Beatrice Anjavo
“My name is Beatrice. I am 18 years old and in Form One. My mother died in 2005 and since then I have been taking care of the house and my siblings. I want to continue my education so that I can help my family to support themselves and my younger brothers and sister can go to Secondary School.”
Beatrice Anjavo is 18 years old and in her first year at Muthiga High School. Academically, she is position 7 out of 139 in her Form One year group. She desperately needs a sponsor so she can continue her secondary education. Beatrice is the second born child in a family of seven. Her mother died suddenly, after a four week illness, in 2005. Her death was never explained to Beatrice and to this day Beatrice does not understand why she died. As the eldest girl within the household, Beatrice has to take care of all the household chores and attending a boarding school is her chance to work herself out of her impoverished home environment.
Beatrice’s father is unemployed but carries out casual jobs to earn money. Despite this, the family still live below the international poverty line of $1 a day. The father realizes the importance of providing his children with a good education and works hard to make sure he can cover the expenses of the three youngest children remaining in Primary School. However, the cost of uniform, tuition and other expenses, is often beyond his financial means and the children are sent away from school and told to return when they have the correct items.
AfCiC came across the family through the eldest son, John Arus. As a result of his impoverished home life, John resorted to begging on the streets in order to source an extra income for the family. AfCiC rescued John from the streets and took him to the Interim Care Centre where he underwent intensive rehabilitation before being reunited with the family. An individual sponsor was found for John and he is now in Form Four at Secondary School. He is currently position 4 out of 76 and will sit for his Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education at the end of this year.
AfCiC continue to support the family and have paid for Beatrice’s school fees so far but without an individual sponsor we simply do not have enough money to enable her to complete her secondary education. Beatrice is a bright and intelligent young woman who has the ability to do very well in life. She achieved 307/500 in her KCPE and was position 4 out of 49 students in Mugumo-Imi Primary School. She wants to complete her secondary education so she “can get knowledge to be able to help (her) family and other needy children. She doesn’t want to be a housewife as her mother was; she wants to be a neurosurgeon “so that (she) can get money to uplift (her) family.”
Beatrice believes that a lack of education amongst the lower Kenyan classes, leads to a lot of the country’s problems. She believes that if people are educated they are able to communicate with others and have their voice heard.
If you want to help Beatrice so her voice can be heard too please contact the sponsorship co-ordinator at sponsorship@actionchildren.org
