By Kate Robinson | Development & Communications Associate
On October 12, 2015, Kakenya Center for Excellence celebrated the International Day of the Girl (IDG) with many others around the globe. This year’s theme for IDG2015 - The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030 - recognized the importance of investing in adolescent girls’ empowerment and rights today and in the future. During the last 15 years, the global community has made significant progress in improving the lives of girls during early childhood, but there has been insufficient investment in addressing the challenges girls face when they enter adolescence. These challenges include obtaining quality secondary and higher education, avoiding child marriage, receiving information and services related to puberty and reproductive health, and protecting themselves against unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease and gender-based violence.
Kakenya Center for Excellence is part of the solution for girls. We tackle challenges facing girls of all ages with our comprehensive boarding school program for girls in the 4th-8th grade, our health and leadership education camps that have impacted thousands of additional girls from many schools, and our Network for Excellence that supports girls who have graduated from our school while they are in high school. Our approach is an important part of the gradual change in attitudes and the growing support for girls’ education in our village.
During our International Day of the Girl celebration, more than 450 girls from five regional schools joined us in a 5K march through the village, bringing their voices and energy throughout the Transmara. Businesses came to a standstill as the girls shouted messages such as, “Unite to end violence against women! Education for all! End child marriage! Educate me, don’t cut me!” The luncheon that followed on KCE’s campus gathered community leaders, parents, teachers, and students together for speeches, presentations and traditional dancing, which was a clear demonstration of strong participation from our greater community.
In addition to the festivities in Kenya, our girls’ voices were heard around the world at the United Nations celebration! We are delighted to share with you a poem written by four KCE students which was showcased at the 2015 Day of the Girl Summit in New York.
We are so proud that our students are using their voices to celebrate their own achievements, to advocate for the rights of all girls, and to increase awareness about the inequalities that girls face simply because they are girls.
Thank you for supporting our girls’ dreams and for supporting KCE’s direct services and our role in the broader community advocating for girls!
By Kakenya Ntaiya | President and Founder
By Kakenya Ntaiya, PhD | President and Founder
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