Help Kids in Kabiria, Kenya, into Proper Education

Hai Newsletter
JAMBO

The past few weeks have been intense and full of achievements, but also challenges that are part of our reality in Kenya. Here's our update for you:

Catherine is still going strong in college! With the full support of Carol, her volunteer mentor, she's been chasing down the necessary documents and managed to apply for an internship at a hotel for next semester. Her grades are improving and she's very well loved — but, as always, family vulnerability and the Kenyan context make everything more complex. We want to reinforce something we strongly believe in: it's not enough to just pay for tuition, it takes VERY close support for the education to truly make sense.

We found sponsors for ALL of the primary school kids! We shared it on LinkedIn and the results were amazing. Thank you to everyone who sponsored a child and helped spread the word.

Our new academic support project is up and running! Building on an idea that came directly from our own teachers, we've structured a support project for all students from grade 1 to 7 (those who don't attend Saturday tutoring). Each teacher will follow their students closely, including family matters, working together with the parents. Students facing more difficulties will get an individual support report. It kicks off in August, during school break. A huge team achievement!

Saturday tutoring is going full steam ahead. The students took a test (given by the tutoring program's own teachers) and the results were much better than last time. Since August is school break, we're taking the opportunity to run 10 straight days of tutoring with the same students.

In August, we're launching our mental health program for teenagers — a long-held dream that only became possible thanks to a donation we received a few months ago. We've already paid 50% of the program's cost. It's 10 weeks of activities for students in grades 7, 8, and 9, and the first session to introduce the program and meet everyone will be on Saturday, coinciding with the start of their school break. We're so happy and grateful!

We're also continuing the counseling program for two young women who didn't do well on the government's final exams. Volunteer mentors show up every week, but progress is slow — there are years of accumulated family issues and vulnerability behind it. It's a long road that takes a lot of patience from all of us.

Our girls' weekly Thursday gathering was special this time: after finishing a content cycle, they started craft sessions, an idea that came from them, inspired by the colleges they attend. It's a moment that's entirely theirs, where one teaches another, they talk, have fun, and learn. This is one of our biggest goals from the very beginning: for them to take care of one another. Besides these gatherings, they also have monthly lunches at one of their homes and the financial mandala project (we shared that story in a post on our Substack). Seeing them grow stronger like this, on their own, is just beautiful.

And there's good news coming: we want to take them to the beach at the end of the year, many of them have never seen the ocean! They'll cover their own transportation, and we're figuring out how to fund the rest.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for walking this journey with us. If you have any questions, we're here for you.

The Hai Team