At Teach a Child – Africa, we are enormously proud of the high degree of success that our students consistently achieve. Kennedy and Otieno are among the most recent group of students who have graduated secondary school and are now starting their studies at university. In a country where only 4% of the population has had a tertiary education, this is a huge accomplishment and shows what a difference TaC can make to the lives of those it sponsors.
“I am not poor since I am rich in knowledge, skills and experience” Kennedy Omego
Both Kennedy and Otieno have had hard lives. Kennedy’s parents died when he was young, leaving him a sick and bereaved orphan in one of the most under-employed areas in Kenya. Otieno also lost both parents very young. Him and his five siblings were left in the care of an older brother who was forced to drop out of high school in an attempt to provide for the family. As awful as these stories may sound, they are nothing out of the ordinary for Siaya County.
With both boys barely scraping by, it was not until TaC was able to step in and offer funding that either thought they would be able to continue to secondary education. Now, years and much hard work later, Kennedy is studying medical statistics at Moi University and Otieno is an architecture student at the Technical University of Kenya. While they both freely admit to still being somewhat financially impoverished, they stress the importance of their wealth of skills, knowledge and experience which will no doubt give them a competitive edge when entering the work force. Kennedy has spoken passionately about how “taking classes gives [him] a sense of pride, confidence and of renewed spirit”. He is optimistic that his future will be full of opportunities for himself and for others he’ll be able to help.
The support that Kennedy and Otineo were given was quite literally life-changing and it was only made possible by the kindness and generosity of our donors. We are hopeful that, with your support, TaC’s work will continue to help these amazing young people for many years to come.
“Education is the best thing for an individual. It’s the only way to fight poverty in our society. It’s the only way to attain one’s purpose in life. It’s the only way to narrow the bridge between the rich and the poor” Otieno Eliud Owino
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