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Beyond Vision Foundation
Beyond Vision Foundation was born from a case of mistaken identity when Jackline Musyoka, the founder of Beyond the Vision School in the Tassia Slum of Nairobi Kenya, was told about a man named John Skoog. She was told that he held workshops for teachers and that she could find him on Facebook. The John she messaged is a contractor, not a teacher, but her request for help went to the right place. John Skoog and his wife Karen Skoog committed themselves to help her in the mission to break the chains of poverty through educating and uplifting the children of the Tassia slum.
"And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken." Isaiah 62:12
The History of Beyond Vision Foundation: A Timeline
2000
Jackline Begins Teaching in the Slums.
Jackline Musyoka visited a slum in Kenya and became aware of the need for education. She dedicated herself to breaking the chains of poverty through education and began teaching and mentoring slum children.
2013
Jackline Opens BVCS
Jackline founded Beyond the Vision Community School (BVCS) in the Tassia Slum of Nairobi Kenya after more than a decade of involvement with the children of the slums. Jackline simultaneously founded a non-profit movement called Beyond the Vision Initiative (BVI) as a means to organize support for BVCS.
2015
John Offers to Provide for BVCS Students
Jackline was running the school on a shoestring budget and was having difficulty keeping the children in the classrooms and teachers paid. The school was funded through Jackline's contacts and her own pocket and funding was growing slim. The children were hungry and unable to study and she was having difficulty keeping the children and teachers safe due to the dangerous environment of the slum. The situation was becoming dire and the school was at risk of shutting down.
The small staff of teachers were also in need of training and support. An acquaintance knew of a man providing teacher's workshop and recommended that Jackie contact him for help. Jackie messaged him on Facebook but the man she messaged is a contractor, not a teacher.
The man, John Skoog, was unable to help with the educational aspect of the school, but he offered to send gifts to the children, or money to buy gifts for the children. Jackie appreciated the offer, but the children were starving, and food was the greater priority. When she told John this, he was willing to help, and he and his wife, Karen, sent money for food.
John and Karen continued to provide funds for the feeding program for Beyond the Vision Community School.
2016
John Verifies BVCS
John had an opportunity to have the school verified when he saw that Sanna Lee, the daughter of an old friend, was in Nairobi doing humanitarian work with her foundation. John called Sanna to ask if she could go see the school. She agreed, and contacted Jackline to arrange a visit. Jackline eagerly agreed to show her the school.
Sanna’s visited the school and met the students and teachers. In a message to John, she told him that she had thought she was done crying for Kenya, but what she had seen there had brought her to tears once again. The school was real, the children where precious, Jackline was a warmhearted and sincere person, and the slum was worse than she could have imagined.
2017
John and Karen Establish Beyond the Vision Foundation (BVF) to Support BVCS
In December of 2017, John and Karen Skoog formed a 501c3 called Beyond Vision Foundation so donations could be accepted to help the school. The Skoogs continued to fund the school and collected some additional donations but remained the main donors for the operation of the school.
The security of knowing there was regular revenue arriving each month gave Jackline the security she needed to grow. Jackline expanded the feeding program and hired more teachers.
The Gideons International delivered bibles to the children in 2017. The Bible is taught as part of the regular syllabus in Kenya and is required by law.
2018
John Visits BVCS and the Vision Expands
In November of 2018, John made a trip to Kenya with Sanna and her foundation, Love Kenya Foundation (formerly Lee Sisters Foundation). John was finally able to see the school that he had been supporting for 3 years. He was able to see the children be promoted to the next grade and make presentations on what they learned for the parents, teachers and the guests from America.
In 2018 there were four children that graduated from eight grade. John watched them receive their certificates in a moving presentation. This could have been the end of their education, but for the first time in BVCS history, all of the graduates were sponsored by American BVF donors to attend boarding schools for secondary education (high school).
The school structure is akin to simple farm outbuildings made of tin roofing and wood boards. John is a man who can look at something that needs to be fixed, form the answer in his head, and fix it with his hands. He recognized a serious need to devote funding to improve the facilities, and he and Jackie made some short term fixes and developed long term goals for the school building.
The facilities were deteriorating, but attendance was growing, and it became clear that there was a need for more and more funding to support the growing BVCS program.
2019
BVCS Grows and Jackline Visits America
Jackline joined the Embakasi Rotary Club in Kenya to gain more support for the school. The Embakasi Rotary Club began the process of reviewing the school and agreed to provide all the cargo containers, labor cost, bathroom facilities and kitchen to improve the facilities if the school could be owned instead of rented. It became apparent that BVF would need to purchase the land that the school was built on in order to improve it and expand with the student population. This became a major fundraising goal.
Seventeen students graduated from BVCS in 2019, meaning that the school's graduation rate was up 325% from the previous year, and the need for funding to send successful BVCS students to secondary school was greater than ever before. The school had 260 students and 150 children on the waitlist to join. John had initially planned another visit to BVCS in 2019, but it became clear that there was a need for Jackline to travel to America to explain the vision and the need to American donors.
Jackline arrived in America in November of 2019.
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John, Karen, and Jackline were interviewed by Moody Radio Spokane, 107.9 KMBI-FM.
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John and Jackline were interviewed by Tim Saxon and Steve Wohlberg at White Horse Media. They created a free youTube video promoting BVCS.
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Jackline met and spoke with donors in the Newport and Chelan Rotary Clubs.
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Jackline completed a presentation about BVCS to the Northwest Christian Schools.
BVF donors provided funds to sustain the primary school program, scholarships for five of the BVCS graduates, and a private donor provided a $10,000 donation towards the purchase of the BVCS property.
