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January 2007

Our Projects of Hope Coordinator in Kenya, Peter, organized a meeting and party with the Yote Yawezekana school scholarship recipients to look at their progress and wish them a Merry Christmas. Uniforms were distributed to those youth who had not yet received them. The group enjoyed a special meal of traditional Kenyan food with Ugali, Kuku and Githeri, and later a treat of sodas, with words of wisdom coming from Nelly and Robert as the oldest youth in the group. The following news updates, sparks of hope and encouragement were shared by Peter:

"Each child received a small gift as a way of showing appreciation and encouragement for them coming to the meetings throughout the year. To involve the youth, we asked them to come up with one person to coordinate the high school students and primary school students. Robert (a high school student) was appointed to coordinate the Projects of Hope scholarship recipients at the high school level. Edwin (a primary school student) was appointed at the primary school level. This will be one way of making sure that the kids know each other very well and to empower them and teach them about how to be the best leaders in the community. All the officials from Yote Yawezekana attended the meeting and each was given a chance to talk to the kids for encouragement. I indicated to them that in future we will plan some retreats for them to go out of Shikokho with the availability of funds.

Each student was given time to talk and I was impressed by both Joel and Sebastian who said that they were 100% sure of passing exams and joining secondary school. All the kids who talked gave words of appreciation for what Projects of Hope is doing in their lives. I stressed the importance of sharing what they have and told them our main focus was not paying their school fees but we want to bring up good girls and boys for a better Shikokho community tomorrow."

Thank you on behalf of all the students Projects of Hope supports, for giving them the opportunity to receive an education. The new school year begins January 9th and the children are so happy to have the opportunity to go to school, which would not be possible without the generosity of so many wonderful friends of Projects of Hope.