Become a scholarship Supporter

BECOME A SUPPORTER OF OUR SCHOLARSHIP FUND FOR KYAITHANI and LOWER YATTA SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NDANDINI KENYA
In 2011 we started providing scholarships for the 9 top achievers at the only secondary school in the Ndandini area. In 2023 we have now increased that to 106 at Kyaithani and Lower Yatta Secondary Schools. There are over 400 desperately poor students at Kyaithani and Lower Yatta Secondary Schools striving to get an education so they can better their lives. Can you help us increase the number of scholarships that we provide?
We provide a CAD$110 per year scholarship to the students attending secondary school full time who originally graduated from one of the six primary schools in the Kyaithani area. We are looking for donations in any amount.
Donors to the scholarships will be able to follow our progress on this blogspot as we post information about the children being sponsored, photos and letters.
100% of the donations received go to the students and the Board of Governors accounts to us for the funds. There are no deductions for fundraising or administration.
Like the students and their parents, we know that without an education there is little hope for them to make a better life for themselves.

Unlike in Canada, families in Kenya have to pay school fees in order for their children to attend high school. Many children are forced to drop out because, with family incomes of less than $1/day, their families cannot afford to pay the school costs.


Donations in any amount will receive a tax receipt (for Canadian income tax returns).
For more information about the scholarship program contact me at TerryUmbach@hotmail.com .

Terry Umbach



Sunday, November 22, 2015

Some Letters from 2015 Scholarship Recipients. Very Touching Reading!


Greetings Donors and Friends

Below are six letters which I have just received from some of the scholarship recipients from this 2015 school year.

You will see that your support which has allowed us to provide 35 scholarships this year is very much appreciated and is making a very real difference in the lives of many students in the Kyaithani area.

Please take a moment to read them all.

Please help us again this year by making a donation (just use the "donate" button on the right side of this website).  It will be the most appreciated Christmas gift that you will give!

We now have over 325 students in the two secondary schools in the cluster of 7 schools that we support.  We'd love to be able to increase the number of scholarships that we provide so that we help more of these very poor kids to complete their secondary school education.

Thanks

Terry
Letter from Benson (Form 1)

Letter from Faith (Form 1)


Letter from Stephen (Form 1)

Letter from Purity (Form 1)
Letter from James (Form 2)
Letter from Frida (Form 3)

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Photos of the 2015 Kyaithani Secondary School scholarship students


Here are some group photos of the top 10 students in each form at Kyaithani Secondary.  In January there will be 4 forms in each of Kyaithani Secondary School and Lower Yatta Girls Secondary School.  That will be almost 400 students.  Hopefully our donations to the scholarship fund will increase so that we can provide more than the 35 scholarships that we were able to provide this past year.  Every one of these students come from extremely poor homes where huge sacrificies are made by their parents to meet the school fees.  Thanks for all your help.
Terry

Form 1 Kyaithani Secondary School















Form 2 Kyaithani Secondary School

Form 3 Kyaithani Secondary School

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Donors increase 2015 scholarships to 35. Great emails from Kyaithani Secondary

Because of the generosity of our donors, we have been able to increase the number of scholarships for Kyaithani Secondary School students this year (2015) to 35 from 29 last year.

Thank you, our donors, for your ongoing generosity and interest in these students from a desperately poor and famine prone area of eastern Kenya.

Below are two emails just received today (17June) from the Principal of the school and from the President of the students.  They so clearly state how much the scholarships mean to the students and how much benefit they are providing.

We encourage everyone to keep supporting this scholarship program and help spread the word to others who might be interested in also helping.  Terry & Jan

Email from the Principal, Kyaithani Secondary School

Jambo Terry.


The scholarship program is one of the major ways in which the donors have influenced the lives of students in Kyaithani High School. In addition to helping the bright needy students acquire education, the initiative has inculcated a spirit of healthy competition among the learners leading to improved academic performance and as well built a name for the school in the locality.


As we appreciate the economic fact that resources are scarce and the tedious task of mobilizing funds from donors, we pray that God works out a way to get more donor funding to even expand the program.

Regards. Kimali

Email from the Student President, Kyaithani Secondary School
Hello our kind and loving donors. I am Carol, President of the student body of Kyaithani Secondary School, writing on behalf of my fellow scholarship recipients.
Our appreciation and gratitude to you is beyond what we can explain. Most of us had almost lost access to education.
We met today and when we discussed your goodness to us we asked our teachers for your contact addresses just to extend our gratitude to you. Feel loved and appreciated by us for your kindness to us. Those of us who are in the fourth level (grade 12) promise to work hard to earn ourselves good certificates. Our dear principal and teachers have offered to us both moral and academic guidance and through them we have enjoyed peace and kept disciplined.
The bad news about the fire that burnt two boys sleeping houses at our school in May caught us at a surprise but taught us a lesson that we could be having some enemies either from within us or from around who either don't love us or envy us. We have learnt today from our teachers that our donors are working some good plans to replace the lost items and we thank you in advance.
Our trip to Nairobi that you sponsored us several years ago is very fresh in our minds and we keep on talking about it to our juniors who had not joined the school by then. There is constant supply of water from the borehole and we enjoy and make use of the installed lighting system. We have had a chance to email students in Chatelech Secondary School today and we hope this will continue.
We look foward to your next visit in our school
Bye 

Friday, January 2, 2015

Big Boost for Scholarships and our FIRST post-secondary vocational training assistance

In early 2014 while in Europe, Jan & Terry met and became friends with a couple.  They have since learned a lot about our passion for the Ndandini area of Kenya and the various projects that we have done there with the financial support of many private individuals and Rotary Clubs around the world.  They were especially pleased to learn that every cent of donation goes to the projects and scholarships that we provide without any deduction for administration or marketing.
Thank You letters from the 29 current scholarship recipients


We are really pleased to announce that they have provided us with a major donation to support our Kyaithani scholarship program and to allow us to initiate a new vocational training assistance program for graduates of Kyaithani Secondary School and Lower Yatta Girls Secondary Boarding School.

The new vocational training assistance will provide tuition assistance for 3 graduating students.  The selected student vocational training must only include for ‘hands on’ blue collar construction trades such as carpenters, welders, masons, plumbers, HVAC, mechanics, tillers, roofers, electricians ,drywallers, painters, cement finishers, steel fabricators, heavy equipment operators, etc.

We will be working with the principals of the two secondary schools to identify appropriate vocational schools and courses, and for the identification of potential candidates for this vocational training assistance.

A very BIG thank you for your donation!  Its because of our very generous donors that we are able to help the very poor students in the Ndandini area of eastern Kenya.

Terry & Jan