Live and Learn in Kenya Int'l Sponsorship Program

25 Years of Opening Doors at Live and Learn in Kenya International

Sometimes the impact of a sponsorship can be measured in school years, meals, books, uniforms, or examination results.

And sometimes it walks back through the school gates years later — as a teacher.

At Live and Learn in Kenya International, some of the teachers standing in front of classrooms today once sat in our own kindergarten classrooms as sponsored children themselves.

They arrived as little children needing an opportunity.

They received an education.

They grew up.

And they came back to help give the next generation the same chance they were once given.

That is what sponsorship can do.

It Begins With One Child

For 25 years, Live and Learn in Kenya International has worked with children and families in Nakuru, Kenya, who face circumstances in which something as fundamental as going to school cannot be taken for granted.

For families living in poverty, education comes with costs that can simply be impossible to meet.

There are school fees. Uniforms. Shoes. Books. Learning materials. Meals. Transportation and other necessities.

When a family is already struggling to provide food and meet the most basic needs of everyday life, education can quickly become something they desperately want for their child but simply cannot afford.

Sponsorship changes what is possible.

It gives a child the stability to go to school knowing that the things needed for an education are there.

But what that child receives goes far beyond paying for school.

A Child Cannot Learn on Education Alone

A hungry child has difficulty concentrating.

A sick child needs care before lessons.

A child who does not feel safe cannot simply leave those worries outside the classroom door.

That is why LLK's approach to sponsorship has always been about the whole child.

Children receive nutritious meals, educational materials, medical and dental care, and opportunities to participate in sports, music, creative activities, and play.

They learn in bright, welcoming classrooms and have safe spaces where they can run, laugh, make friends, discover talents, and simply enjoy being children.

These things may appear separate on paper.

For a child, they are all connected.

A warm meal means being able to concentrate in class.

A uniform means walking into school without feeling different from everyone else.

Medical care means a health problem does not have to become an obstacle to education.

Books and materials mean being prepared to learn.

Sports and creative activities build confidence and reveal abilities a child may never have known were there.

And having adults who consistently believe in you can change the way you begin to see yourself.

The Person Behind the Sponsorship

Sponsorship is sometimes described in numbers: how much it costs per month or per year.

But behind every number is a relationship built on something much more meaningful.

Someone, often thousands of kilometers away, has made a decision:

This child's future matters to me.

The child may never fully understand everything that sponsor has made possible.

The sponsor may never witness every ordinary school morning, every meal, every difficult lesson finally understood, every football game, every examination, every moment of encouragement, or every small success along the way.

But all of those moments become part of the same journey.

Year after year, they add up.

A little child learns to read.

A schoolchild discovers a favorite subject.

A teenager begins to imagine a profession.

A young adult gains the education and skills needed to stand independently.

And sometimes that young adult returns to LLK and says, in effect:

Now it is my turn.

When the Circle Closes

There are few things that demonstrate the lasting value of education more beautifully than seeing former LLK children return as teachers.

They understand the children sitting before them in a way that cannot be taught at university.

They know the community.

They know the challenges.

And they know, from their own lives, what an opportunity can become when someone believes in a child long enough.

A sponsored child becoming a teacher is not simply one success story.

That teacher will educate hundreds of children throughout a career.

Knowledge that was once given to one child is passed on to another, and then another.

The effect continues long after the original sponsorship has ended.

One Child — Many Lives

That is why sponsorship never truly touches only one person.

When a child receives an education, the possibilities for an entire family can change.

When that young person finds employment, becomes independent, supports relatives, raises children with different opportunities, or uses acquired skills within the community, the effects spread outward.

Education creates possibilities that poverty tries to close off.

Sponsorship helps open the door.

The child is the one who must walk through it.

25 Years of Believing in Possibility

Over the past 25 years, thousands of children have passed through the programs of Live and Learn in Kenya International.

Their paths have not all been the same.

Some have continued through secondary school. Some have learned a trade. Others have gone on to college or university. They have become professionals, skilled workers, parents, and contributing members of their communities.

And some have returned to the very place where their own journey began.

Behind those stories are sponsors, donors, volunteers, teachers, staff members, and friends who chose to believe that where a child begins in life should not determine where that child is allowed to go.

To every person who has accompanied a child along that journey:

Thank you for the school days.
Thank you for the books and uniforms.
Thank you for the meals.
Thank you for the medical care.
Thank you for the encouragement.
Thank you for believing in a future you could not yet see.

Most of all, thank you for seeing more than a child in need.

You saw a child with possibilities.

Twenty-five years later, some of those children are standing in front of our classrooms, helping the next generation discover theirs.

There could hardly be a more beautiful way to say:

It worked.

Asante Sana — Thank You.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Brique Zeiner