Jackline registered Beyond the Vision Initiative (which had been the non-profit supporting leg of BVCS since 2013) as an official Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Kenya. This is the Kenyan equivalent of a 501(c)(3). BVI was officially recognized as an NGO on December 20th 2019.
To learn more about Beyond the Vision Initiative, please check out their website at BeyondTheVisionInitiative.org
2020
BVCS Graduates Go To High School and BVCS Launches a Community Outreach Program
Seven BVCS graduates received scholarships to go to secondary school and the rotary club became much more involved in to work of BVCS. The school was becoming extremely crowded and the parents of some students took the initiative to construct an outbuilding as an extra classroom using some loose sheets of metal.
BVCS responded to COVID by reducing the operations of the school initiating a community feeding program. Many BVCS students attend school because they do not receive food at home. Initiating a community feeding program allowed BVCS donors to still provide for the student body while also nourishing the Tassia community. BVF donors provided funds to feed the Tassia community and BVCS volunteers distributed the food to local families in need. BVCS also launched a smaller feeding program to support the locals in Meru, Kenya.
BVCS provided education on sanitary practices to prevent the spread of COVID. BVCS also provided handwashing stations.
Jackline gave a presentation on the success of the BVCS model to the Rotaract Club of Milimani.
The Rotaract Club of Milimani went to BVCS to provide Christmas cards and mentorship for the students.
Beyond the Vision Community School was featured by KTN News Kenya for the educational program and COVID relief efforts.
2021
BVF Donors Provide Funding to Purchase the School
Another private donor provided $15,000 towards the purchase of the BVCS property. BVF now had $25,000 in the land fund and began to receive additional donations for the land. The amount needed was $35,000.
BVCS was in a state of disrepair and the classrooms were leaky and falling apart. Members of the Tassia community donated their time re-roofing the classrooms and repairing some of the broken down fences. When school resumed, the children were safer and the classrooms were drier.
Some of the children were able to go on some field trips and explore areas outside of the slum.
Jackline returned to the USA and Beyond Vision Foundation hosted a fundraiser to raise the remainder of the money needed to purchase the school property.
The fundraiser was a huge success and enough money was collected to purchase the school.
Jackline was featured in the #CelebratingOurHeroes column of the July Issue of Parent's Magazine.
2022
Beyond the Vision Community School is Officially Purchased and Held in Trust by Beyond the Vision Initiative
With enough money on hand from Beyond Vision Foundation donors, negotiations for the purchase of the property began in January and the sale was completed in February. The school property was signed over to Beyond the Vision Initiative to be held in trust. The property belongs to the initiative which is a registered Non-Governmental Organization in Kenya.
The BVF board of directors elected to send funds to build a secure concrete block fence around the perimeter of the school to improve security, increase attendance, and improve teacher retention.
2022 was a year of robust administrative growth for Beyond the Vision Initiative. BVI's administrative staff and faculty developed a strategic plan to ensure the ongoing success of the school. They developed a robust mental health program with funding from additional BVI partners who specialize in mental health care and hired a social worker to address issues of child abuse and prosecute offenders. BVI also launched an ambassador program for BVCS graduates.
A Kenyan businessman pledged a gift of 10 acres to BVI for development. The property is outside of Nairobi and BVI and BVF are developing plans to build a trade school, secondary school, missionary housing, and a shelter for victims of violence.
Beyond the Vision Foundation hosted one of of the first BVCS ambassadors when BVCS graduate, scholarship beneficiary, and college student Linzy visited America. Linzy was chaperoned by Jackie and spoke at BVF's 2nd annual fundraiser. The fundraiser held a silent auction for many ethically sourced handmade Kenyan objects such as carved animals and bead necklaces.
John & Karen Skoog
Founders of Beyond Vision Foundation
We got married in our early 20s and raised 5 children. We operate a roofing and insulation company with some of our adult children and feel blessed to live in our small rural community of Elk, WA where all our grandchildren live nearby.
We have seen that the story of Beyond Vision is a story of God intervening and changing lives and growing people in Him. Not only in Kenya, but for people in the States as well. We have the privilege of often waiting on the Lord as we watch for His plan to unfold. We get to see how He redeems and rescues, how He has a plan, how He makes beauty from ashes and is building His Kingdom.
We are so grateful to our gracious Father for orchestrating this partnership with Kenya, and the friendship we have with our sister in Christ Jackline Musyoka. We are grateful for the dedicated service of the BVCS staff and teachers who inspire us with their selfless commitment to the Tassia children and community.
"For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building."
1 Corinthians 3:9
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Jackline Musyoka
Founder of the Beyond the Vision Community School and Beyond the Vision Initiative
Jackline Musyoka is the Founder and Executive Director of Beyond the Vision initiative in Kenya. She is a tenacious leader and visionary who is fueled by her Christian faith. She is passionate about providing hope and freedom for Tassia children through her ministry at Beyond the Vision Community School.
Jackline says that "John came into my life a time when the only prayer I had was ‘God give me help’. It was a challenging season at the school. I felt that I had offered everything that I could and was left with my physical body to offer. When John came into my life, I knew my help had arrived, and the season would change. And it has."
Jackline has a background in IT, community development, and project management. She is currently pursuing a degree in sustainable communities.
Jackline is a former President in her Rotary club, a Cherie Blairs mentorship program fellow, and an Acumen fellow. In her free time she enjoys hiking, reading, trying new restaurants, and laughing hard as she sees the beauty in people and the world.
The Beyond Vision Foundation Board of Directors
Photo coming soon!
John Skoog
Karen Skoog
Jim White
Brenda Grassel
Maralee Greer