The girls visited last month by Jonas Carlson and Margo Day say thank you to all the donors who have contributed to the St. Elizabeth’s girls secondary school in Kenya via SeeYourImpact.  They continue to be grateful for the support they are receiving, which is allowing them to dream bigger dreams than ever before.

Your donation will go towards building a secondary school as part of the Marich Education Project for Girls. The secondary school will provide education and board for 135 girls.

To construct St. Elizabeth Girls’ Secondary School, it will cost $366,667. This equates to approximately $183,000 per year over the next two years. By investing in this project, you will facilitate the transformation of an entire community. Girls formerly sold into early marriages and subjected to horrendous procedures will be given a chance to obtain an education that was formerly unthinkable.

Thank you so much for contributing to a better life for these girls and their community!

Thank you very much to all those who have supported the St Elizabeth’s school through SeeYourImpact. On behalf of the St Elizabeth girls, we are extremely grateful to you for your investment in their future. We spent two days visiting the St Elizabeth’s Secondary School at the end of May, and attended the official grand opening of the classrooms and dormitory.

The new classroom block (five classrooms) is completed and classes are currently being held there. The new dormitory for the boarding students is also completed, as well as showers, latrines and a water tank for clean water that is piped to the school from a water system that was completed last summer (the girls were previously using unclean water from a nearby stream bed).

The administration building, teacher offices and housing are still under construction. Ground will soon be broken on the library/ computer lab, kitchen/dining hall, and a new rescue center for girls who have fled FGM and early marriage. The girls are absolutely thrilled with the new school and welcomed us with much singing and dancing. They seem to be really thriving, and are very excited about the opportunity for a secondary education. It was wonderful to see and hear about the hope they now have for their futures.

Groundbreaking ceremony

Ground was broken on the school construction earlier in 2010 and workers are on pace to complete the project by March 2011, with some classes beginning in January in the completed portions of the classroom block.

Four of the new teachers have been recruited and employed, with at least two more needed in the near term. A new matron, who will live with the girls in the dorm, is also being sought.

Building the foundation

The work on the ground is going well and the girls are very excited about the school and the support from the U.S. They are looking forward to seeing a group of supporters who plan to visit the new school in 2011.

The girls are doing well and there are now over 62 girls currently at the rescue center – the numbers went up as the girls are coming from the neighboring region as they hear about the rescue center and school.

Thank you Digvijay, Jonas, Patrick, Lisa, Richard, Joanna, Rachel, Caren and Susan for your support of this project!

Dominique is among the 14 rescued girls in the newly started secondary school.

“I was only eleven years old when my father wanted me to be married to an old man,” Dominique said. “I was beaten by my parents to undergo FGM (female genital mutilation) so that the old man can marry me.”

Dominique comes from a town about 25 miles away from Murpus Rescue center where Pokot culture is still alive and is the order of the day. Young girls are married off after undergoing FGM and the illiteracy rate in the area is still very high. Most of the community members do not see the need or value of education.

Plans were in place for Dominique to be married to a man as his fourth wife. Dominique sought help from many people but found not assistance. Many girls of her age had undergone FGM and some were already married. With her father getting ever more angry, Dominique decided to run away from home.

She said: “I was hearing that World Vision was in Chepareria and could offer assistance to girls like me; I had no fare to board a vehicle, so I decided to walk. I took three days on the way without food or water. I slept under a tree during the night. I passed so many wild animals on the way but God protected me until I reached Murpus in the evening. I was exhausted, hungry and tired.

“I met a girl carrying water that evening, she saw me and was humbled to talk to me, and she gave me water which quenched my thirst. The young girl asked where I was from and where I was going. She told me about Morpus Rescue Center and how they have been partnering with World Vision. She offered to take me to the head teacher Mr. James Lokuk. I have never seen a good person like him; he understood my problem and gave me hope.”

Dominique joined grade five in 2006, and now she is in Form 1 (equivalent of grade nine). She did well in grade eight national exams and was offered a spot in the new St. Elizabeth Secondary School.

“When I was a young girl, I never knew how sweet life was with education,” Dominique said. “Many of my age mates back at home do not have the privilege of getting education to improve their livelihood. Many of my age mates are now mothers with three to four children. When I was in my eight grade, I never knew that I will join high school. I always thought of where to go next because I knew that back at home nobody would accept me. But now that I am in secondary school, I will complete my studies and hopefully become a respected woman in the community.”

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Faith is the last born in a family of eight children, three boys and five girls. She comes from a rural village within West Pokot district.

In Pokot culture, a boy child is given more opportunity than the girl child, and this is what happened to Faith and her sisters. Her parents overlooked the girls at the expense of the boys. Unfortunately, being the last born and the youngest, taking care of the animals was Faith’s work and her sisters assisted their mother in house chores.

Faith said: “When I was only 11 years old, all my other sisters had been married off at a tender age, and my father wanted to force me to undergo FGM and marry me off. It was hard for me to accept the reality that I was going to get married”.

A few days before she was to undergo the traditional rite of passage, Faith ran for her life. Sneaking through the bushes to avoid coming into contact with people who may have known her, she searched for a place of safety. Along the way, she met a school girl her age. “The girl was dressed in uniform (Murpus Rescue Primary School uniform),” Faith said. “She looked nice in them and I was tempted to ask her where she was coming from.”

The girl told Faith a lot about the school, invited her home and offered to take her to school the following day.

The following day, Faith was introduced to the head teacher of Morpus school, James Lokuk. James listened to Faith’s story and accepted her to enter the rescue Center. “I was given uniform, books and personal belongings to make me comfortable,” Faith said. “The head teacher has been very instrumental in our lives, he is like a parent to us. Nobody comes to see us, and so he is our father.”

“Because of her age, she joined grade five,” Lokuk said of Faith. “When she was coming, she looked shy but with time she started to cope with the school environment. She is a hardworking girl, she has done well since then and now she is in grade eight”

He said he expected her to pass grade eight and move on to secondary school.

When she was asked about her life after Murpus, Nawai said, “Nilikuwa nimemwachia Mungu mambo yote, vile alinitoa kwenye meno ya simba hapo mwanzo, hata hii atanitoa. (I have left everything in the hands of God, just like he took me away from the lion’s teeth then, even now He will do it, I believe in Him).” She continued, “Now with World Vision providing us with a secondary school, I don’t have anything to say, just to thank God for opening ways for me. I can now see my dream of being a nurse becoming a reality. My part now is to work hard and pass the exams; everything else is taken care of. I can’t express the happiness that I have. I had been hearing about other children going to secondary school and I had lost hope for myself, but now I am seeing higher chances of joining secondary school like other fortunate girls in the
community.”

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