A number of different Humber faculties have come together with the Bondo Technical Training Institute (TTI) in Kenya to raise money to convert a shipping container into a daycare centre on the Kenyan school's campus.
A team from Humber's Early Childhood Education (ECE) program held a fundraiser on campus Tuesday where they would sold raffle tickets - one for $5 and three for $10 - that gave entrants a chance to win gift cards, spa services and Humber merchandise.
Humber professor David Neumann said this project originated almost two years ago.
Neumann went to Kenya on behalf of Humber to explore emerging technologies with Bondo TTI, one of their partner institutes, which is located close to Lake Victoria.
“While we’re there, they received a shipment from Government of Canada with new supplies and equipment and they’re keeping the shipping container, and I asked them, 'What are you planning to do with this?,'" Neumann said. "And they’re like, 'Well, we’d really like to kind of turn this into a daycare space.'”
Neumann said one of the challenges that they have there is a lot of young mothers who would love to be more focused on education.
He said he saw this himself when the mothers would be on campus and the kids would kind of just play around.
“But if they have a space for them, which they have done at another institute, they have a breastfeeding and a childcare space and so I was like this is a great idea,” Neumann said.
He said he asked to 3D scan the container with his phone because the creative technology course he teaches at Humber does virtual reality, augmented reality and drones.
Neumann said he later approached a few of his Humber faculty colleagues and asked if they could ask some interior design students to come up with some ideas to pitch a plan to the Bondo TTI team.
So, a few of the faculty members, some students, and Neumann’s own students spent a day making a rough drawing and playing around with it.
Neumann pitched the idea to Anna Stranks, an interior design professor at Humber, and she loved the idea.
In fall 2025, second-year Interior Design students worked together to make the idea more formal and detailed.
Neumann said they had students from civil engineering involved and then ECE as well to better understand what a childcare space needs.
“They [Bondo TTI] loved the ideas. The students there and the student council loved it so much that they are putting some funds towards it and they really wanted to push this idea forward,” he said.
Anisha Cadena, an ECE professor, wanted to help further by doing a fundraiser.
“Anisha and all their team has been doing such a great job on putting together this fundraiser and our goal is now that we have the designs ready,” Neumann said.
He said he hopes to begin construction in Bondo by this fall, which is the goal with the funding.
“We’ve been working with them on the second part because their institute is more technical on the engineering side so now, we’re excited that we’re gonna bring their students to work with us,” Neumann said.
He said the bigger goal here is to even send some Humber students to Kenya to help work on it as well.
Neumann said that students, some from Kenya themselves, have already been reaching out asking to work on the project.
He said Bondo TTI will be the one deciding on how mothers in Kenya can sign up for the daycare facility, but it will be free.
“What’s really nice is the designs where they change the locations right near the front of the institution. You come in, you drop your kids off for however time you’re in class and then you come pick them up afterwards,” Neumann said.
Cadena said this fundraiser is a team effort. She said ECE program coordinator Joanne Tuck and Pina Leo, who is the lab technician for the Carol Reid Resource Centre, and their students have been working endlessly putting together the entirety of the event.
She said the responsibilities ranged from spreading the word to getting flyers out and it was made possible by Lucy Konkon, ECE's program support officer. ECE’s associate dean has also fully supported the project and helped gather giveaways for the raffle with support from other Humber faculties.
Cadena said when Neumann reached out to ECE requesting their ideas and input to create an inclusive environment for children and families specifically in Kenya the students that came on board started by looking at westernized version of childcare systems and then figuring out what Kenya specifically needs.
“We really had to work hard on looking at this more from a lens, a global lens, than our very strict westernized lens,” Cadena said.
Buki Ashi-Sulaiman, an ECE student working the Tuesday fundraising event, said when she was asked to work on the project she jumped on board because it is something that has a lot of meaning to them.
Ashi-Sulaiman said she sees this as an opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of the children in Kenya
“Having somewhere where they can go to get care for their children, the mothers can get some education, and it’s also a place where they can feed their children. So it’s such a big idea we all want to support,” she said.
Ashi-Sulaiman said she has put in the work with her team to make the boxes and frames for the raffle and said there are more ways they can help in Kenya.
“We also need to have resources. We could also educate teachers over there as well. We could raise awareness among mothers, better ways to take care of children, teach them about development,” she said.
With these conversations between Bondo TTI and Humber, Cadena said she understood that funding could hold things back.
She said these ideas were easy put on paper, but bringing the plan to fruition required funding, which is what spawned the idea of Tuesday's fundraiser. The designs for the Kenyan were also present at the fundraiser so everyone could see what was being done.
Cadena said she does not have a number in mind, a set goal for the fundraiser, but the more they raise, the more they can do for the families in Kenya.
“The container is already there, the shipping container is there. We just need the funds to actually start with, you know breaking the ground and get some plumbing in there,” she said.
The funding will be used to start with the plumbing, insulation and air conditioning system and windows.
She said she was overwhelmed in the first half of January planning such a huge event, promoting such a big project but now she is just excited to see all the hard work fall into place.
“I’m looking forward to ECE students being involved, to see that learning and care, it goes beyond borders. Right? Like it doesn’t stop at geographical boundaries. It goes beyond that and for them to get the message really loud and clear through their own actions is beyond valuable in their own learning,” Cadena said.
She said she wants this story to have the happiest ending for the Bondo community.
Cadena doesn’t see the partnership between Bondo TTI and Humber ending, she said this is going to be a continuous collaboration and there is going to room for expansion on what they are doing in terms of their connection with Bondo.
