Report: New Girls’ Dormitory at Uranga Secondary School – Sauri MVP

A Report to the White Feather Foundation

From Millenium Villages Project

Introduction

Uranga Secondary school is one of the two secondary schools in Sauri MVP on the Connect To Learn Program. The selection of the school into the program was based on its locality, being a remote locality, and being that it is a community initiated school which admits mostly students from economically challenged backgrounds. