KEEPING AKILI GIRLS IN SCHOOL THROUGH SCHOLARSHIPS

Dear friends,

I hope you are all safe, and that the Covid 19 situation is getting better in your respective countries. We are all safe and continue to support our girls despite the pandemic. There has been a sharp increase in covid 19 cases and deaths especially in Kisumu City where we are.  Counties in western Kenya including Kisumu are being watched closely and restrictions have been placed on all public gatherings, non food markets etc to curtail the spread of the disease. 

We are focussing on supporting our girls in their classrooms where we are observing social distancing and limiting class sizes to under fifteen students. We are immensely grateful to God for keeping us all safe and providing all the girls needed to stay in school despite the prevailing circumstances. 

We are particularly grateful for your generous gift of $3,714 which you have helped us raise over the past 6 months. We are very grateful for the 41 donations we have received from each one of you. We thank everyone who has taken their time and donated $10 or more towards helping us keep our girls in school. We are also deeply thankful for the recurring donations we continue to receive from you. 

With the funds, we have kept the girls in school by paying our teachers, buying school supplies including stationery and food, utilities as well as meeting our statutory obligations. 

Because of your support, we were able to keep over 50 needy girls at the Akili school and effectively support our 8th graders who sat for their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCPE) exams in April 2021. 

We are excited that with your help, we have managed to transition 15 girls to high school this month! They excelled in their primary school exit exams and have joined high school for the first time. It is a dream come true for many of them who never thought they would ever join high school to continue their education because of their poor backgrounds. Thank you so much for giving to keep their dreams alive. We are honored to partner with you to play a small part in giving these wonderful girls an opportunity to access education that will no doubt transform their lives and give them a better future for them and their families. 

Through our partnership with  Daraja Academy http://www.daraja-academy.org , one of our girls was able to be admitted to this prestigious school that offers free high school education to economically marginalized girls and nurtures them to be the next community leaders. We are keen to scout and establish partnerships with such schools so that our girls can access free high school education.  

We have enrolled the rest of the girls to affordable and reputable day schools which cost about $150 per student annually. Our goal is to raise $1500 to sponsor 10 girls this year and a further $3000 to support 20 girls in 2022. 

We recently participated in a research that sought to establish covid 19 related barriers that are likely to prevent girls from returning to school. The research established that teenage pregnancy (largely caused by transactional sex for basic goods such as food, menstrual hygiene products, clothing and lifts to school) was the main barrier causing girls to drop out of school. We are working hard with all our partners to remove these barriers and ensure that  girls #ReturntoSchool and continue learning by supporting sustainable school lunch programs and  providing free school uniforms, sanitary pads, underwear/panties, as well as bicycles for girls to cycle to school. We were able to transition 586 boys and girls to high school this month (August 2021) by giving them school uniforms and shoes; a barrier which has traditionally held back many students from progressing to high school.

We are keen to mentor our girls and nurture them to be the leaders that champion sustainable change  in their communities. We plan to hold leadership camps during school holidays once the covid situation eases.

We can't thank you enough for being there for the girls and for all of us at Riley Orton Foundation. We are blessed to have such a wonderful community of friends like you. Again, thank you for keeping the doors of education open to the needy girls in our community. May God richly bless you all!

Regards,