Dear KCEF Friends and Partners,
We have been reflecting recently on the tremendous challenges of the last 15 years of service and ministry to “the least of these” in Kenya. We have also been reflecting on the almost limitless opportunities before us.
In many ways, not much has changed for Kenya’s poorest children and families:
- Only 50% of primary school graduates continue on to secondary school
- In the poorest families, only 11% will ever receive a high school diploma
- Every year about 13,000 girls leave school forever due to pregnancy
- A recent study in some government schools showed a student/teacher ratio of 87:1
In keeping with these statistics, the head teacher of one of our partner schools in a Nairobi slum recently wrote:
“We serve in a community where there are many negative influences due to poverty, prostitution and gang activity. Many of the children we serve grow up knowing only scarcity and insecurity—which often nurtures a sense of desperation and hopelessness.”
The morning walk to school through Kibera
While the overall picture remains grim, KCEF is seeing abundant signs of HOPE and CHANGE—one child at a time. Our board trip to Kenya in late 2022 was tremendously affirming. The KCEF partner schools we visited were full of children laughing, playing and learning. Every day, they are with teachers who love and care for them. Every day, they receive two nutritious meals, giving them energy and strengthening their capacity for concentrating and learning.
During that board visit, we spent some time with Esther Waweru, founder and leader of Gentle Bells School, the first KCEF partner school. We learned that, since 2015, every single Gentle Bells primary school graduate has gone on to secondary school, and 100% of those students have graduated! Every single one of those graduates was supported by a partial scholarship through KCEF.
Last month, Esther wrote:
“You have been with us from the beginning. We would not even have a school here without your support, encouragement and prayer for us. Please thank all of those who continue to give and make our work with these precious children possible.”
So, while there is much bad news for children and families in Kenya, there is abundant good news for the 2000 children in our schools and programs. Thousands more have gone before those currently enrolled, most of whom are now working, raising families, and serving their communities.
Against what might seem to be steep odds, we are most encouraged as we look to the future and the continued impact of what we have been called to do. All of us on the KCEF board have committed to significantly increasing our support, but your help is also crucial.
Will you join us today in support of these children? Will you help us bring HOPE to them, to their families, to their teachers? Please stand with us and with them. We—and they— will be eternally grateful. To donate, please visit How You Can Help.
With deep appreciation,
Craig Hammon
KCEF Board Chair
hammoncraig@gmail.com