With your support, we have been able to empower and educate girls for almost 10 years. As 2018 winds down, we continue to celebrate our girls and all of their accomplishments over the past year. In fact, recently we celebrated them at our 7th Annual International Day of the Girl event.
Participants marched together through the streets of Enoosaen in a parade to raise awareness about the challenges girls face, and to demand better opportunities and conditions for girls in Kenya and around the world.
We know that many of the 1.1 billion girls of today’s world face a variety of obstacles that thwart their education, training, and entry into the workforce. Some of the biggest barriers both for our girls, and for others around the world, include FGM, early marriage, and pregnancy. This year, it is estimated that 12 million girls under 18 will be married, and 21 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19, and 2.5 million girls under the age of 16 years will give birth in developing countries.
Though these obstacles can seem daunting at times, we know that when girls are given the resources and support they need to stay in school and out of early marriages, they persist, and they thrive. At Kakenya’s Dream, our girls are raising their voices against gender inequality, injustice, and violence, and demanding that their rights be respected by all.
At the celebration, girls were asked to write a commitment to themselves and their future by finishing the sentence “If you invest in me, I will…” Likewise, parents, teachers, and community members were also asked to make promises to invest in and improve opportunities for the girls.
By the end of the day, hundreds of pledges and commitments were made both by the girls and other event attendees. Now, we must hold each other accountable to these promises to invest in girls and create opportunities and bright futures for them, and, by extension, their families, communities, and our world.
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Thank you for your wonderful support of our educational programs in rural Kenya. You are making a difference in the lives of some of the country's most vulnerable girls. I would like to tell you about one of them.
Magdalene is 17 years old and was one of our very first students. Nearly ten years ago, she started as a fourth grader at our brand new primary school. Now she has completed high school and is one of three Kakenya's Dream girls who received scholarships to attend universities in Australia. Over the summer, she left Enoosaen to study at Sydney University, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Science degree.
Before joining our program, Magdalene would never have believed that she would one day be attending college abroad. She comes from a polygamous family and is the fifth born of 15 children. Because of her family's traditional beliefs, she was at high risk of undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage. Her family struggled to support her education.
When she came to KCE, Magdalene understood very little English and lacked the confidence she needed to express herself. She says, “I did not know how to speak well in English, and therefore I would shy away whenever I was required to speak or write in English. At the local school I attended, students spoke and were taught in Maasai, my mother tongue.”
She continues, “All this changed when I joined KCE, where I received extra tutoring not only in English but other subjects, as well, that resulted to great improvement in my performance. Now, I am an all-around empowered girl that is confident and capable to write and express myself very well.”
We are so proud of Magdalene and her Kakenya's Dream cohort, who have all enrolled in university programs in Kenya and abroad. And we are grateful for supporters like you, who have helped make her dreams a reality!
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Thank you so much for your support of our work in rural Kenya. This summer, we have been reflecting on the reasons we believe our holistic education is so crucial. Children are directly and indirectly affected by the decisions made on local, national, and global scales. Too often, they are left out of the conversations about their lives and wellbeing, even though they have a right to participate.
In 1989, the UN General Assembly passed the resolution for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This Convention, as well as the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959, protect a child’s right to grow up in a healthy, safe, and nurturing environment. The Convention also describes children’s right to their own opinions, to be listened to and respected by adults, and to be involved in matters affecting them.
At Kakenya’s Dream, we have seen that educating youth on their rights has empowered them to join the conversation in our community and to become their own advocates.
We center our curriculum around the needs of youth, specifically girls who are most marginalized. Oftentimes, before girls enroll at Kakenya's Center for Excellence (KCE), they are unaware of the issues that violate their rights. Typically they do not have a full understanding on their rights as a whole. So we start from the beginning with our girls.
At KCE, we reflect on the individual needs of each girl. Through a holistic and girl-centered approach, we meet those needs. Both inside and outside of the classroom, we teach our girls about their rights, health, safety, and culture. As they develop greater awareness in these areas, we empower them to be advocates for their rights and the rights of others. We also recognize that community and family is essential for the growth and development of a child, so we invite parents and community leaders to join their daughters in this journey. Their involvement and support is essential for lasting change.
At Kakenya’s Dream, children are at the center of everything. We listen to them, believe in their potential, and we empower them to achieve their dreams. To learn more about Kakenya's Center for Excellence, visit our website.
Again, thank you for supporting our girls' rights to education and engagement. We couldn't do it without you!
Sharon, age 18, is one of the 24 pioneering Kakenya’s Dream students who graduated from high school in December 2017. As part of the first class to enroll at the Kakenya Center for Excellence (KCE), Sharon represents the power of education, holistic support, and passion to transform lives.
Sharon grew up in a polygamous family with 25 siblings and three step-mothers. Sharon is the second-youngest of her mother’s nine daughters. With her very traditional family, especially as one of many daughters, it was very unlikely that Sharon would be able to continue her education beyond primary school.
That all changed in 2009 when Sharon joined the KCE’s first class. She finished grades four through eight at KCE and was then accepted to a prestigious national high school. In November 2017, she took the national high school exam and did extremely well. Her performance earned her a scholarship to study at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Starting in July of this year, Sharon will pursue a degree in Health Science.
After completely her studies in Australia, Sharon plans to become a pharmacist and return to her community, where she would like to help increase access to medicine and quality healthcare.
In March, Sharon visited UTS for the first time. She met faculty, visited classrooms, and even spoke at a presentation with campus stakeholders. We are so proud of her accomplishments and know she has a bright future ahead!
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In November, all 8th graders in Kenya sat for their KCPEs, the national primary school exam. The KCPE tests students on material from the past five years of primary school and the exam results determine the students' high school placement. Getting a high score on the KCPE is vital if a student is looking to attend a nationally ranked high school, which all our students aspire to. This year, we had 32 8th grade girls who all took the KCPE. They spent the months before the exam diligently reviewing the material and getting extra tutoring in subjects they struggled with. Our teachers, program staff, and parents all rallied together to support the students as best they could, encouraging them and printing practice test after practice test to help the girls familiarize themselves with the test's format and question style.
After three long days of exams, the girls waited anxiously to get their scores back. They, their parents, and the entire community was delighted when we finally received the students' reports, which showed that the Kakenya Center for Excellence once again achieved scores much higher than the national average. Only 25% of students nationally scored above 300 points on the exam, while all but 4 of our students scored above that mark (with the other four only missing the 300 point cut off by a few points.) In addition, 5 of our students scored above 350 points, which placed them in the top 7% of students nationally. With these scores our students have qualified for nationally ranked high schools and the community is celebrating their successes. I'm excited to see what these young women accomplish in high school and beyond, and can't wait to tell you about their future achievements.
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