About the academy
Founded in 2021 in Mshomoroni, Mombasa, Eagle Wings Lighthouse Academy offers holistic education that combines academics, practical life skills, languages, sports and character development — serving families from Baby Class to Grade 9.
Our story
Eagle Wings Lighthouse Academy was founded in 2021 by Johnstone Mdavan Maelo, who serves as Founder, Director and Board Chairman. A graduate of the University of Nairobi with a Bachelor's degree in Special Education, Johnstone's path to founding a school began with a single encounter.
He met a young girl who had been dumped in a sack bag, just a few days old. He named her Bella, and her story became the spark that ignited a broader vision — not a charity for one child, but a school where children from all backgrounds could learn side by side in a structured, high-quality environment.
What began as an effort to help one child grew into a mission to serve the wider community — including children from working and middle-income families and children from vulnerable backgrounds, all united under one learning environment. By the third term of 2021, the school had grown to approximately 50 learners.
Throughout this journey, Johnstone has been supported — both financially and in day-to-day operations — by his wife, Constance Mbodze Maelo, a teacher who also sits on the school board.
Growth & partnerships
Soon after founding the school, Johnstone connected with a group of friends from Germany who had visited the area for a football project. That friendship became the foundation of lasting international partnerships.
Germany · Visionary Partner
The driving force behind the international partnership. Rosemarie connected the school with Universal Lighthouse and Fly & Help Foundation, and personally facilitated the purchase of 7 plots of land for the school campus. Her belief in the vision made everything possible.
Germany · Initiator · via Rosemarie Pscheid
Initiated the project and facilitated the purchase of 7 plots of land for the school campus, providing a permanent home for Eagle Wings Lighthouse Academy.
Germany · Builder
Built the new school buildings. Construction ran from February 2024 to February 2025, with the new campus officially launched in March 2025.
Germany · Supporter
A partner organisation that supports the school's mission through ongoing engagement and advocacy in Germany.
The new school building was built by Fly & Help Foundation and initiated by Universal Lighthouse in Germany, under the leadership of Director Johnstone Mdavan Maelo — the vision bearer. The new campus was officially launched in March 2025, a joint celebration between the school and our partners.
Our journey
The transformation from our old building to the new Eagle Wings Lighthouse Academy campus is a testament to what faith, community and partnership can build.
A dream realised
From the old classrooms where our first learners sat, to a brand-new campus with modern buildings — this journey was made possible by our partners, our staff, our parents and our community.
The new building was built by Fly & Help Foundation and initiated by Universal Lighthouse in Germany, under the leadership of our Director, Johnstone Mdavan Maelo, the vision bearer.
The framed before-and-after collage, held here by our Director with learners, hangs in our school as a reminder of how far we've come — and how much further we can go together.
What guides us
To provide quality, values-driven education that develops knowledgeable, skilled and compassionate learners ready to serve their community.
To be a lighthouse of learning in Mombasa — raising confident, compassionate young people who soar like eagles in every field they enter.
Faith · Integrity · Excellence · Discipline · Compassion · Service. We honour both Christian and Islamic traditions, and these values shape how we teach, how we lead and how we live together.
Leadership
Our school board brings together experienced educators, community leaders and people of faith to guide the vision and operations of the academy.
Founder, Director & Board Chairman
Vice Chair
School Secretary
Vice Secretary
School Advisor
The Director's journey
Every school has a founder. But not every founder has walked the path that Johnstone Mdavan Maelo walked to get here. This is his story — in his own words.
I was born on 11th November 1993 in Kitale, Trans-Nzoia County. I was raised by my late father, Desterio Maelo, and my mother, Joyce Maelo, who is still with us today. I come from a large family — about 49 children from three mothers — and growing up in poverty shaped everything I would become.
I joined Kabuyefwe Primary School, and later joined Kamsinga Boys for my secondary education after emerging among the top three students in the district. In 2013, I joined the University of Nairobi to pursue Special Education, and was later awarded a Second Class Honours degree.
But the truth is, I could not have reached that level on my own. Because of the poverty at home and the size of our family, it was well-wishers who stepped in — many people contributed to make sure I could attain that education. That lesson stayed with me: that when people come together, they can carry someone forward who could never make it alone.
After university, I hustled hard in Nairobi. I was trying to help my mother, who was struggling in poverty, raising my siblings in a mud house in the village. And it wasn't just my own family — I was also trying to support some of my neighbours in the village whenever I could.
Around 2019, I shared with my mother my vision of moving further to Mombasa to help others who couldn't afford education. My mother, who was a small-scale farmer, accepted and prayed for me. When I left home for Mombasa, the fare my mother raised for me came from selling sweet potatoes — she raised 3,000 Kenyan shillings to enable me to travel.
I arrived in Mombasa stranded. I did not know where I was going to live or how to start a new life in a new town. I chose to walk around town and share my hardship story, hoping someone would hear me or understand me. But people misunderstood me. Some thought I was a thief. Others thought I was a beggar.
By good luck, I met a private security guard at Mama Ngina Grounds. His name was Joel, and he lived at Likoni Ferry. He was the one who gave me a place to stay — a small store where he used to keep his charcoal. That small room became my first home in Mombasa.
One month later, I received devastating news. The mud house where my mother lived had collapsed at night. My mother was badly wounded and taken to hospital in critical condition. I needed to travel back home to Kitale — about 990 kilometres away — but I could not manage to return. I could not even see my mother in that condition.
That moment broke something in me — but it also lit a fire. I had seen what poverty does to a family. I had experienced what it means to have nothing and no one. And I had learned what a single act of kindness can do — like a security guard offering a charcoal store to a stranger.
That fire became the vision for Eagle Wings Lighthouse Academy. If well-wishers could carry me through school, then I could become a well-wisher for others. If one man could give me shelter when I was stranded, then I could build a place where children could find safety, learning and hope.
And then I met Bella — a newborn girl who had been dumped in a sack bag, just a few days old — and her story became the spark that turned the vision into action. What began with one child grew into a school that now serves dozens of learners from all backgrounds, on a brand-new campus built by partners who believed in that same vision.
This is why we do what we do. Not because it is easy, but because we know what it means to have someone believe in you when you have nothing.
"Every child carries a spark of greatness. Our work — and our joy — is to fan that spark into a steady, guiding light. When a parent entrusts their child to us, they entrust us with a future. We do not take that lightly."
A word from the Director
I founded this academy with a simple conviction: that a school in Mshomoroni can be every bit as excellent as any school in Kenya — and that excellence is most beautiful when it is rooted in faith and service — whatever faith a family holds.
What started with one child's story has grown into a community of learners, teachers, parents and partners — all working together to give every child the education they deserve.
To every parent reading this: thank you for considering us. We would be honoured to partner with you in the most important work there is — shaping a life.
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