Students at Moi High School

Many of the blog readers are among the group of sponsors who have been supporting tuition and fees for students at Moi High School in Rukanga, the largest of the Kasigau communities. One student John, graduated in December 2009; 3 are in Form 4 (seniors) and will graduate in December 2010; two are in Form 1 (freshmen), having just started high school in January of this year. I’m including a photo of myself with the students still attending Moi, and individual photos of each of the six our group of friends, family, and students have been supporting with annual donations. From left...Holiness, Sylvia, Kris, Phillipe, Beja, & Albert






John is the first student we sponsored, beginning in January of 2006. He graduated with a high school diploma last December and was contemplating what to do with his future very seriously the entire time we were in Kasigau. John has a single mother, grandparents in their 80s, and three younger siblings, so as the eldest responsible son he has had many family obligations during his studies. As a result his grades were lower than anticipated, which has limited his options for continuing his education. The Kenyan system is quite regimented, with exams in all subjects each term, and one set of final exams at the end of high school that determines an average grade for the 4 years. And like American higher education, in Kenya each major or program has entrance requirements. John's family commitments and his mother's illness resulted in poorer performance than he was happy with, so he is returning to high school because he wants to repeat and improve his final exam grade and go on to university. Way to go, John!



Phillipe, Albert, and Beja are the other three young men our family and friends have been supporting since 2007. They are in their last year and all are very good students. All three are from very poor families and quite appreciative of the support. These three often get up two hours earlier than required to have extra time for studying. This means they are getting up at 3am, since the entire school is up for morning preps at 5am! They have all impressed the head teacher and the headmaster, and were lovely to meet with…Ken and I have committed to seeking support for these three to continue at a public university.
Phillipe (left) has earned the highest marks of all these strong students, always in the top 5 with A & B marks in all subjects. He wants very much to join the university and earn a degree in medicine. He is a serious student but has a mischievous smile and I suspect a great sense of humor. Phillipe comes from a family with two parents who are “only working at manual jobs now and then”, and five siblings: two older brothers and two younger brothers, plus two younger sisters. He has impressed the headmaster and his teachers with his strong opinions and a sense of justice and fairness that reminds me of Dustin.

Beja (right above) wants to be an electrical or mechanical engineer, and has shown strong academic performance, always in the top 10 of his class of 80 since Form I. He comes from a family of 6, with two parents who sometimes work at manual jobs but are currently unemployed. There is no work for the majority of Kasigau residents; the best estimate I’ve seen is that about 60 in 1,000 have paying positions. The remainder farm small plots and hope for rain so there is a crop for market. Phillipe has two older brothers and one younger brother who is in class 6.



Albert has an interest in electronics and wants to study electrical engineering at university. He has also consistently also performed at the top 10 of the class, and is a very serious student. Albert has a 5 year old brother, and his mother is a single parent who has moved away to Voi for work. As a result, Albert lives with his grandmother in Rukanga when not boarding at Moi.






Sylvia and Holiness are getting used to being away from home and living at Moi, and their first term marks came back as average. Our host at the banda, Abs, gave them a pep talk about the importance of working harder and performing well. He will be monitoring the performance of each student at the end of each term, so that sponsors’ support can be contingent on performance. The girls are also from families with very low incomes. Sylvia has three brothers and one sister, and lives with her parents in Bungule when not at school. Holiness lives with her great-grandmother and her grandmother, having been orphaned at an early age. She has three sisters and one brother, and is a very serious young woman. It took me three weeks to get to her smile back at me!

All students we have supported will need support to even consider continuing to university, and all are well-known at the school as being very motivated and hard workers. The government has started subsidizing secondary school, and Moi now enrolls “day students” from neighboring villages, for $150/year (versus $450 for boarding students). It’s over an hour’s walk from Bungule, though, and over half that from Jora. The matatu busses take student riders for free, and they leave at 5am from Bungule, and it is very heartwarming to see everyone making room in any way possible to support education in the community With our limited time left here we are struggling to set priorities for continued sponsorships. There are certainly more students and teachers in need at all levels than are possible to support, but on the other hand $150 goes a long way toward giving a village student a future beyond poaching and burning charcoal for livelihood here.