Keep her in school

Today, our children began their first final paper for end of term one. Pencils moved, brows furrowed, and little hearts gave their best. In a few days, the last bell will ring. Then they will pack their uniforms, roll their mats, and leave these dormitories – not for a holiday of fun, but to return to homes we already know are fragile.

We promised them education. But we forgot to promise them that they would not be hungry while learning.

Many of these children will walk back to grandmothers who count grains of rice. To fathers who hide their own hunger. To empty cupboards where even a painkiller for malaria is a luxury. For our girls, the return home also means the return of shame – no sanitary pads, no dignity, just old rags and silent tears.

We have been telling them, “Soon you will go home.” But what kind of home? A place where they might go to bed without supper? Where a simple fever becomes a crisis because there is no medication?

Before this term ends, we're asking you – help us fully send a child back home. Not half-empty. Not ashamed.

Let us send them with a small bag of maize flour. With a packet of sanitary towels tucked inside. With a simple first-aid kit for fevers and colds. And with a little cash – just enough for their guardian to buy soap, salt, or transport in an emergency.

This is not charity. This is closing a gap between a child passing exams and a child surviving the night.

The term ends in days. Let no child leave our gate only to arrive at an empty pot. Let us fully send them home – with their belly lined, their body covered, and their hope intact.

One child at a time. Before the last bell rings.