One of the most rewarding things about a Kenya Keys visit to the village of Taru is being able to watch as sponsors meet the students they have sponsored - sometimes for many years. It is always tinged with a bit of disbelief for both the sponsor and the student. "Really? The person across the world, whose name I've heard and whose life I have learned about, is really YOU?" It’s one thing to read the biography of a student who is a “first generation learner”, a student who could never go to school without outside assistance. It’s another thing to get to meet them, to have that human connection!
For countless students in the Taru area of rural Kenya, the door to further education is simply shut after 8th grade because students have to pay to attend secondary school. Poverty can lock up their potential. But through a Kenya Keys sponsorship, a whole new world opens up to the student. If they perform well and show dedication and leadership potential, they can even go on to college, fulfilling a dream they never thought possible. This is a promise we make to them, and sponsors are the key to fulfilling that promise.
Sponsors are people who value education and feel grateful to be able to pass this gift on to a student or students. They are caring and compassionate. But it’s almost impossible for them to realize how huge the impact of their sponsorship is on their student, and their entire family. That family has now been infused with hope!
Just as meeting their student is a powerful experience for sponsors, imagine how overwhelming it must be for the students to come face to face with the person who has made it possible for the them to have a better future. It is a unique honor for a student to meet their sponsor. This was true for Flora, who traveled with her 2-year old son for 14 hours one way on public transportation just to meet one of her cherished sponsors from years past. Hearing that Susan Goodwin was arriving in Kenya with the 2018 Kenya Keys team, Flora knew she had to meet her to tell her personally "asante sana" (thank you). It was because of the generosity and caring of Susan and her subsequent sponsors that Flora completed her college education and is employed as a math and science teacher today. This sponsorship was the key to her future. After years of sharing letters and photos, they were finally together. Susan and Flora exchanged hugs and stories and held on to each other in gratitude.
After only being in Taru for a few hours, Flora had to begin the 14-hour journey home so she could return to work. But it was a journey she made with a heart filled with gratitude.
Susan later met our first Kenya Keys staff member, also named Susan, whom she sponsored - ushering in our program of having sponsors support vital staff in Kenya. Though Kenyan Susan has since taken a job with the county, she returned to Taru village to meet the woman from the U.S. who had made her job with Kenya Keys possible. It was so rewarding to watch them work side by side, together with Clemence, the new staff member that Susan Goodwin now sponsors, as Kenya Keys prepared for a special alumni conference.
After meeting these women and many others in the village, Susan had this to say: "their beautiful smiles have poured pearls into my open hands: the colorful kangas (cloths) shower rainbows into my senses and their praises of God in song have streamed gold into my soul. I do not view them as the poor deprived of this world. The richness of their character shatters a world of illusion for what is truly important, and I thank them for this priceless gift."
What a difference this one sponsor has made through her ongoing commitment to our sponsorship program, and what a difference every student and staff member she has sponsored is making in Kenya today.
Sponsors matter.
Kenya Keys recognizes that not everyone is able to be a sponsor - but everyone can help to make a difference in the lives of these students. Kenya Keys established the special Sponsorship Fund to support students until a sponsor can be found, and provides for the special emergency needs of students as they arise. There are many "cracks" through which impoverished Kenyan students can fall: Kenya Keys is there to catch them, and lift them up so that they too have the opportunity to realize their potential.
The Kenya Keys Sponsorship Program now provides sponsorships to 145 secondary students, 146 college students and 3 staff members. We will be accepting new students into the program in December. If you are interested in sponsoring a student, or have questions regarding the Sponsorship Fund, please contact linda@kenyakeys.org.
Read more about our sponsors' experiences meeting their students in the links to our blogs below.
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A GRATEFUL HEART
“I’m extremely overjoyed, blissed, enthusiastic and hysteric! The news I woke up to receive today are responsible for the emotions I’m in right now! I feel like jumping up to touch the clouds. My gratitudes! I have run out of ways to celebrate! It is a dream that has come true! . . . and I’m sure I’m the happiest person on earth today!”
Imagine being this happy - or making someone else feel like this!
These are the words written by a student named Symon when he learned that Kenya Keys had found a sponsor in America for him. Symon is from a large family of 12 children. Neither of his parents are employed and they struggle just to provide food for their family. Symon knew he needed an education to break out of the chains of poverty. He worked hard in school to get the grades that would earn him scholarships for school, but it just wasn’t enough. He was desperate to find some way to complete a college education.
