2025 AnnuAL REPORT
School
Orkeeswa School provides high-quality academics, robust cocurricular programs, student wellness services, and community-based leadership through a holistic secondary school experience.
Outreach
Orkeeswa Outreach utilizes trained and motivated Orkeeswa student and alumni leaders to run life skills, sports, extracurricular and academic programming in local primary schools.
Incubator
Orkeeswa Incubator supports the ongoing impact of alumni through professional development, higher education support, and small grants and mentorship for entrepreneurs.
Project-Based, Purpose Learning for Community Impact
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT: ORKEESWA STORY LAB
In Story Lab, students learn to tell their own stories through photography, journalism, podcasts, and filmmaking. The skills required to execute a film production set students up to take on leadership roles in their community.
Purpose-Learning
At Orkeeswa, we foster an environment where students are encouraged to find their own sense of purpose, which research shows leads to sustainable and holistic well-being. Story Lab is just one of many Orkeeswa programs that exposes students to new skills and opportunities where many students discover their sense of purpose, from creative self-expression to advocacy and leadership.
%
of students report a high sense of hope, life satisfaction & resilience.
%
of students report a high sense of purpose & self-determination.
The Story Lab Curriculum
Orkeeswa’s Story Lab program spans 7+ years of education, creating many opportunities for students to learn by doing within the context of their community. By their final two years of education at Orkeeswa, Story Lab students have the skills, capacity, and drive to produce their projects independently.
2025 Story Lab Highlights
Behind the Scenes
Go behind the scenes with Elina as she writes, shoots, and edits her latest film, NYANGULO.
Watch Orkeeswa students’ films on the STORY LAB pag
From Learning to Impact
Civic Responsibility
Al-Mukhsin’s work with YADA is just one of many examples where Orkeeswa students and alumni find their purpose and give back to their community.
hours of community service committed by Orkeeswa students each year.
youth-led community projects, businesses and organizations started or sustained by Orkeeswa students or alumni in 2025.
%
of Orkeeswa alumni are engaged in civic activities such as mentorship, volunteering and community leadership.
From Impact to Community-Led Development
A Network of Changemakers
Orkeeswa Incubator supports alumni to launch their own businesses, organizations, and projects in the community. In many cases, alumni entrepreneurs collaborate with each other to better reach their goals. These partnerships form the basis for community-led development.
Orkeeswa alumni Samwel and Daniel co-founded Seed Pictures, utilizing their skills in filmmaking to launch their own film production company to create impactful community-based stories. Over the past several months, Seed Pictures has partnered with Primetel, a healthcare organization founded by Orkeeswa alum Emmanuel, to create a series of films about mental health in the community. This partnership leverages a diversity of skill sets to drive Primetel’s mission to address mental health challenges through advocacy, education, and treatment.
people reached through alumni-led advocacy
people impacted by ongoing alumni-led programs
jobs created by alumni-led initiatives
Daniel wrote and directed a short film, NADUPA, that will have its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
Watch a short clip of Daniel Behind the Scenes as he directs his short film NADUPA.
When communities leverage engaged citizens, young professionals, and motivated leaders
SYSTEMS CHANGE
so that communities become the drivers of their own development, creating conditions for a healthy, thriving, and sustainable future for all.
THANK YOU
for being a part of Orkeeswa’s impact in 2025.