Educate 900 Kenyan Children

True Gunners Youth Club is a young and growing community based organization whose members are drawn from the sprawling slums of Ngando in Dagoretti South Constituency, Nairobi. This club was started by young people in the community who were passionate about nurturing talents of young boys and girls through soccer and enhance their capacity towards active participation in the development of their community. Their major goal was to impart skills, empower and develop talents of children and youth from grassroots to higher standards hence make them responsible citizens in the future. The club has a membership of approximately 150 young people both male and female of whom majority are under 18 years. Their core activities was mainly in soccer, art and design and awareness campaigns but 3 years down the line they partnered with Vision Africa to implement an afterschool programme dubbed Village of Hope so as to complement the education being offered by government and informal schools through an afterschool library where children are allowed to come and complete their homework, revise and access reading and learning materials in a safe and conducive environment. Being situated at the heart of Ngando slums, the after school programme serves all the children within the slums but also extended their services through mobile library where volunteer teachers visit schools that has no libraries to provide books and spend time with children during reading lessons hence improve their reading culture.

Good news is that through Village of Hope project, children and young people have made positive progress not only towards improving their school performance but also in building their self-esteem and confidence through mentorship. The programme also run the empowerment club  for the youth over the weekends which have given them a platform to voice their concern, share issues that affect them within their families and school and find solutions to their problems. When we spoke to Village of Hope project leader, he said that their 2017 highlight was the good performance by all the children at end of year exams, increase in enrolment for high school students in the programme, winning football tournaments. Their most significant achievement is the 10 students who sat for Kenya Certificate of Primary Exams (KCPE) performed well with a girl being on the lead. Christine who scored 364 out of 500 marks has been called to join a National school in Nairobi. The biggest challenge for Village of Hope is to get scholarship for these students since they come from humble backgrounds whereby their parents cannot afford to pay secondary education. As they apply for corporate scholarships, I believe that by January all the 10 students will get admission to advance their education in high school.

Other news is that schools have been on recess since the beginning of November and children within our programmes are at home with their families. Although the holiday is long, we could not organize for holiday activities for the children and young people to participate due to political temperature that had engulf the county since August after the general elections. The only project that has continued with its activities to keep children and young people busy is the Village of Hope through empowerment and football clubs respectively.  Parents appreciate the work that Village of Hope is doing in partnership with Vision Africa as they say that their children’s school performance have significantly improved and the empowerment club has changed their characters in a way that they have good relationships at home and in the community!

All this would not have been possible were it not for the continuous support you have given to us to bring change in the lives of children and young people. I believe it is through education that children and young people have the opportunity to reach out their potential to thrive and succeed in life. Thank you for your ongoing contribution towards our education programme, we would not have come this far without your help.

May I take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!