"One night when I was searching the web. . . desperate to get a solution for issues concerning my education and future . . . I bumped into the Kenya Keys website and learned a little about them. Desperate to know more, I spent time reading through the posts. That is where it all started. I knew I had finally found the people to save my future.”
Symon did not live in the Kenya Keys service area, but his family's extreme poverty and his dedication to the pursuit of an education opened the doors for him to apply as an "outside student". After going through the Kenya Keys' Sponsorship Committee's strict vetting process in Taru Kenya, Symon waited to hear if a sponsor could be found - if there was someone in America or beyond who would believe in him and share his journey through college.
That is when the Kennedys from Oregon stepped in and changed Symon’s life forever.
With the financial and emotional support of this couple living more than 9000 miles away, Symon was able to pursue his dream. He attended Kisii University in Nairobi with a fierce determination to succeed. His sponsors were with him all the way, sending letters of encouragement and exchanging photos with him and watching him as he grew into a confident capable man. With unrestrained pride, in 2017, Symon’s family celebrated his graduation with a degree in EcoTourism and Hospitality Management.
When he had first approached Kenya Keys for help, Symon told us that “my main goal after completion of my education is to give back to the community.” He has been true to his word. Symon is very active in the Kenya Keys alumni group. He has traveled across the country to work with the Kenya Keys team in Taru, mentoring and encouraging youth to stay in school and take responsibility for their futures.
But the story does not end there. While in college, Symon began developing his musical talents. With his friend Bill, also a Kenya-Keys' sponsored student, Symon created a special music video for our organization, capturing the essence of the Kenya Keys in an uplifting and almost magical way.
This music video is a beautiful and inspiring gift to Kenya Keys. Be sure to click on the link at the bottom of this page to watch it!
As Symon takes the next step in pursuing his dreams, he will always remember his two dear friends in America who made it all possible; people he now considers family. He continues to write to the Kennedys, and will be forever grateful that they, and Kenya Keys, helped unlock his potential and gave him wings to soar. As he said, “I wish to thank my sponsors for the love that they showered on me. They have a whole chapter in my life biography.”
Would you like to have a chapter in the life biography of a student? Kenya Keys is currently connecting 291 Kenyan students to sponsors across America, Europe, Canada and Australia. Each sponsorship is unique. A sponsor can be an individual, family or group. Every sponsorship has the possibility of changing a life forever.
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, contact linda@kenyakeys.org or visit our website below. Support is also needed for our Sponsorship Fund which provides the emergency fees needed to cover students like Symon while they wait for a sponsor to come forward.
Thank you to all of our sponsors and to everyone who has contributed to the Kenya Keys Sponsorship Fund, making stories like Symon’s possible.
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Anticipation and hope fill the air in the rural villages near Taru, Kenya. This is the time of year when students who have completed primary school (8th grade) anxiously await news that Kenya Keys has found them a sponsor so they may continue their education.
Students in Kenya are required to pay to attend high school. In a land of abject poverty, paying school fees is not a possibility for many deserving students whose parents struggle just to provide food for their families.
Kenya Keys has accepted more than 40 new students into our Sponsorship Program this year, giving these students and their families hope for a better future - with the help of their individual sponsors.
Each student has their story, such as Martha, whose parents both died when she was a young girl. At age 16, she was married off to a man she had never met, with no hope of attaining an education, let alone a career of her own. An aunt rescued her and helped her back to school. She excelled in school and is now hoping to go to high school, with the dream of becoming a lawyer to help other girls who face challenges similar to hers.
Also awaiting a sponsor is Joshua who is one of three sons of a single mother. One of his older brothers died, and the other never finished school. Joshua’s mother tries to make money by selling bottles of water to passing truckers on the busy and dangerous highway. He is determined to go on in school with dreams of someday becoming a doctor or a pilot. He yearns to make it so that his mother will no longer endanger her life for his behalf.
We welcomed Mwanaidi into the program this year. She was also raised by a single mother who washes other people’s clothes to try to feed her three daughters. Mwanaidi does what she can to help her mother by carrying water long distances and gathering firewood. She spends her free time at the mosque, cleaning the grounds and planting trees. Mwanaidi is smart and determined, hoping one day to become a journalist to help raise her family out of poverty.
These are just a few of the students who are waiting to hear that someone in America will step forward, believe in them and help make their dreams come true. A Kenya Keys sponsorship will help unlock their potential. Do you hold the key to their future?
