Spring Highlights

April 2014

In This Issue

Books!

I Am Valued

Champions & Role Models

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Jubilation breaks out in school yards when cartons of reading books arrive at 23 primary schools.

The final five Girls Clubs have been launched! Now, girls at all 23 partner schools receive mentoring support and 'Dignity' supplies.

Job well done, sponsors and students! This year, 13 of our 14 sponsored students graduated and qualified for tuition-free university education. Such is the power within a high school education.

Thank you, one and all!

The KSHP Board of Directors

BOOKS!

The Learning Has Begun

'Olympic Challenge' donations powered the purchase and distribution of hundreds of story books for Kendu Bay school children last month. The locally-produced books feature stories and settings familiar to rural Kenyan children. A headteacher explains the significance of this gift.

"This is the first time in history we have received readers for classes 1-2-3," declares Headteacher Kennedy Ongoro.

If we were lucky to receive book donations in the past, they were for class 8 - when it is too late for students to make a big change. And the books were 'foreign'; our pupils could not relate to them.

For the first time, our children have readers that are within the syllabus and many are also in Kiswahili.

You see their excitement! Children understand and love these stories because they are relevant to their lives. 'Atieno Skips to the City,' 'The Lazy Grasshopper,' or 'Mwezi wa Jua' teaches their culture and language while they learn to read.

I want to assure you, Madam, that we are going to make good use of these weapons you have given us today. Come back in two years or three and I promise you - you will see these children writing their own stories - unlike our present students who even now struggle to learn creative writing in class 7 and 8.

God bless you all for the good work you are doing. You are indeed our CLOUDS that, once they receive moisture, they give rain.

We thank you for the 'rain' you have brought us today."

Click here to contribute to the Fall delivery of BOOKS!

I Am Valued

The Message of Girls Club

Elected student leaders and teacher mentors proudly display supplies for their school's first-ever Girls Club.

Girls in grades 4-8 participate in weekly meetings aimed to help build girls' self esteem, teach life skills and provide practical health education.

In 2013, teenage pregnancy dropped to zero in schools with active Girls Clubs.

This month, KSHP launched the final five Girls Clubs at partner schools. Now, thousands of adolescent girls can learn and grow through this proven program of self empowerment.

Click here to support KSHP Girls' Social Empowerment and Education.

Champions & Role Models

Fourteen sponsored students graduated high school in December. THIRTEEN will attend university on tuition-free scholarship, thanks to sterling performance on their national exams.

Each of these accomplished young adults has risen from poverty and family hardship. Many grew up in mud-walled homes without electricity. The majority have lost one or both parents. Yet, opportunity to gain a high school education enabled each one to bring forth inner gifts that have come to bless the child, the family and community.

These are the role models. In them, we see fulfillment of our mission: "To promote social empowerment and community development through education."

More than 90% of KSHP sponsored students graduate with honors to capture government university scholarships. A double return from a sponsor's early partnership and caring.