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)

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

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 

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

Kyaithani Scholars Thank You. Can you help provide more scholarships in 2015?

Here are a few extracts from some of the 26 letters of appreciation that we received from the students at Kyaithani Secondary School in Kenya.  You will be touched by the impact that your donations to the scholarship program are making in the lives of these students.

Thanks for your support.  Please consider supporting the scholarship program again this Christmas season.

Terry and Jan

I appreciate your tireless efforts to ensure my learning. With your support I have been able to axquire my Secondary School education. If possible, I request you to sponsor my education next year in a higher level of learning. I am also humbly requesting that you extend your scholarships to more students who are bright and needy and for many days they have been missing class because of lack of money for their school fees. Shadrack Joshua Form 4.

If it were not for you I don't know where I would be. I might be employed somewhere as a houseboy. Fetus Muli Form 3

If it were up to my parentsw, I couldn't manage to attend school up to this far. Faith John Form 4

Only God can pay you for your generosity and spirit of kindness you have towards people. Caroline Mutuku Form 3

I am applying more efforts trying to save my future. If it were not for your mercies I wouldn;t have joined the scondary school three years ago. I request that if possible you help further my education next year after secondary school. Joseph Nzama Form 4

If it were not for your contribution to my schooling my life could not be the way it is. I think I could be a housegirl or married with not less than two children. My life now is going well in school. Videllis Koki form 2

If it were not for your help with my schooling I could be a wanderer on earth. Thank you Also, if it were not for your donors, our school could not be where it is now. Thank you for your concern about my education. Pascalia Munyoki Form 2

If it were not for your support I could not be in school because my parents had walked up and down looking for my school fees but it was impossible to continue with my studies. Mary Musyoka Form 1

As you dpay for our school fees, we will put more emphasis on education for we have realized that the world we are living in requires education due to advanced technology. James Robert Form 1

I am very glad to tell you that you are changing my life. if it were not for you and other donors I would be in Nairobi on the street or somewhere as a slave. Shadrack Nzyoku Form 1

Chatelech Secondary Rotary Interact Club raises funds for Kyaithani Secondary Scholarships

Yesterday was a great day for the members of the Chatelech Secondary School Rotary Interact Club in Sechelt BC.  They had decided that they wanted to help some less privileged students in Kenya's Kyaithani Secondary School by providing some money for our scholarship program.



Young attendees at the Chatelech Interact Club's fundraising dance

So last night they organized a "Winter Wonderland" dance for all the grade 6 and 7 students in the Sechelt area with some of the proceeds going towards our Kyaithani Secondary Scholarship fund.

A great time was had by both the 100+ grade 6 and 7 attendees and also by the members of the Interact Club.
The members of the Interact Club will also be starting an email club to exchange emails between the students in both schools.  It will be great to see the relationships grow between the students in the two schools.

Thanks so much Interactors!! 

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Terry

Kaithani scholarship recipients provide us with letters

In early October, we visited Ndandini Village and the 7 schools that we support in the area.  We also visited Kyaithani Secondary School and the 29 students there that receive scholarships from our donors.



29 scholarship recipients provide us with thank you letters

Each of the scholarship recipients took the opportunity to hand deliver a letter of thanks for our donors' generosity.  Many of them are very heartwarming and most stress how valuable the scholarship has been - without it they would not have been able to continue their education.  If you would like to read the letters, let me know (terryumbach@hotmail.com).

We are now entering our Christmas season.  A time when we all think about giving, and about those less fortunate than ourselves.

Please consider providing some money to our scholarship program so that we can continue to provide these students with an education.  We'd like to increase the number of students that we support.

Have a great Christmas.

Terry & Jan