In Kenya, the ability to succeed in life and have hope for future higher education rests on one thing alone – how well you score on the KCPE (Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education). This test is administered in English and is very challenging, heretofore out of reach to most of the orphans at Maisha.
The headlines in yesterdays national Kenyan papers were touting how well our region Nyanza did overall in test results…the leading child scored 433 out of 500. The test is taken at the end of the school year every November and results come out at the end of the year. For grade eight students, if they fail to score 250, they do not qualify to advance to high school.
We are excited to report an increase in the scores of our children at Maisha. In 2008, we had no children passing. In 2009, three children passed with scores just over 250. This year, 2010, the early results of the few children we’ve got results back on have 13 passing with scores over 350! Over 50 of our children sat for the exams, we are anxiously awaiting the rest of their scores.
A big thanks to Jaxon Heitz for sponsoring a full scholarship for high school to the winner of the essay contest Ibrahim Onyango. Chief Jenipher Atieno Kosome presented Ibrahim his certificate and spoke great words of encouragement into his life. We had our closing ceremonies today for Christmas missions and all the backpacks, school supplies and certificates of participation for the essay competition were distributed.
This is a direct result of your partnership in sponsoring Maisha children for education and nutrition. The teams that have traveled to Kenya over the summers have worked closely with our local schools in improving English skills too, which has allowed the students to even have the opportunity to take the exam. All we can say from the bottom of our hearts is thanks for giving the Maisha orphans an opportunity for a better life through education!!!
