By Lauren Morford | Donor Relations Coordinator
Dear supporters, family, and friends,
Hopeful Africa’s recent Hope Team trip to Kenya was full of excitement and opportunities to learn how we can support our partner schools, teachers, and students even further. Since returning from Kenya we have been working hard to figure out how best to support and enhance the opportunities of the many community members Hopeful Africa supports.
Each trip helps us to build upon the passion and dedication we have toward this cause, because we are able to see firsthand how our work is positively impacting and shaping the lives of students and teachers in Kenya. Because we find this impact so powerful, we want to share some of these stories with you. You can also find more detailed versions of these stories on our blog,http://hopefulafrica.org/blog/.
Through our Student Sponsorship program we have provided 62 annual sponsorships to deserving secondary school students and have seen a 100% secondary graduation rate of sponsored students to date. Of these sponsored students is Caleb from Ogilgei Secondary School. Caleb is currently in 12th grade and ranks third in his class.
Caleb’s goal is to become an engineer. He describes his career aspirations saying, “I am working hard toward achieving this goal to change my society, nation and even Africa at large in order to bring revolution in modern technology and change the world.” Caleb described the impact sponsorship has had on his life stating, “This support has brought great impact on my performance in class. Since I got support from Hopeful Africa, I have not missed any class as we are no longer being sent home for fees and I have immensely improved my grade from D+ to B-.”
One of the impact areas Hopeful Africa has improved over the last few years is the reduction of the teacher to student ratio. Currently, the average teacher to student ratio in sub-Saharan Africa is 1:42. At the start of our partnership, our partner schools were not far from this ratio. Through provision of additional teachers we have been able to reduce the ratio by 33 percent. Through this great progress and we have seen improvement in district rankings and performance of students.
Maureen is a sponsored teacher from Boror Mixed Secondary School where she teaches Biology and Geography. She explained the impact Hopeful Africa has had on her life and teaching career. “I started teaching in Boror Secondary School in 2010 as an untrained teacher. It wasn’t until Hopeful Africa came in that I enrolled in Mount Kenya University to study. I enrolled in a school-based program where I went to school during holiday (April, August and December). Hopeful Africa is the one who made me successful. I graduated from university on December 11, 2015 with a Bachelors of Education (Science) in Biology and Geography.”
The words of Caleb and Maureen are just two of the many people Hopeful Africa helps each year through academic sponsorship for both students and teachers. These words and stories would not be possible without the support you provide. We hope these stories show the difference you make in the lives of students and teachers across Kenya.
However, our work is not done. Our annual trip reminds us of the amazing progress together we have made in this journey, and also reminds us of the importance of continuing our work each and every year. Additional teachers are needed to reduce the ratio of students to teachers, textbooks and resources are needed to enhance learning opportunities, and students need fee assistance to make going to school and learning a reality.
Our work will continue as we are getting ready for another GlobalGiving Bonus Day on Wednesday, September 21. This is an additional opportunity to donate to Hopeful Africa’s cause. Each donation and contribution helps to ensure students and teachers, such as Caleb and Maureen, can continue to receive education and learn in our partner schools. As our work continues to grow, we hope your partnership with our organization grows as well. Thank you for reading and for joining with us in this cause.
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