Catherine Letipo, surrounded by her uncles in northern Kenya
In this season of giving I am hoping we can all come together to become a village and give the gift of a high school education to this beautiful girl,
Catherine Ntasanwa Letipo, who lives in northern Kenya.
(Her story below)
In support of the Kenya Drylands Education Fund (KDEF) which offers a High School Scholarship Program to promising secondary school students from vulnerable, impoverished families in Marsabit and Samburu Counties in northern Kenya with resources they need to complete four years of study in high quality boarding schools, without distractions or want for food, clothing, supplies, and safe housing I have started a GoFundMe for Catherine! Secondary school is expensive, especially for families living on less than a dollar a day. A four -year scholarship provides for full-board tuition, uniform, bedding, books and sanitation supplies for girls.
A full four-year scholarship costs $3,400.
The new school session starts in January 2020.
Please donate (and share) this GoFundMe
for Catherine
HERE !
Won't you please join be in becoming "a village" for Catherine, to empower her through education, to make her dream of becoming a nurse a reality so that she can help herself, her family and many others out of poverty? Imagine how wonderful we will all feel if we can give this young girl an education all because we came together because we love houses!
KDEF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and a Kenyan NGO. Any donation is tax deductible and all money raised goes directly to KDEF.
You were all SO wonderful and SO very generous when I posted several years ago about KDEF (formerly KURA Project) and their Menstrual Hygiene Program HERE which gives "opportunity kits" to girls who attend school (and their mothers) that live in extreme poverty in northern Kenya who do not have access to the most basic of sanitary products. Many girls are deprived of an education because of the lack of this basic necessity since going to school without any form of menstruation protection subjects them to the shame of staining their clothes. Very often menstruation causes girls to miss school, drop out altogether and then to be married off at a young age. "Opportunity kits" contain 4 reusable menstruation pads, underwear (since many of the girls do not own underwear), soap, soap sack, and a nice bag.
One kit will last each girl a year or more.
KDEF is an amazing non-profit that is doing remarkable things for the people who live in northern Kenya . Please read about all of their projects HERE.
KDEF's High School Scholarship Program provides promising secondary school students, both boys (about 20%) and girls, from vulnerable families in northern Kenya with the resources they need to complete four years of study in high quality boarding schools. The students must score above 280 on the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam in grade 8.
Catherine's story:
When I contacted Sarah Hadden, co-founder of KDEF, regarding starting a GoFundMe for a scholarship she was literally on her way to the airport to fly to Kenya attend one of KDEF's Mentorship Programs. She informed me that all the scholarship slots had been awarded for the start of the school year in January 2020. I asked if there was anyone we (you and me) could sponsor at this late date and she immediately contacted their Kenya Country Director and he said there was a girl, Catherine, who had just been told by her father that she would have to drop out of school and forget pursuing her high school education because her father had lost everything.
After 18 months of severe drought, the rain finally started falling at the joy of the pastoral communities of northern Kenya. The kinsmen could finally return to their homesteads after having been gone for 18 months herding their cows, camels and goats to find water. Catherine, 14 years old and the only girl in her village to get a secondary school education, had just passed (with flying colors) her Primary School exam.
Catherine wants to become a nurse.
When her father returned home she received the very sad news that her older brother had died, and that bandits had stolen all of her father's livestock. Because of these tragic, life-altering events Catherine was told she could no longer pursue an education.
And this is where we- you and me- come in! Together, we can change her life and her future. We can empower her through education and raise her up with love from around the world.
Please donate HERE!
Catherine with one of her uncles
If you are more comfortable sending a check their address is:
KDEF
535 Prospect Street
Manchester, VT 05254 USA
(Please note your donation is for Catherine in the memo line)
Much love,
joan
Bravo to you and asante sana.
ReplyDeleteHelping Catherine could change not only her life but the lives of everybody in her village.
Almost all secondary schools in Kenya are boarding schools. It's the only way the kids can study. At home they would have to work, plus care for little siblings and fetch water, which takes a huge amount of time. The only transportation is by foot, and distances can be far. (There are private "taxis"--either ancient cars or enclosed pickups called matatus, but they are too costly to take daily.) Also, at school, they get fed every day.
Marsabit is a very isolated town, a small blip on the edge of the Sahara. It's a little volcanic mountain that's a green island in a sea of brown. I went there in 1986, during the huge famine in East Africa. I hitchhiked (along with about 30 Kenyans) on a big lorry; we sat on top of bags of grain marked "Gift of the People of the U.S.A." That made me proud. But it was wrenching to see people who were truly starving, especially the children with their distended bellies and hair made orange by malnutrition.
I have gone back to Kenya many times since then. During one especially bad drought, I asked one of my friends how she survived. She pooh-poohed it, saying she was doing great compared to most other people. "We aren't starving!" she insisted. "We just eat every other day."
Think about that when your stomach growls.
Hello Joan,
ReplyDeleteI just donated to this wonderful and worthy cause! I believe the goal will be reached and surpassed very quickly! It would be sweet to get an update on Catherine's story in the future.
Merry Christmas to you and Dan.
Kristen in Atlanta
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