Blog
Early in the morning we were on a follow up journey to Nyeri. We were visiting a local school to check the progress of three siblings who had been rescued from the streets and reunited with their family. This was a unique second follow up visit. We met the deputy head teacher, Ms. Alice, a charming and hardworking woman who welcomed us warmly.
We had previously started a relationship with her, which gave her the confidence to call us prior to our visit to express heartbreaking issues that pupils in the school were facing.
Harrison, the School Head Boy!
Harrison, Charles and Joy were all happy to see us again (three siblings who connected us with this school). However, it was sad to hear that their grandmother does not care about the children’s wellbeing, yet she took custody of them after they were rescued. She does not attend school parents meeting when called neither does she knows what they eat for lunch at school. Nevertheless, the three young people are not affected by her negligence and they are performing well in school. Harrison has worked his way to become the School’s Head-Boy! Their performance shows a promising bright. We are grateful to God for his work in their lives. We then gave the three children clothes and shoes that we had brought for them. Their smiles and words of blessings were worth the journey.
Meeting a real need
Most of the girls in this school who had started their monthly periods did not attend class during that time of the month. This was due to lack of sanitary pads. Some asked to be given time off from school until the menses were over while others asked to go home wear support their pads. Most girls only had one under pant which they washed at night and worn in the morning, sometimes when they are still damp. In some cases, the panties were torn and not washed every day.
Education is important for these girls.
For these girls, education was an important and a vital part of their lives, but this time of the month interfered with their learning. We felt their and decided to touch these young hearts by providing sanitary pads. We also bought under panties for the girls who needed them. The smiles on these girls’ faces were heartwarming and satisfying.
At this school, we learnt that most of the pupils were having the challenge of one meal per day. The school provides lunch for all the children through the county government initiative.
Most of the pupils who come from poor backgrounds rely on this one meal. For the boy child, the teacher also requested for underpants because some lacked this basic item. We promised to be back with more as God enable us. The challenge we faced was that we could not get enough of these basic items for the whole school. We pray and hope that when we go back, we will have enough for every child who needs them. This story and many others, keep us going to give them a ray of hope for the future and to create lasting memories of their time in school
