Kimberly is the oldest of three children and lives with her brother, sister and parents in a mountain village just outside Quito. Another baby is on the way and Kimberly is really looking forward to his/her arrival. At the moment, her ambition is to become a teacher.

Tabitha is an academic superstar. She loves Swahili and languages. She comes from a large family with parents who cannot support their home needs. She is very bright and promising and needs help to fulfill that potential.

I was raised by father after the death of my mother in 2009. She was the family' breadwinner and this proved very difficult for us. In primary school, I was supported by well-wishers and they were not able to extend the help beyong that level. I dream of being a doctor and help people in my community and Kenya at large. Hopefully, my influence will be some dsy felt across the globe.

Muna's parents are in Uganda, and she lives with her sister in Burco. She basically has pushed herself to get into Abaarso with very little adult help or supervision.

Nasriin is 14 years old, and beginning her first year at Abaarso School of Science and Technology in Somaliland. She is from Abaarso village, and owes her ability to attend Abaarso to the student tutors from the school who taught her for several years. As a result, she wants to be a teacher, so she can help people. She hopes to go to the United States to continue her education after Abaarso, so that she can do this. She likes to run because it's good exercise, and she enjoys spending her free time with her friends.

"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."

"In the future when I finish school, I would like to help orphans and needy children of Kibera and Kenya at large. I wouldn't like in the coming years to see children of Kibera suffering and not going to school. My goal is to change the slums and upgrade it to make it a better place for children and the people of Kibera. I also admire England very much and when I finish school, I imagine myself going to university in England to become a journalist. I promised myself to work hard in my studies so that I can be a journalist. Journalism is my dream and I believe that when I work hard I can make it. "

"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."

Bercia lives with her mother. As a little child, she liked to play with the ball and different local games together with her cousins. She loved to listen to the stories her parents told her, especially the one about her grandparents, the life they lived and how Grandpa lost his life in war. Recently her grandmother passed away. She was her best friend and she misses her a lot. Bercia is an intelligent girl and would like to be deputy at the parliament to defend the children of her country. She is asthmatic since she was a little girl. Her father is living in Maputo, the capital, to get treatments, as he has severe tuberculosis. Life is ruff, and the family struggles to get regular meals. She misses him and her siblings, as they are living in different families due poverty they are living in.