News and Updates from Friends of Kakamega

A GLIMPSE INTO LIFE AT A KENYAN HIGH SCHOOL

6/1/2017

When he finds the time, KOCC Administrator Nelson Ida (center) visits our students at high schools so he can provide them with counseling and encouragement. Here, he is smiling alongside junior Ian (left) and sophomore Cornelius (right).

High school students work very hard in Kenya, especially at boarding school where they are tasked with up to sixteen hours a day of classes and studying.

The whole experience is considered preparation for a single, comprehensive, three-week examination at the end of high school. Despite this tremendous workload and intense pressure to perform, most students see education as the key to a better life, and they place great value on the opportunity to work hard each day at school.

We are proud of all our high school students' efforts and commend them for their dedication.

A PROMISING NEW PARTNERSHIP

3/7/2017

Crossroads Springs Africa students happily head off to high school, thanks to the partnership with Friends of Kakamega and the Kakamega Orphan Care Centre.

We are pleased to announce that Friends of Kakamega (FoK) and the Kakamega Orphans Care Centre (KOCC) have embarked on a promising partnership with Crossroads Springs Africa (CSA), a nonprofit organization with a mission similar to ours.

Based in Buffalo, New York, CSA is committed to helping capable but vulnerable young people in western Kenya attend high school. Since its 2004 founding, the organization has supported hundreds of needy students in Hamisi, Kenya, about 40 miles south of Kakamega ( www.crossroadsspringsafrica.org).

In 2015, CSA sought a strong and trustworthy management partner in Kenya to administer its evolving high school program, and, since KOCC operates a successful high school and post-secondary program, they asked if we would partner with them to place and oversee their students. The partnership consolidates management of the KOCC and CSA high school programs, whereby KOCC administers CSA's program, for which they send financial support. We are excited that our new partnership has more than doubled the number of needy youth for whom KOCC provides a meaningful high school education.

CSA board president Alison Hyde greets Ida, who met with the CSA board in Buffalo to discuss the partnership.

Dorothy (fifth from left) met with CSA's Hamisi managing board, which works in its communities to find students in the greatest need of support and manages other aspects of the program.

After our initial discussions with CSA and consultations with our partners in Kenya, representatives from FoK held a series of meetings with CSA board members to develop a partnership proposal. When KOCC Administrator Nelson Ida and founder/board president Dorothy Selebwa visited the United States in 2016, they went to Buffalo and met with CSA board members, where they got to know each other, finalized the details of their new partnership, and made plans for the 2017 school year.

CSA's scholarship coordinator and social worker Grace Wambui, who knows and worked with the students in Hamisi, joined KOCC as a full time staff member and works closely with our bookkeeper Mercy Nawade to pay CSA student fees and with Administrator Nelson Ida to place students and provide emotional support, advice, and guidance to CSA students.

With KOCC's help, 22 of their first high school students graduated at the end of 2016, and some will go on to college next year. In January 2017, CSA added 33 new first-year students (23 from Hamisi and 10 from Kakamega, chosen by KOCC) and continued to sponsor their 82 sophomores, juniors, and seniors. As with FoK-sponsored high school students, this support includes school fees, uniforms, school supplies, bedding, transportation money, and other essentials. Additionally and equally important, all students receive guidance and counseling.

CSA's social worker Grace Wambui (right), who has long worked with students in Hamisi, joined KOCC's Mercy Nawade (left) and Nelson Ida in Kakamega to see that qualified CSA students go to high school.

CSA has expressed gratitude to FoK and to the Care Centre management, leadership, and staff for their invaluable help in making the partnership and its early accomplishments possible. We at Friends of Kakamega are excited to work with CSA as it continues to sponsor Hamisi high school students, expands its support to students in Kakamega, and begins to send promising graduates to colleges and universities. Friends of Kakamega, Crossroads Springs Africa, and the Kakamega Orphan Care Centre have a growing sense of the promising possibilities for our future together as we enable even more students in Hamisi and Kakamega to advance their education beyond eighth grade.

In 2016, CSA sent 104 students to high school, pictured with the Hamisi managing board. In 2017, they sent 115.