Bridge Educational Gaps for 300 Girls in Kenya.

Dear friends,

On behalf of our beneficiaries, trustees, staffs and volunteers, may I start by wishing you a  late happy new year. As the famous adage goes, it is better late than never.

With the grace of the Almighty and your support, we completed 2015. In our last report, I mentioned that our girls were about to sit their national examinations, Kenya Certificate and Primary Examination (KCPE). In total 72 pupils sat the exam, and I happy to report that all of them have passed their exams and secured admission to their local secondary school. Girls who were not able to read simple sentences only two years ago have now started their second leg of their education journey. Thank you for making that possible.

The performance of the school was much better than 2014 academic year. As you can see from the table attached, all students achieved above 200 marks as a result of improved performance in the three key subjects of Maths, English and Mathematics for which intervention was offered. In mathematics which traditionally one of the worst subjects for girls in the local schools, Elwak Primary Candidates of 2015 improved the subject's mean score by 27%. According to the Head Teacher of the school, the performance of 2015 candidates will have an impact on this year's can candidate to do better and also improve their interest in the subject at secondary school.

To encourage the transition to secondary school, GENCAD has sponsored seven orphan girls fully for one academic year. To reduce the burden on their mothers who are already under financial pressure to support their families, the girls were also given money to help them buy books, stationery, and uniform.

The parents, school administrators and members of the local community are appreciative of your kind donations. The demand for the projects has truly increased and we have increased the number of beneficiary orphans to 100 girls. The new girls selected were drawn from 4 neighbouring primary schools.  This was made possible by your generous donations over the years which has helped has leveraged further support from other trusts. Recently, we received a grant of £10,000 from GlobalGiving UK. Without your initial support, this wouldn't have been possible. Thank you once more.

Dear friends,

It has been a remarkable three months at Elwak Girls Primary School. It's the final term for students in class eight,  and this week, they have started the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE). Due to industrial disputes between the national government and the teaching unions, there were a bit of disruption to the lessons for all schools in the country. Fortunately for us, we were able to find replacement teachers to carry on lessons during the strike. The children have been well prepared and hopefully based on the ongoing assessments results; they should do well in the test. We thank you for providing us with the means to provide this support.

The examination results will be out in January, and we are working hard to ensure all the girls who have completed their primary education transition to secondary schools successfully.

We are planning to organise a prize giving day in January to celebrate their successes and to use that opportunity to lobby the members of Constituency Development Funds and the County Government to sponsor girls who secure admission to secondary schools.

The girls have been making good progress the past three months. Every month, they are being tested, and the results are quite impressive. Collectively, the intervention has seen the average score for each subject go up by up to 29 marks. Mathematics and Kiswahili have particularly registered a good improvement, with Mathematics score going by 29 marks and Kiswahili by 28 marks this term. 

As mentioned in our last report, a team of volunteers at Dentsu Aegis Network embarked on 620Km Bike ride to support our project, and we expect to receive about €5000  for our project. Again this support wouldn't have been possible without your support. Thank you very much.

Also, we recently applied and secured a grant of £10,000 from GlobalGiving to expand our project activities and increase the number of beneficiaries.  The microcredit scheme component of the project is equally doing well and last month we launched it as a separate project and with the help of our supporters and the 50% match funding from GlobalGiving we have raised just under £1500.  Thank again for supporting our projects.

In our next report, we shall share with you personal stories of our girls in more detailed.  Thank you again for the confidence you have shown in our project.