Primary and High School Sponsporship
Lighting a path out of poverty through access to quality education for bright students from vulnerable households who would otherwise be without opportunity to continue their education.
Our high school sponsorship is comprised of 160 high performing girls from the most under resourced backgrounds and additional special circumstance sponsorships for students who have a special need for sponsorship but are not high performing and/or are not female. Our high school students are from counties all across Kenya. Starting in 2023 we are doing a special initiative to educate more young talented girls in drought affected Kajiado County.
THIS PROGRAM PROVIDES:
Full Year school fees and supplies
Tutoring classes
Academic counseling
Parent coaching
Payment of travel and term break support
Assistance with applications for post-high school education
84%
of female students in Kajiado county are unable to access secondary and tertiary education.
60%
of our high school students qualified for university from 2020-2023 - compared to the Kenyan national average of 22%.
102
102 out of 172 (59.3%) of our students have scored a C+ or above since 2020.
About Our Program
Student sponsorship provides for all school fees and supplies, including room and board, uniforms and transportation to and from school on school breaks. Support for a suitable guardian and living space during the three annual school breaks. All of our students come from extremely impoverished backgrounds so when they are not in school their parents and guardians need help to provide for food, medical care and shelter for these students.
In Kenya the high quality high schools are boarding schools and the average cost for one year in school is $2,336 for all of the student’s needs. Students who are sponsored through Light Up Hope for high school education will also be given the opportunity to continue to university or trade colleges program upon the completion of high school if they perform at a level of C+ or higher (and funding is available).
Meet Silantoi
16 years oldSilantoi comes from a village 10 km from Namanga which is a border town between Kenya and Tanzania. She did her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams in early 2022 and scored 393 out of 500 marks.
Silantoi received an admission letter to Bishop Gatimu Girls Secondary School in Central Kenya, a school well known for its excellent performance and good reputation. As is the norm in her village, even after scoring so high there was no hope of joining secondary school. She wished to know more about what will happen since her father could not afford the school fees, but according to their custom she could not ask. For girls like Silantoi, with no option for secondary school, her most likely fate was early marriage.
It came as a surprise when she was told by her mother that her head teacher needed them to report to school immediately. They arrived there during break time, only to see other children and her class teacher running to her. Silantoi had gotten the Light Up Hope High School Sponsorship! She cried tears of joy! “She asked, “Is it me? Is it true? Will I see Nairobi for the first time?” It was a new start for her and the family. The parents are happy that now she will be known as a success in her village.
Silantoi got an A in her opener exams in September 2022. She has promised to show her appreciation for the scholarship by performing well. In the future, she wants to become a doctor so that she can open a clinic in her village because the nearest Health Centre is 10km away in Namanga.
The Importance of Helping Maasai Girls in Kajaido
According to the European Scientific Journal, 84% of Maasai girls do not transition to upper primary grades (six-eight) or high school due to pregnancy. In this community not only are girls subjected to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) but also child marriage. Maasai culture views females value primarily for their ability to reproduce children and as an economic asset - girls are sold for marriage at the time of Menstruation.
However, with provision of education this changes, as does their ability to bring lasting change to their community. Education uplifts the economic opportunity of the community, and it has been shown to lower the rate of FGM and early marriage practices - providing overall greater empowerment to Maasai women for generations.
PRIMARY SCHOOL SPONSORSHIP
The majority of children residing in orphanages and children’s homes in Kenya have been relinquished due to poverty, not due to the death of one or both parents.
Our primary school sponsorships (formerly known as LIFT) are similar to high school with the exception that primary students live at home with their parents or guardians and do not attend boarding school. Therefore their sponsorship covers school fees, school uniform and supplies. We currently sponsor students from the slum areas of Kayole and Kwa Njenga in Nairobi, Maasai students in Kajiado county and students from central Kenya from Kirinyaga county.