As you can see, the children of Mukuya School were very pleased to receive the shoes so generously donated by Kipawa supporters, and delivered when our trustee, Kirsty, visited this month.

Many thanks to Lilypad Retail for their very generous donation of new shoes and to Lindsay Given and Clare Thompson and the families of Marshgate Primary School and Broomfield House School for the fabulous collection of used shoes.

Every pair of shoes will help a child living in poverty in Ruiru, saving their families money and making the walk to school so much easier.

A fuller report - and more photos - from Kirsty's visit to Kenya will follow soon!

Kipawa currently funds feeding and health programmes at Mukuya Primary School in Ruiru. In Kenya, primary education teaching is free for children around 6-13 years old. Not all children in Kenya benefit from Secondary Education though. 

There are some free government-funded schools, but these are scarce in rural communities and are often only for the very brightest (based on Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) test scores). This means those with potential have to find fees for so-called 'Harambee Schools' (partially-funded) or totally private schools. Inevitably, there are dozens of children like these even in Mukuya who will need additional financial support to progress beyond primary school. Kipawa already supports a small number of young people in secondary school but there are many more who could benefit.

Below are some profiles of children (provided by their teachers) likely to benefit from sponsorship allowing them to attend secondary school. 

Just £20 a month would cover the fees and other costs to allow one of these children to move on to secondary school and potentially break the cycle of poverty that affects their lives and the lives of their families.

Please contact us if you can give £20 a month and would like to sponsor one of the young people described below. If you'd prefer to make a one-off or other regular donation, you can do that here.

IBRAHIM WAIRIUKO

Ibrahim is in class 8 and lives at Gitothua village in Ruiru. He lives with his both parents and he has 8 siblings. Ibrahim loves school and is very ambitious about going to secondary. But his parents have no permanent work: his father has alcohol issues and his mother’s main income is from fetching firewood and selling to buy food for the children. Ibrahim helps his mother in her work when he is not at school.

ESTHER WANGUI

Esther lives with her mother in Gitothua village, the only child at home (her sister is grown up and living by herself). Her mother buys rejected bread and sells it for their living. They live in a single rental house. One of the first beneficiaries of the sanitary towel programme, she is attending school more regularly now and putting lots of effort into her studies and wants to join secondary school in 2014 but finances will be difficult.

SUSAN WANJIRU

Susan has faced a lot of challenges in life. She lives with her parents in Gitothua village and is currently not at school but working as a home help. She did her final examination in primary school last year, and although she scored marks that could have taken her to secondary, her parents had no money to pay her fees. Given a chance, she wants to to go back to school and continue learning with her classmates and friends.

WILSON MALUNDU

Wilson is in class 8 at Mukuya School. He is a very jovial boy and most of the time you will meet him smiling, despite his home situation: his parents are casual laborers and they are not stable enough financially to send him to secondary school. His sister dropped out from secondary school a few years ago in Form 2 and his parents never got the fees together to take her back to school. He remains optimistic.

MARTIN KIMANI

Martin is also in class 8, and last term scored over 200 marks.  He wants to go to secondary school next year but is worried that his parents are not for the idea as they claim to have no regular income. His father is a mason but gets works only rarely and his mother has no any source of income too. Martin is a football player and he has a team he joins in the village when he is not in school. He appreciates the feeding programme in the school, as he is very comfortable in school than home where they go without lunch.

PATRICK IRUNGU

Patrick attends Mukuyu Primary School, and is working very hard: he too is determined that he will score marks that will enable him to join secondary school next year. Initially, he was somehow depressed as there was a very big fight when his parents were separating. His mother managed to go with the children and they are living in a different home in a rental single house. Since then, he has been going through counseling sessions at school, and is happy that the programme has also provided feeding in school and as their mother cannot afford much at home. Together with his only sister they have made school a second home.

CHARLES KAMAU

Charles is a very hard working boy in school. He lives in a slum in a village called Matopeni with his parents who are very poor and 12 siblings. His mother collects scrap metal and empty bottles of which she sell to get food for a day without minding for tomorrow; the father is has no job. Charles is 17 year old, and this does not match with the class he should be in - he should be finishing secondary school at this age. His education has been affected by many challenges from home. He has taken a very strong decision to learn despite of his age, and sees it as a way out.

SAMUEL NDERITU

Samuel is in class 8, and has been working hard to score marks to join secondary school next year. He lives with his parents in a village called Hilton where his mother is a casual labourer in a coffee plantation: his father has no job. They live in a single rental house where the cash they get from the scarce job is used to pay the rent and get food.  Samuel is a big boy and when he is not at school, he also works as a labourer and earns some money for the family. He likes dancing, acting and also playing football.

