youngest residents.
The first primary class sits national exams. Families from Kemondo Bay and beyond begin enrolling children who live at home, and Bethania English Primary School takes its name.
New boarding houses let families from across the Kagera region send their children to Bethania, and the school's first house parents are appointed.
Bethania Technical Secondary School opens alongside the primary school, pairing academic study with practical, technology-driven vocational skills.
Bethania begins delivering the IB Primary Years Programme, with the Middle Years and Diploma Programmes following as each cohort moves up.
Over 900 students from 5+ nationalities and more than 30 educators now share the same Kemondo Bay campus — and the same welcome that started it all in 2000.