Support girls' education and end FGM in Kenya

From May to early August, our students completed the second term of the 2023 academic year. Alongside their regular classroom instruction, the girls participated in extracurricular activities like interschool sports games, music competitions, and scout training. They also went on field trips, visiting a variety of places over the summer, including Kisimu City, Nakuru City, and the Maasai Mara, where they witnessed the great migration of wildebeest and zebra. Several classes also went to Nairobi and toured the Houses of Parliament, the national Meteorological Department, and the Bomas of Kenya, a cultural center that features replicas of traditional homesteads. 

For many, it was their first time being in the nation’s capital or even traveling outside their home village. Most of our students come from a primarily Maasai area where common livelihoods focus on pastoralism or subsistence farming. In a region that sees girls as primarily wives and mothers and devalues their education, these trips help our students expand their understanding of what girls can achieve and career possibilities in industries like government, science, and engineering. 

A new national curriculum, the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), has been slowly rolling out across the country since 2017. In January, it was implemented for the seventh grade for the 2023 school year. Kenyan schools were divided into primary (grades four to eight) and secondary (grades nine to twelve). The new structure adds a third division: a junior high (grades seven to nine).  To comply with the changes, junior high schools were established at both of our boarding schools, KCE I and KCE II. To support the student body expansion at KCE II from the new junior high, we broke ground on a dining hall in mid-June. The new hall will not only provide our growing student body with a safe, weather-ready place to eat, but will also serve as a multi-purpose center for student activities, like assemblies, graduation ceremonies, theater performances, and indoor games. We also hope to host parent meetings and outreach events in the hall to further deepen our community engagement efforts. Once completed, it will have a kitchen, a storage room, and a dining area for students and staff with a capacity of approximately 500-600 people. 

With the final school term of 2023 underway, our current eighth grade class at KCE I is busy studying for their national exams in December and are receiving extra academic support and test preparation. In June, they took a joint practice exam with four other schools and as a result of their hard work, performed the best! At KCE II, our Form 4 (twelfth grade) Class is also undergoing intense preparation for their standardized exams. In July, we hosted several exam facilitators to provide guidance to familiarize the girls on the topics that the exam covers. Both classes are hard at work preparing for these intense exams, and we hope you join us in wishing them success!

We are deeply grateful for people like you in the GlobalGiving community. Your continued support means that hundreds of girls can stay in school with their academic, mental, and physical needs fully met. Not only are you providing vulnerable girls with a safe, nurturing environment to learn, but you are also ensuring that they have everything they need to flourish holistically. As 2023 comes to an end, we look forward to sharing the impact of your generosity in the months ahead!