I sent the first term secondary school scholarship money yesterday. We were able to fund 17 secondary school scholarships this year, probably thanks to everyone reading this.  Because Kwa Muema Secondary is the school which serves the poorest in the community and has been having trouble paying teachers, which has caused significant turnover, we focused our scholarship efforts there this year. The hope is that being able to provide a consistent, reliable income for the school will allow the headmaster to pay teachers so they can afford to stay.

One of the major things we are committed to with the scholarship program is sticking with the kids: even if they have bad grades or difficulties, we will continue to fund their scholarship so long as they go to school. In one case a young woman (a form 1= high school freshman) got pregnant and had a baby this fall. She dropped out of school but we let her know that when she wished to go back to school we would continue her scholarship. Words cannot express the joy we all felt when James called in early November to say she had returned to school. Her success is not assured, she probably has a difficult road ahead, but the courage that she demonstrated by returning to school ( a socially awkward situation) shows that she has strength and we wish to support her and others like her.