Faith’s parents are unemployed and cannot support her. Therefore, she lives with her grandmother. She loves to read in her spare time and is one of few women who wants to join the police force. She has three brothers.

I am from a humble family with both parents. My current life situation has been challenging, since I am depending on my parents and friends for help in my study. Sometimes getting food to put on the table has been a problem for my parents. Despite all these challenges I have remained focused on my school work. When I got the opportunity to be one of the scholars of Shofco Urban Network, I was very happy and my dreams of becoming a better person in life and helping my parents in the future.

Mwau is the third born child in a family of four children. His father is a woodcarver and his mother is a housewife. Both parents are unable to raise his fees for secondary school. Mwau completed his primary education in 2015 and and scored 355 in KCPE exam. He was among the top students at his primary school. Mwau is a smart boy who is determined to work hard in school and become a civil engineer. He says, "When I grow up, I want to help design good roads in my country". This is the big dream for Mwau and with his passion and determination to excel in school, it should come to pass one day.

Abdi's father is the primary breadwinner in his family of six. His mother does not have a paying job. All five children attend school, and need their school fees and other expenses to be paid. Abdi was actually once chased away from school because he could not pay his school fees. Despite this, he remains an enthusiastic student with strong leadership potential. He is hardworking in his academics and studies very seriously. Abdi is also passionate about giving back to his community. He is determined to finish high school and attend university, where he dreams of pursuing medicine in order to serve those in need.

Kathule is the lastborn child in a family of four. Her father passed on leaving the burden of upbringing their children with her mother who is unemployed. Without the bread winner, her mother resulted to selling all that was left by their father to keep the children in school. She is now left with nothing to sell and her daughter now faces the challenge of dropping out of school. Despite being sent home severally for school fees within the year, Kathule was able to perform exemplary in her end of year exams. She has a passion in medicine and would like to be a doctor in future. Kathule believes that education is the key to a prosperous future.

In the year 2012, Brigid's family was attacked by robbers who beat her dad to death as he tried to protect them. Her dad died when she was 10 years old leaving her mother to take care of the family. Her mother is a small scale cash crop farmer and also grows some food crops for the family to eat all in her 2 acre farm. Brigid has 3 brothers, all younger and 5 sisters, 3 older and the rest younger. In primary school, Bridig was regularly sent home for the small fees that her mum could not get in time. She is really glad that she no longer has to go home for lack of school fees and is always in class learning with the rest of the students. " I highly appreciate Wema's role in my life. God bless you abundantly."

"I have faced many challenges such as a lack of textbooks. I had a torn uniform that I could not mend for a very long time. I was brought up in Kibera until class four when my life started to become hard. That's when I was taken to a rural area where I was staying with my grandmother who used to help my mother in paying school fees when she was unable. In fact I want to be a teacher so that I can be able to educate young children from the slums."

I am Mary Mochache of Olympic Primary School in Kibera in Nairobi. I am yet to sit for my K.C.P.E examination this year 2016. I am seeking this scholarship due to financial constraints in my family. My parents are both jobless and mere peasants who can't affords secondary school fees. When accorded this assistance I hope to be the best in academics. Therefore, I seek to be considered in such rare opportunities. In this time it is rare for girls to have such good opportunities to be recognized people in the society.

I went through primary education at Olympic Primary School where I got 335 marks. In our family we are six people; Mother, three brothers, one sister and me. My mother separated with my father when I was a young girl. Life has been so hard for the family, more so to my mother who is operating a small tailoring kiosk for our daily bread. Sometimes it forces my mother to get support from chamas (women groups, that practice savings and loaning). Due to this, I have been working so hard on my academics at Bishop Okoth Mbaga Girls School and in drama club, which I am sure will one day turn my dreams of becoming a doctor true. I therefore believe that my long life goal will be achieved. My aspiration of being a doctor motivates me to work hard and I also get motivation from my mother who struggles to make ends meet for our family. I will forever remain grateful to Shofco and donors for the scholarship opportunity. This is going to change not only my life, but also my family as a whole.