NAOMI  WAITHERA

Naomi is working very hard as the end of the year examination is nearing and she would to get the marks that will enable her to join secondary school next year.  Naomi is a partial orphan. She lives with her father who was a watchman but whose role was terminated abruptly.  The father as the only breadwinner does what he can to make sure the family of 6 siblings gets food and pays for the single rental house they are living in.  All these duties towards one person makes Naomi feel that there won’t be a chance for her to join secondary school.  She is very happy to have joined Mukuyu primary school as this is where she gets a lot of comfort in food, sanitary towels and mostly counselling which has helped her move this far as regarding the death of her mother. She is the one taking care of her younger siblings in washing them, and cooking for them, she is like their mother.

REGINA WARINGA

Regina lives in Hilton village with her mother and four siblings. Only two of the siblings are provided for by a father, so Regina and the rest are left out. This makes the feeding programme very important for her, as well as the sanitary towels and counseling which has brought her this far. She is working very hard in school as she would very much wish to continue with her studies to see if she would a have a bright future.

BRIAN WANYAMA

Brian lives with his uncle in a village called Gitothua with his uncle, after the death of his mother in March. According to Brian, he is supposed to be in secondary school but he has been on and off school due to problems at home, but he is still sure that he will make it to secondary school for him to have a bright future, and to take responsibility for his family in future.  He is not sure that the uncle is willingly going to take him to secondary school as he has been telling him that he has a lot with his own family.

TERESIA NJERI

Teresia is a very humble girl in Class 8, and lives with her parents in a village called Wataalam. She works hard in school and she is a good performer. Her parents are in a very bad position financially and so this girl and her siblings have largely got their food at school. Her older sister was in secondary school has already dropped due to lack of fees, but Teresia has not lost hope of getting there at some point. She likes playing volley during her free time and netball too.

CATHERINE MWIKALI

Catherine is in class 8, and lives with her mother in a village called Gitothua. Her mother goes to coffee estates to pick coffee and what she gets covers food and rent.  She has two siblings who are in school too and they all get to benefit from the programmes provided by Kipawa like feeding sanitary towels. She is putting a lot of effort into her academic work as she would like very much to join secondary school next year.

VIRGINIA NYOKABI

She is a pupil in Mukuyu primary school in class 8. She had had some challenges in life: at home, her father was convicted of theft and her mother doesn't work. Virginia is the first born in the family and is expected to help out with the family. From the counselling sessions, she now has the reason to put more effort in her studies, and hopes that a way out will be found on how she will continue with her secondary studies.

STELLA KAGENDO

Stella lives in a village called Wataalam with her mother who is depressed according to the family members (her parents are separated and there was also a fire tragedy that burnt everything in the house). These issues made Stella drop out of school in form two and take care of the family up to now, but after assessing the situation, she feels that she can go back to school and continue learning if a well wisher could pay for her fees.

MERCY WAMBUI

Mercy has had a few troubles in life. Her home situation is not stable financially: the man married to her mother does not recognise the three children the mother had before they married and only takes care of the two children they have together, a boy and a girl who are in nursery school. This led to Mercy not joining secondary school as the mother could not raise the fee - she has been a house girl for the last year and she has found it not rewarding. She is looking for a well wisher who would take her back to school, where she promises to work very hard.

STEPHEN MUNYA

Stephen lives with his older brother – they were orphaned and initially under the care of an elderly grandmother.  His brother is married and they have one child but they live amicably as a family. During a visit in August 2013, Stephen was bed-bound due to a complication from a circumcision ritual. All the costs of food and medicine were borne by his brother who is a casual labourer. Stephen is a good performer at school and is working hard to improve the grades that would make a secondary education possible. He would still need sponsorship to make that happen. 

Today is World Toilet Day! 

Globally, 2.5 billion people have no access to a clean toilet. In developing countries, diseases related to poor sanitation are very common especially among young children. Clean toilets, if used properly, can prevent diseases like diarrhoea. Diarrhoea is believed to kill 1 child every 20 seconds in developing countries. 

And, did you know that women menstruate on average for 3000 days in their lifetime? This requires space for washing and cleaning. Especially for adolescent girls, clean and private toilet facilities at school strongly influence their performance, and increase the chance of attending school and completing their education.

Kipawa has provided a new toilet blocks for girls and boys at Mukuya School, as well as sanitary towels for the girls. This is having a real, positive effect on the children's education. Thank you for continuing to support Kipawa and making this vital work possible. 

Happy World Toilet Day!