Education Kenya Project #12645

Educate Maasai kids: full high school scholarships

by Africa SOMA Inc.

Project Report | Feb 25, 2016
Introducing Africa SOMA's 2016 Scholarship Winners

By Jennie Glassco | Member of the Board of Directors

Moreen - 2015 scholarship winner

We have reached our finding goal of $3,300! This is a huge accomplishment that has provided funding for 16 years of our scholarship winners' secondary schooling. Africa SOMA has, at all times, 16 scholarship winners (2 boys and 2 girls in each of the 4 years of secondary school) placed at schools around Kajiado county and sometimes even further afield. The funds raised through this campaign have been instrumental in supporting our upper year scholarship winners who were not able to benefit from the microproject campaigns we have recently started running for some of newest winners.

A huge thank you to all of our donors, from the Africa SOMA team and all of our scholarship winners. In the words of our 2015 scholarship winner Moreen: "Thank you so much for the support you have given me. My school is a good and conducive learning environment. I thank God for everything and especially the chance I have been given with this scholarship".

Together with the Elangata Wuas Resource Centre Committee we would also like to congratulate the 2016 scholarship winners!

In January, these four students were selected at a meeting of the head-teachers of nine participating primary schools in Elangata Wuas zone. They were selected based on achievement in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams and other selection criteria aimed at benefitting the neediest students.

Our winners were:

Nelson Sirimoi Ntoros from Enchoro-Esenteu Primary School, Ruth Moipa Sakaya from Indupa Primary School, Wilson Mokoi Tompoi from Enchoro –Esenteu Primary School, and Purity Wanjku Karori from KMQ Primary School.

We will be reporting back shortly with photos and interviews with our newest winners.

Our heartfelt thanks go out to all of our donors who have made the provision of these scholarships possible year after year. You are providing talented youth from low income backgrounds with the means to further their education and help bring opportunities to their community.

Permalink

Oct 27, 2015
Africa SOMA scholars prepare for examinations

By Jennie Glassco | Board Member

Scholarship winners Felister, Matthew & Innocent

It has been a year full of exciting achievements for Africa SOMA scholarship winners, new and old.

Noah, our Kenya coordinator holds meetings with all scholarship winners every term break to monitor their academic achievement and discuss their high school experience. Noah provides an invaluable mentorship to our winners, discussing their goals for the future, how to cope with their workload and balance it with family responsibilities, and how they can give back to other students in their communities. Some of our scholarship winners provide tutoring on their holidays, and afterwards many go on to work in schools as assistant or full teachers.

Noah is also hard at work laying the groundwork for the 2016 scholarship competition. He is liaising with the head teachers of the ten participating primary schools in Elangata Wuas zone to confirm the number of final-year students they have who will be eligible for an Africa SOMA scholarship and to get their signed declaration of participation. In late December/early January when the results are posted, Noah will convene a meeting of all of the headteachers to review students results and pick our next four winners. Both of these winners are thrilled that their scholarships have allowed them not to miss any school due to lack of fees.

In the scholarship winners meeting this August, we heard from our scholarship winners Alex (Form 2) and Damaris (Form 4) that they are enjoying their years thus far and are getting ready for exams. Alex explained that he was able to participte in a Maasai dance team at Nakeel Boys that proceeded all the way to the National level of competitions. Damaris has had a challenging year due to a family re-location but her grades have risen over the course of the year and she is set on passing her final KCPE exam in December with flying colours.

Our scholars now have just over a month to prepare for their end of year exams. For those in form four (the final year of high school) this year, that exam will be the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam. The results from this exam will determine what colleges and/or universities our scholarship winners are offered places in. We are wishing all of our scholarship winners the best of luck in their exams this December.

New scholarship winner at the Mile 46 market

New scholarship winner Felister at Mile 46 Market

Permalink

Jun 8, 2015
Proud to Present our New Scholars!

By Caroline Archambault | Africa SOMA Director

Africa SOMA is proud to present to you our newest scholarship winners:

Felister is 12 years old and attended Emurkeyia Primary School. Her favourite subject is Science because "it delas with normal things." She aspires to become a doctor as she wants to help people. In secondary school she is looking forward to making new friends and studying hard! Her father, a livestock keeper, and her mother, who does house work, are very proud of her.

Maureen is 14 years old and attended Torosei Primary School. Her favourite subject was Kiswahili. She aspires to become a pilot so that she can travel the world. She is very excited to explore the new environment of her secondary school and expects to work very hard. Her father, who is a livestock keeper, and her mother, who is a tailor, are both very proud of her.

Innocent is 20 years old and attended Emurkeyia Primary School. His favourite subject is Math because he is good at it. He aspires to attend University after high school and then to pursue law. He wants to become a lawyer because he wants "all people to be treated with equal justice." He is excited about the new subjects he will have in his new school and plans to work very hard. He hopes to fit in some football to refresh the mind. His mother, who is alone and with no employment, is very proud of him.

Mathew is 15 years old and attended Singiraine Primary School. His favourite subject is English because he can speak it well. He aspires to become an engineer because he wants to invent new things and he thinks he will be very good in physics, although he has yet to take a physics class. He looks forward to meeting new people and also engaging in his new classes. His parents, livestock keepers, are very proud of him.

Africa SOMA would like to wish our new scholars the very best of luck in their studies and in the pursuit of their dreams.

Felister, Maureen, Innocent, and Mathew would like to extend to all donors their tremendous gratitude for this opportunity.

ASHE OLENG/ THANK YOU

Permalink

1 2 3 4 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.