Rift Valley Academy

Rift Valley Academy (RVA) is a Christian boarding school located in Kijabe, Kenya, founded in 1906 by Charles Hurlburt.

History and overview

Early years

Having met with Hurlburt in the White House in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt visited Kijabe shortly after leaving office four years later. During this visit, in 1909, Roosevelt laid the cornerstone for Kiambogo, the main school building that remains the centerpiece of RVA's campus.

For much of the early history of the school it was difficult to find teachers. Most missionaries had come to Africa to preach the gospel, not educate white children. The primary concern of most missionaries was not the academic achievements of the students, but their spiritual life. After Miss Hope, the next teacher who truly felt called to teach at RVA was Miss Muriel Perrott. She introduced RVA to several British sports such as Rounders and Rugby and instituted the two house system. The two houses, Stanleys and Livingstons, were named for the two explorers and served as an organizational tool for the school. The two houses competed against each other academically and on the sports field. For many years the main goal of students was to win the house cup. Miss Perrott went on furlough in 1931 and was unable to return to Africa, but her influence was invaluable to the development of the school.

Rift valley

A rift valley is a linear-shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault. A rift valley is formed on a divergent plate boundary, a crustal extension, a spreading apart of the surface, which is subsequently further deepened by the forces of erosion. When the tensional forces were strong enough to cause the plate to split apart, a center block dropped between the two blocks at its flanks, forming a graben. The drop of the center creates the nearly parallel steeply dipping walls of a rift valley when it is new. That feature is the beginning of the rift valley, but as the process continues, the valley widens, until it becomes a large basin that fills with sediment from the rift walls and the surrounding area. One of the best known examples of this process is the East African Rift. On Earth, rifts can occur at all elevations, from the sea floor to plateaus and mountain range in continental crust or in oceanic crust. They are often associated with a number of adjoining subsidiary or co-extensive valleys, which are typically considered part of the principal rift valley geologically.

Rift Valley

In order of specificity, Rift Valley can refer to: