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 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.

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.

For years my father had been the bread winner of the house. In 2012 when he was killed I was in standard four but after that day I dedicated most of my time to helping my mother with casual labor. Every moment I was not able to attend school regularly. My mother started to wash clothes and sell dagaa [omena] to people for her to buy food. Mother always does her best but still it's not enough to balance with school fees. I thank SHOFCO for the opportunity to further my studies.

In our family we are seven people; father, mother my siblings and me. My father is a casual labourer and my mother is a housewife. We always survive with the little income that my father is getting. It's always challenging more so when we are sent home every now and again for school fees. Teachers have been very supportive to my side .The relatives too have been giving support but couldn't do enough. It even sometimes forces us to engage myself in casual jobs to help me support my parents. I usually feel like a parent since my parents are away working and I am looking after the other children. I work hard to keep my siblings fed. I became a star pupil after becoming no.1 in my school. I thank SUN, especially Kennedy and Jessica and Hillary, for this scholarship opportunity.

Life has been so tough for our family after the demise of my father, but I'll always thank my mother who worked hard to make sure that my siblings and I get our daily bread. Coming from a family of five and being the oldest I worked so hard in my primary school level and managed to score a total of 391 marks (Three Bells Primary), which secured me a chance with a national school (Kisii High School). At school I have remained focused to make sure that I achieve my dreams and goals of becoming an aeronautical engineer, without forgetting my interests in scouting and athletics. With great support from Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), I am really thankful to them for coming to my rescue when I really needed help and funding for my education. Something that my single parent wouldn't have managed even with the additional 1000 shilling that come from my aunt. I'll always be thankful to Shofco and TSF for the great support they've given me and I promise that I will work hard in school and make an impact in our community.

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.

I come from a family six and all my family members lives in Kibera. Life here is tough but as a family we have managed to hold together and stay focused. I managed to score 360 out of possible 500 marks which enabled me to be one of the successful Shofco scholarship applicants beneficiary. This enabled me to join Kabare Girls High School to fulfill my dream of being a judge and follow my passion for handball and music. I am so thankful to this program that touches the heart of children who do not have the school fee support.

I am an ambitious football player with five children in our family from a God fearing and humble background. Living in Kibera has a lot of challenges like drug addiction, school drop outs, peer pressure among others. But I have tried to overcome them because I am a real change agent person, passionate to change the lives of poor people in the community and be a good role model to children of Kibera. I am committed to work hard in school in order to achieve my goal of opening an NGO that would change the life of Kibera community and I believe through God everything is possible. I am thanking Kennedy and Jessica for the opportunity to finish my secondary school education.