After 10 long months, Kakenya’s Dream fully reopened its two campuses on January 4! Our girls were excited to see their teachers, matrons, staff, and friends, and to continue their education in a safe and nurturing environment.
Our teachers, staff, and students are acutely aware that COVID-19 remains a threat, and have taken strict precautions to avoid the spread of the virus by forming a learning “bubble” on campus. Prior to our students’ return, our faculty and staff received COVID-19 training so that they could uphold strict health standards and protect our girls’ wellbeing. We also supplied each student, teacher, and staff member with double-layered cloth masks upon their return. For a month, we performed daily temperature checks on our students and enforced strict mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing protocols. With no symptoms of COVID-19 present on our campuses, our students are now able to continue learning without masks within the safety of the campus “bubble.”
Linet, one of our Class 7 students, says that being back on campus has brought her a great sense of happiness: “I’m happy sharing the dormitories with my classmates, especially my bedmate. She makes me laugh before I go to bed...even competing with other people in sports, you feel like you’re happy everywhere you go.”
Despite the joy on campus, our girls faced emotional stress at home related to abuse, the pressure to get married, and other cultural barriers. Our initial priority was our girls’ nutritional and physical health, but we are now focusing on their mental health and wellbeing. Our experienced school counselor is supporting our students by helping them overcome any trauma they faced at home and ensuring that any new mental health needs are addressed promptly. Once our girls’ physical, nutritional, and mental health needs are met, they will be able to concentrate on their studies and more effectively make up for lost time.
The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, but we are excited to see what our students will achieve now that they are back in the optimal environment to thrive and achieve their potential.
We look forward to providing you with more updates on our girls as the year progresses!
Links:
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
Make a monthly donation & get 
