EFAC DREAMS - Education For All Children

How much can one kid take?

I received an email from Mike Otieno, a young Kenyan who has been helping us with the EFAC program. It gives me a sense of what these kids are up against. I wish we could find a way to fund them all.

Mike writes: I have a special appeal to make for OBOTE ZIGGY MUSUMBA one of the students from Masomo mashinani who applied for the EFAC scholarship. Ziggy's case is extremely special. He is a desperate case. Ziggy is partially orphan, he has lost his mum while the dad is in imprisoned for life. He has younger siblings and he has had to take up jobs such as garbage collection etc in an attempt to fend for them. This caused him to be distabilzed and miss a lot of classes.

Although Ziggy only got 311 marks during this year's KCPE it is noteworthy that he is a very bright boy considering that he was index 2. As for the results that were used to get the index, he had 383 out of the possible 500. Ziggy has no shelter totally and they have been finding refuge in unfinished shanty houses in Lucky Summer area.

I think based on the trauma of loosing the mum and having the dad arrested coupled with early responsibility of taking the parents role to fend for his siblings, it is little wonder he performed way below our expectations in KCPE exams. I talked to the senior teacher of Babadogo Primary school Ms.Kasei and she made me see the desperation of Ziggy. This is what Ms.Kasei told me "Please try hard to get Ziggy the Scholarship...he totally has no one....If he doesn't get assistance he will end up doing bad things...he will end up a thug...just like the dad..."

Rongai Boys!!

Hello!!

I had all 29 EFAC Boys over for dinner the other night.... It was a great way to end the 3 months together! I'm going to miss them all so much! :)

Labels: Kelsey Redpath, Rongai Boys School

Kenyan Flag

Labels: Kelsey Redpath

Vanessa Grant Vocational School

Hello!!

Sorry, I have been lost, as the Kenyans would say. I've been busy these last couple weeks so I haven't updated the blog in quite sometime. I don't want to take away from the Holiday Giving Initiative blog post, so please make sure you leave time to read that! It would be amazing if you made a donation also... :)

Anyway, I spent a day at the Vocational Training School last week. This school is basically the secondary school to the Vanessa Grant Handicapped School. This is where the kids learn helpful skills, like making beaded bracelets, paper bags and Christmas cards, so that when they are older, they know ways to make money to support themselves. It's a great school and they have an amazing, caring staff. So, while I was there, we played games, helped in the classrooms and bought bracelets from a boy who only has one good working hand!

Labels: Kelsey Redpath, Vanessa Grant School

Party with a Purpose this Holiday Season

Are you looking for a way to make your holiday celebrations more meaningful? We have two simple and fun ways to incorporate the joy of giving into your holiday gatherings this year.

Hand-crafted Maasai bracelets

At your next holiday get-together, let your guests know that Education For All Children (EFAC) is your charity of choice. Add a line to your party invitation letting your guests know that in lieu of hostess gifts or refreshments, you will be accepting donations on behalf of EFAC to help them provide education, mentoring and global connections to motivated students in critical financial need.

For the Do It Yourself Party, simply place a basket on a table near the door, so guests may browse a brochure and place a donation in their name or as a gift in the name of someone else. For each donation of $50 or more, the donor will receive a Maasai bracelet, complete with a thank you tag.

Party Pack Basekt
with bracelets
and cards

If you choose to do more and can commit a minimum donation of $250 from your gathering, we will send you an EFAC Party Pack that includes Maasai bracelets, individual gift cards for donations in someone’s name, ideas on how to stage the party, donation collection kit, and return envelopes with postage.

Just let us know the date of your party and which of the two party options you’re hosting, and we’ll send you our Education For All Children brochures or the EFAC Party Pack. With either choice, you will receive one of these hand-crafted beaded bracelets as our way of saying thank you.

When you share the joy of giving with your friends, families and co-workers this holiday season, you will make it possible for one more bright, underprivileged Kenyan student to attend high school in 2012. Thank you.

Discover three ways to make your holiday more meaningful and to order your EFAC Party Pack, click here.

Labels: Beading Cooperative, Inspired Giving

Lake Bogoria!

Hello!

I just came back from a night at Lake Bogoria with Hamish Grant, his son, Alex, and one of his daughters, Seya and my roommate, Victoria! It was beautiful. It's about an hour and a half away from the farm and Hamish took the four of us in one of his safari vehicles. So glad I went!