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.

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.

Poverty has affected my family social life, with my parents strugglling to gain financial stability to meet our daily basic needs. Meeting basic need such as clothes, rent and food has been very difficult. My parents have suffered more than enough debts to feed us, of which nobody is willing to offer any support. When I mentioned to the neighbours that my dream was to be a doctor or a lawyer they laughed at me. One day when the scholarship chance arose, my hope of becoming a doctor also came true. Thanks to SHOFCO for granting me this golden opportunity to shine and help my neighbours and community in the future.

Even though life has been very hard, the efforts and support I got from the friends and well wishers has made me learn the disadvantages of depending on others. When i got the information about the scholarship my parents encouraged me to work hard and do my best in my studies. They helped to apply for the chance, and lucky enough I was called and got the opportunity to be one of the scholars.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My name is Abdulrahman Fatuma Ali. I come from a family of three siblings and a single parent as well. Despite all the challenges, I still remained focused and worked hard in primary and managed to score a B at Stara Rescue Centre School without any hopes of joining high school. Thanks to Shining Hope for Communities for coming in and fully supporting my secondary education at Tala High School. Without forgetting where I came from, I am always focused on my education. With the support of my interest in reading to improve my academics, for I know the roots of education is bitter, but the fruit are sweet. I would like to be a teacher in the future and teach Maths & Business. I have also been touched by the work Shofco is doing with Kibera community to change the lives of people and would like to contribute to community work in future through my time and resources.