Help Kenyan Girls Qualify for Secondary School

On May 28, 2022, the Riley Orton Foundation celebrated the work carried out all year round to promote good menstrual health and hygiene, empowering marginalized girls living in rural areas. 

Periods should not be something that keeps girls from living their life and keeping them out of class. 

On this special day, we gave free sanitary pads to about 60 girls, and we are taking another step forward by bringing boys on board by adding an education element to the day. 

The free pads relieve a massive financial burden on the girls and empowers them to continue to come to school. 

Riley Orton is committed to raising awareness and educating both boys and girls about menstruation and sexual and reproductive health, so they can learn how to normalize menstruation and end period stigma.

Well...

It is that time of year again. 

End of year exams will happen at the end of Feburary. 

This is an area where we are so proud to have partnered with ROF on: they spend the time and resources to ensure their girls are ready for the test. 

Last year, every single girl not only passed but matriculated into the next level of school.

Let me repeat that: Every single girl matriculated. 

This is something that schools elsewhere globally can only dream of. 

We know that the team at ROF will have the same high expectations this year, and we have no doubt that the girls can get there. 

Any donations from this project will go to helping these girls with their studies and preping for not only this year's final exams, but future years' exams as well. 

Great job team ROF and good luck to all the girls. 

Hello from the Sunflower Foundation!

We are excited to welcome new members to our newsletter. With all the new people interested and with new projects on the horizon, it is amazing to see the growth and impact of the foundation. 

This month we want to highlight the Riley Orton Foundation (ROF), located in the slums of Kisumu, Kenya, which have been a long-term partner of Touch Foundation. David, the founder of ROF,  and his team are tenacious in their efforts and creative in their ideas to make a positive impact on girls' lives. 

The ROF’s mission is to alleviate generational poverty amongst the most disadvantaged and marginalized rural girls. They deliver holistic programming focused on education, health & wellness, economic empowerment, and life skills training in order to provide rural girls and their families with the agency to make sustainable changes.

We have funded (thanks to all of our supporters ) the literacy garden that enables the girls at the school to read, write and perform in their own space without judgment or unwanted attention. We have featured some of their amazing work in previous newsletters. The creative minds of kids cut across language and culture.

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to support the operating expenses of ROF to help the teachers and girls.  This decision was not taken lightly as our funding is historically project-based, however, it played a critical role in the school remaining open in the midst of lockdowns and instability in Kenya. The Malala Fund found that due to COVID-19, more than 20 million girls (from pre-primary to upper secondary) are at risk of dropping out and may never return to school. We did not want this to happen at the ROF school!

With the new school year starting this August, our funds were used to help provide uniforms, shoes, and underwear for over 500 students at the school. The uniforms were important as the Kenyan government supported the tuition of students but their aid stops there. All other costs associated with going to school had to be provided either by the student or the school. Many girls at ROF school cannot afford their uniforms (and shoes and underwear) and would quit going to school if these were not provided.

With pride in our hearts, 100% of the girls from primary school were enrolled in secondary school. This is a truly incredible achievement and almost close to twice as high as the national average in Kenya. 

Our mission is to get girls to school and to keep them there. 

The Riley Orton Foundation is our featured project and you can support their girls staying in school by making a donation here. 

Until next time,

Team Sunflower

Hello Everyone and a happy 2021 from the entire Sunflower Team. 

Even though it is a new year, there are still challenges that we are all facing. That said, we are optimistic that 2021 will swing in a positive direction. 

We are lucky enough to have been in touch with David Otieno, the ED of the Riley Orton Foundation in Kenya. He and his team have moved mountains the past 9 months to keep things ticking over. We are so happy to have a relationship with the organisation and the great work they are doing. 

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From David: 

The 8th graders at Akili school resumed classes on 12 th October 2020 when schools in Kenya reopened for the candidate classes. This marked the beginning of 2nd semester which ends on December 23rd 2020.

The closure of schools in March this year due to COVID-19 pandemic, interrupted learning for millions of students who missed more than six months of formal education.

We have a total of 8 girls in 8th grade and they are all safely back to our campus where they board.

The teachers have been working with the students to cover the syllabus and lead revision sessions as the students prepare for the primary school exit exams scheduled for March 2021 .

Staying at the boarding school has greatly contributed to the safety of the students and given them the much needed time to learn without worrying about COVID 19 or the living conditions at home.

They are getting supported emotionally as well with the teachers and staff available to counsel and talk to them, assist with specific topics, and guide them in their study groups. Our goal is to have all the students scoring at least 70% in all the tests.

As all students prepare to return to school in January 2021, we are conducting interviews/focussed group discussions with girls from rural and urban slums to identify the barriers that may prevent them from returning to school.

Some of the girls are now pregnant or married, some parents have relocated to other towns and villages due to loss of jobs and economic hardships occasioned by the COVID 19 pandemic, while some schools may not meet the government threshold/requirements for reopening of schools.

Such threats to return to school for girls may negate the gains we have made in ensuring gender equality /girls empowerment through education. We hope to use the findings to ensure that all girls in our community return to school and continue learning.

We are also making and giving out school uniforms and free bicycles to students to increase access to education to marginalized girls and boys. We continue to use sports to teach life skills to both girls and boys to ensure that they have the skills to stay safe as schools remain closed.

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As you can tell from David's note, they are doing the very best they can with what the circumstances are. We are so impressed that they have been able to keep the school up and running throughout these tough times. 

What is just as impressive is that they have had 98% attendance rate while achieving 90% of what they set out to teach for the year. Those are incredible numbers when looking at the odds they were facing. 

We look forward to continuing to support such an awesome organization. 

On to a better 2021!