Meet our students
Some of these children wrote their own story. Some were written by a parent, or by our school manager. Each of them is looking for a sponsor.
TO CONFIRM — delete this box before publishing.
READ BEFORE PUBLISHING. These stories name children and pair a photograph with details of poverty, illness, escape from FGM and a near-sale into domestic work. That is powerful and it is also a safeguarding question. Standard practice: first names only, no village identified, written consent from the guardian, nothing that lets a stranger find the child, and the child’s own agreement where they are old enough. Settle this with Juliana before the page goes live, not after. I have used first names only and left out the four most exposing stories.
Lucy
I remember the first time I secretly followed a class full of students and their teacher. All the pupils were writing notes while the teacher explained the geographical latitudes on the blackboard. It seemed like the teacher had a power of knowledge that he could share. After that, I went home and told my parents I wanted to become a teacher — a teacher with the superpower to educate, to share, to give something to others.
My parents knew there was no way they could pay for secondary school and college with nothing spare in our budget. So we came to the school, and they decided to let me study. I made a promise: one day I will come back and be a teacher for all the kids like me — the ones with big dreams.
Yusuph
Dear diary — if only I could change the place and the life I was born to live. I would be an English teacher. I would put better food on my mother and father’s plates, and give them the most beautiful clothes to wear, so they could always look like the people from my fairy tales. I would go to university, like the other kids in my country go to. Oh, what a great teacher I think I would be.
Neema
When I grow up I am going to be an independent woman. I will have my own car and my own office with a huge bookshelf next to my table. I am planning to build a house for my parents — safe, cosy and beautiful, like the ones I see in the movies. Sick people will receive my help and poor people will get my donations. I will make my parents proud of me, I promise. I know these dreams can be real.
Angel
I like to teach, I like to play,
I like to go to school all day.
As shy and small as I can be,
I want to know a lot today.
When teachers come, I see the light —
the one that left my home last night.
But I am sure I will bring back
this bright and warmness back tonight.
Michael
When I say to my goat, “Kura, kura, Kura, kura”, she always comes back to me, even from the furthest mountain. Kura is my best friend and I love to take care of her. My mother and father also like to take care of the cattle, because they give us meat and milk so we do not go hungry. But the animals are not enough to send my two sisters and me to school. I still want to continue my primary education, so I can spend hours and hours learning English and playing football with my friends.
Sarah
“Sara, Sara, my dearest Sara” — these are my first words when I come home from my work as a pastor. My little girl always waits for me, to play and to tell me about the things she saw or did during the day. She wants me to be proud of her.
I want my children to be good people, and hard-working students who will later serve their community. I am afraid I will not have enough time. What our family does not spend on feeding the children goes to my medicine. I wish I could give Sarah a better education and see her become a nurse. So here I am — thankful to everyone who decided to support my girl.
Bryton
He says he loves me because I am always around when he is in trouble. Since he was two I have had to be his mother and his father both. I was always good at making cakes, so I took that as my opportunity — and those cakes have supported Bryton, Naomi and me ever since. I was able to get them to school, and I saw how happy Bryton was the first day he came back from his science lesson. “I want to be a doctor,” he told me, with the biggest smile on his face.
TO CONFIRM — delete this box before publishing.
Four more stories exist on the old Wix site — Naomi, Jenipher, Thiopista and Cecilia. I left them out deliberately: they describe an escape from a violent marriage, a child nearly sold as a housemaid, and a family whose cattle are dying, each attached to a named and photographed child. They are the most affecting stories you have and the ones that most need consent checked and detail softened.
Also: these were written around 2022. Some of these children have finished Class 7 by now. Every story needs a line saying where they are today, or the page quietly ages into fiction — and ‘where they are now’ is the most convincing thing you could add to this whole website.
Photos and videos
TO CONFIRM — delete this box before publishing.
The ‘I’m Esther / I’m Moko / I’m Saitoti’ videos are on the old site and on your YouTube channel (youtube.com/channel/UCpFnQdXOSRF1e6ct1UOd-aw). Embed them here with Elementor’s Video widget — thirty seconds of a child saying their own name does more than any paragraph.
Every one of these children needs a sponsor.
USD 500 covers a full school year. You’ll hear from us about exam results, and we can arrange a call.
