Am the second born in the family of three. My elder sister is in secondary school and the third born is class five. Mother is a housewife and my father is working in a security firm. I am hard working in class and generally my academic performance is above the average with an aim of competing with other students. My dream of becoming an air craft engineer always motivates me in everything that I want to do.However, the situation sometimes gets harder when it come to paying my school fees since my father's income is too little. I believe there is no permanent poverty unless you don't want to overcome the poverty state. My life was like a mountain range with its highs and its lows, but like any mountain I walked past the lows with struggle but I still made it. With my mother and father working too hard I took upon myself to protect my sister from all the bad men who would take advantage of her. Between chores and keeping my sister safe I was very busy. I thank SUN for this chance to improve my life.

I am a girl aged 13 years old, hard working and dedicated to my studies. I went to Olympic Primary School and managed to score 400 marks . I am staying with my family: father, mother and my three sisters. My father is a casual worker while my mother runs a small grocery kiosk. We live from hand to mouth due to low income from both my parents. I am a girl who believes that being poor is the state of mind and not permanent because good attitude and hard work can help change my life. While at work, my mother had her fellow group members talking about the scholarship from SHOFCO and then she helped me to apply. After confirmation that I was successful as one of the beneficiaries I am really thankful to the almighty God because He's great.

My name is David Oduor Ogolla. I come from a very humble background in Kibera slum. My father is a juakali artisan (black smith) while my mother is a house wife. Both of their incomes aren't enough to support all the family requirements; but so far we have managed to remain a happy and focused family. Despite all the challenges in my family, I never lost concentration on my primary level academics at Olympic Primary School. Through my hard work I managed to score 359/500 marks, although I was aiming higher than that. With the good marks, I had no hopes to join any high school, not even the local ones in the slums because my parents were now concentrating on ensuring that my younger siblings are also educated through primary level. I put much concentration in my favorite sport (football) as I believed it would get me somewhere with no hopes of joining a high school. But a God sent scholarship opportunity came through Shining Hope for Communities at the right time and gave me a life time opportunity to attend secondary education at Orero High School. A big thank you to Shining Hope for Communities and all the cheerful givers. Through your effort my life and others' are going to change positively.

I have been staying with my mother after she got divorced with my father. This forces my mother to take care us without any support from my father. My mother being the only bread winner, works as a housekeeper everyday. She fights hard to put food on the table, which sometimes is not easy to manage feeding the five of us. My mother always prays for us everyday so that we receive blessings. I got lucky after applying for the scholarship program for less fortunate children in Kibera. My hope is to become a neuro-surgeon and in the future I will help my mother and other children come out of poverty.

My mother died when I was still young. We were left with my father, who later married a second wife and decided not to provide for us proper education and food. My late mother's sister took care of my siblings and me. She was just a job hustler and nevertheless she agreed to move on with us. She took me to a primary school and I was able to score good marks to progress to a national high school. When my aunt heard about the scholarship from her group members, she encouraged me to apply for the chance, after which i was successful as one of the scholars of the SHOFCO program. Both my aunt and I are so grateful to the SHOFCO families and wish them long life.

I went through my primary education at Palm Olive Academy and managed to score 356 out of 500 marks. In our family we are six members after divorce between my mother and father. My mother has been taking care of us ever since. She works as a casual laborer within Kibera community and supports us with the little that she earns. Sometimes it is so hard for my mother to feed us because the father is not offering any supporting. Due to life challenges, I have faced life head-on and determined never to give up in life and one day fulfill my dream of becoming a lawyer after receiving the scholarship. Thanks to SHOFCO and may God bless you.

My mother and father work very hard and I rarely see them. I learned to respect them instead of asking them why they never had time for the rest of the family. I learned how to survive on my own. My brother, sisters and I learned that we should stick together and be the best people. When we heard about the scholarship my family and I worked day and night to prepare for filling out the scholarship forms. I thank SUN for the opportunity.

We are seven in my family with my parents and my four siblings. I still love my family despite all the challenges we are facing and have hope that it is only a matter of time before we live a better life again. I had even lost hope of becoming an architect since there was no one to pay for my secondary education after I had scored 392/500 mark at Spurgeons Primary School. With my strong hopes and faith knowing that my God is always above everything, I am grateful for the scholarship which is a great gift offered to my family and the helpless children in the slums. I am pursuing my secondary school education at Mbita High School and I believe that this will enable me to realize my dreams. Lastly I have remained focused on my academics, never to disappoint my family and mostly Shining Hope for Communities for I know education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.

I am the second born in a family of six people. I got 319 marks in my primary education. Throughout my primary level it has been difficult for my parents to provide school fees. Sometimes it took me almost a week staying out of school due to lack of school fee and the issue of books and uniforms was still a problem for my parents to afford. My parents do casual work and the little they get cannot be enough for our sustainability. The environment in which we are living is very unfavorable because you need to do a lot to become who you want to be in life. My dream began when i started watching the teacher carefully when teaching to get the tips on how the body language works. When I asked the teachers on how to be a teacher, some were mean and refused to show me the way. Now I am glad and thank SHOFCO for giving me the opportunity to continue with my education and become a teacher in the future.