If you know someone who wants to truly make a difference in the life of a child, please let them know about our Sponsorship Program. Through this program, individuals, families or groups sponsor a specific child in Kenya. They have the opportunity to learn about each other, their families and cultures through an annual exchange of letters and photos. Sponsoring a Kenyan child is a powerful and meaningful way to make a positive change in the world.
The students whom we sponsor have been through a vigorous vetting process by our Sponsorship Committee in Kenya, including teacher recommendations, academic testing and a thorough needs assessment. We pride ourselves in knowing each student, and their family. With a team of volunteers and staff in Kenya, we work closely with each student as they progress through school and become active in their communities. Every sponsorship serves to lift not only the student, but also their family and the community.
A Kenya Keys sponsorship changes lives! Consider making this the year that you hold the key to a better future.
To explore a Kenya Keys sponsorship, please contact Linda@kenyakeys.org or visit our website at the link below.
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Seven years ago, life changed for a poor, hopeless young boy in Africa. Zeddy came from Nyari, one of the most impoverished regions of Africa. Like so many others, his father, a peasant farmer, had no money to pay his son's school fees. For Zeddy, there was no hope for an education - or for a better future. At age 14 his life was stagnant. But then Zeddy was accepted into the Kenya Keys Sponsorship Program and matched with a sponsor from Oregon, someone who wanted to make a difference in the life of another.
Rather than us telling you about the impact of the Kenya Keys sponsorship program, we thought you might like to hear it in the words of a student - in a letter Zeddy recently wrote to his sponsor:
Dear Bill,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you. You have shown your sincere kindness by lending a hand in my educaiton and well-being. Your sponsorship has helped me to realize that dreams do come true and that I can be what I want to be. My family is secure knowing that my education is steady and now, on behalf of my family and myself, I pour out my humble thanks.
Presentily, I am a mature adult turning 21 years today and above all, its through your hand I grew up to become an adult with a mission to change my family, country and the world at large. My lifelong dream attending universtiy education is moving forward.
I am an undergraduate student entering my third year at Moi University with a major in Political Science and Public Administration. My passion for political science is matched only by my love for leadership. I chose this field because I have always been interested in government services and ensure democracy is prevailed.
The challenges I am facing as a student are the lecturer's strike and the govenrment's calendar of events like the general election. Despite all these challenges, I am committed to my studies. After graduation, I plan to attend a graduate school of Master of Arts in International Relations. Thanks again for your continued generoisty and God bless you.
Yours sincerely,
Zeddy
We want to thank each of you for making connections like these possible. Whether you sponsor a student or support the Sponsorship Fund, you make it possible for Kenya Keys to connect deserving students to compassionate sponsors. We are proud that we know each of our students and their families, and are honored that we can help faciliate the meaningful connection that takes place between students and their sponsors through letters and photos. Sponsors get to watch their students "grow up" as they look at the photos and read their letters over the years, knowing that they truly have made a difference in the lives of these young people, their familes, their community, and, as Zeddy said ". .. the world at large".
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You may think that your donation to the sponsorship program helped one student, one time. But that’s not the case. One of the most unique and powerful elements of the sponsorships you provide by donating to Kenya Keys is that once sponsored, students remain an active part of the Kenya Keys program forever. We are surprised again and again by the initiative and generosity shown by our sponsored students. They consistently seek ways to support others and improve the world around them.
Of their own accord, sponsored students collaborate with other sponsored students to provide mentorship to younger students, volunteer in a variety of capacities to benefit local schools and communities, and to support and network with each other. Sponsored students took the initiative to establish an alumni group, called the Kenya Keys College Alumni Association. They have elected organizational officers, with Gloria Hope serving as the president (pictured in the center of the seated row in the picture below). Their goals are to mentor, network, and support Kenya Keys.
When Kenya Keys sent a team of US interns to Taru in June 2017, they were joined by 28 members of the alumni group. Each graduate traveled from wherever he or she is currently living (they are willing to travel great distances, despite the costs in time and money) so they could be part of the work Kenya Keys performs in the villages. They worked tirelessly to inform, inspire, and support secondary students in the region, meeting with students in groups and one-on-one.
They also work together to help each find jobs, engage in mentorship, and encourage each other in their ongoing efforts to learn and advance their careers. We have no doubt that they will never cease to be a force for good in their families, communities, and peer groups. And your donation was key to making this possible. On behalf of our sponsored students, and all the people they are influencing for good, we express gratitude for your generous donation.
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