Empower, Engage, Educate in Rural Kenya!

Kenya Connect was celebrated in Helsinki last week by HundrED.org as a top Global Education Innovator at their Innovation Summit. Two of our programs, "The Village That Reads" and "The Girl/Boy Empowerment program to reduce teen pregnancy and gender-based violence" were selected as Global Innovations! It was thrilling to be among educators and innovators from around the world who are working in creative and new ways to promote learning and well-being for children, teachers and parents! We are proud that our dedicated work is being honored in such a signifcant way!

It is special that our work continues to be recognized by educational leaders and organizations. But most of all, we are excited that our students are growing in new ways as a result of our innovations, steadfast work, and care. Students are becoming more fluent readers and visiting the library because of our outreach. Since we began the Girl/Boy Empowerment program, we have not had any reported pregnancies at the schools where we are doing the interventions and children are becoming more confident learners and community citizens.

Our work is made possible as a result of your support. We are grateful for you donations which have allowed us to develop and implemenet programs that are meeting the needs of the community. Because of your support, students are flocking to the library during the school break to borrow books and create in our makerspace. Other students are learning computing and building robots. Students who participated in the Girl/Boy Empowerment program are asking to engage more and to serve as peer mentors.

Thank you for allowing us to provide children with options so they can forge new pathways for their futures.

Congratulations to the  the 2024 Queen and King Readers of this year's Reading Challenge! The King Reader was Patrick, a student from Wamunyu ABC PS, who read 194 books and the Queen Reader was Damaris from Muthetheni PS who read 171 books!  Wow!

The Reading Challenge is an annual program that is helping us build excitement about reading! Over 1000 students at 17 schools participated in the 2024 Challenge. Students received colorful activity guides designed by students at the Garrison Forest School to record the number of books that they read. Along with keeping track of the books read, the guides included word puzzles, mazes, fun facts and other games for the students to do. This year's theme was nutrition and the students had fun learning about healthy foods and how they positively inmpact their bodies.

Our Library Team interviewed the potential Queen and King readers to ensure that they read the number of books listed. They asked about favorite books and their favorite characters. It was clear that both Patrick and Damaris had read all the books!

They were crowned Queen and King reader at that 7th Annual Running to Read Festival on October 12th. Before they received their prizes, the Queen and King shared about their love of reading with the 200 students present at the race. It was inspirational. They were each awarded a backpack filled with school supplies, a Garrison Forest sweatshirt, and a swag bag and PHONE from safaricom! They were thilled. They also assisted in cutting the Running to Read cake with the Machakos Minster of Education, Dr. Consolata Mutisya. 

The awarding of the Queen and King was a capstone to the Running to Read Festival. We invite you watch a Running to Read Race video HERE.

We are grateful to our GlobalGiving donors who have helped us build a community of readers in Wamunyu. Our 45,000 book library, Mobile School Library Program, Saturday Storytime and other programs are ensuring that children have access to high quality books so they can become fluent readers. Thank you for bringing the joy, wonder and knowledge of books to our students.