SHOFCO

Deborah Nyaboke Nyakwara of Sironga Girls High School in Kisii, I am 14 years old and I am from the Kibera slum in Nairobi. My parents were unable to get the school fees and through the acces of the SHOFCO Scholarship program I managed to join the school. Still I could not get the boarding essentials and took too long at home waiting for my parents to purchase them. During this pandemic we are at home and the truth is that life is harder here than in school. Most times we go to bed without eating anything. We are also restricted in movement and my parents keep us indoors. We also lack facilitators who can help us as teenagers and encourage us to study than we used to be taught in school. I thank you for your support that reduces the burden on my parents.

I am a student at Makuyu Boys School, and formerly attended Love Africa Somi School. I come from a very poor background and could not manage the high school fees. As a family, we have challenges getting our basic needs met. Both of my parents are jobless and we live hand-to-mouth. If it were not for this scholarship, I would not be in school. This means a great deal to our family and reduces the burden. I am so grateful for this opportunity.

I attended Desert Streams School and now am a student at Wamagan Girls School. The school is close to Mount Kenya, and it is very cold which was an adjustment coming from Nairobi. I work hard to achieve my goals because coming from the slums, this scholarship is my only chance to attend high school. I will study very hard to ensure that I can pass. I am very thankful for this opportunity.

"Since we are a family of six children, it has been too difficult for my father to pay my school fees and buy uniforms. I have been getting assistance from church members up to this point. I thank almighty God that the school could provide me books, which allowed me to continue and to finish class 8. I have been brought up in a very humble background and it has been very difficult for my parents to bring daily bread into the house. My aspirations and plans is that I would like to finish high school with high marks. I would then like to join the university of my choice and pursue a degree in mass communication and be a news anchor/ presenter. Since education has no end, I would like to combine my masters and Ph.D. respectively and be a great professor in Kenya."

Antony attended a free-education primary school, which provided him with a uniform and books. His family situation has been incredibly unstable because his father has been suffering from an unidentifiable mental illness and his mother is the only breadwinner of the family. Over the past years, she has been using much of her meager incomes to take his father to the hospital. Antony is a strong student and despite all his obstacles, he hopes to continue working hard in his school work.

Joanrose dreams of studying medicine in order to help people suffering from deadly diseases. She would also like to fight against drug abuses and prostitution in her neighborhood. She is worried about the influence of drugs on young people in her neighborhood and she wants to combat drug use in order to make her community stronger. Her parents are very sick and this makes it difficult for them to pay her school fees. It is also difficult on her psychologically. She feels that if she gets an education she will be better able to take care of her parents and improve her own future.