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A Fresh Start In Africa

By Andrew Goldstein

Brandon Harlee grew up in a Baltimore, Maryland, neighborhood filled with drugs and gangs, where even little kids learn to act tough. By sixth grade, Brandon had become too much for his mom-and his school-to handle. He earned bad grades and was always fighting.

Then Brandon got an amazing opportunity to change his life. Thanks to an unusual program, he was sent to a school in Africa. There, after a rocky adjustment, he began to climb trees, collect bugs, do homework, read-and learn.

A New Beginning
The idea of an African school to help troubled boys began six years ago. Robert Embry heads the Abell Foundation, which spends $5 million a year to aid Baltimore schools. He asked school principals what they needed most. They all gave the same answer: Help us remove the 5% of students whose behavior makes it difficult for the rest to learn.

Embry's group set up a new school in the African nation of Kenya and named it Baraka-which means "blessing" in Africa's Swahili language. Half of Baraka's teachers are Kenyan; half are American. The boys are chosen because they show strong potential despite academic or behavior problems. Brandon had never brought a single book home from school. At Baraka, he took hard classes to catch up.

Brandon started out talking back to his teachers. That landed him in the boma, a grim group of tents that Baraka uses for punishment. He learned that staying out of trouble would earn him safaris, video nights and trips to Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

When the boys go home, the Abell Foundation places them in a good public school or pays for a private school. Daryl Stewart, 16, was kicked out of six schools before going to Baraka. Today he's in high school and aims to be a photographer after college. Kevin Prem, 15, joined a gang when he was only 10. At Baraka, he won five academic awards. He plans to be a lawyer who battles "people who sell drugs to kids."

Brandon values the lessons of Baraka. "I learned not to be a ringleader or a crowd follower," he says. He finished seventh and eighth grades in Kenya and was named Most Improved Student. Now Brandon is attending high school in Baltimore. And he got an A+ on his first Latin test.

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