The vision of the Umoja Project is transforming communities one child at a time. So, what does transformation look like?
Meet Fabian. One of five orphaned siblings, Fabian overcame many challenges to score high enough on national exams to receive direct admit to study engineering at the Technical University of Kenya in Nairobi.
Sharon has been an Umoja scholar since primary school. She attended St. George Secondary School and served as a project assistant after completing high school. Sharon plans to attend college to become a surveyor. She says that the Umoja Project “saved her from the streets.”
Collins also served as a project assistant following high school. After losing his parents, Collins joined the Umoja family in Class 6 (6th grade) and started receiving school lunch and other services. He is currently studying Electrical Engineering at Kisumu National Polytechnic. Collins explains that he became grateful for the holes in his roof because it allowed some light to come in: “God brings us the moon, so we can study.”
Like their peers, these young adults remain closely tied to the Umoja Project. They are part of the Umoja Alumni Group and return to the community to support younger students.
Years of educating and empowering orphaned children have created hope among the impoverished families of Chulaimbo. They see children they once knew as downtrodden and vulnerable achieving professional success.
This hope shows in how the community gives to the project. Not only do local donors pay the school cooks and provide cooking supplies and firewood for daily lunch, but last year they sponsored seven secondary school scholarships, allowing us to increase the number of high school student we supported to 114.
The need for secondary school funding continues to grow as more students exceed the minimum scores for scholarship support. You can keep a motivated student in school for only $250 per year.
Your support has already fostered transformation in this community. You can spread more hope by supporting secondary school scholarships for Umoja students.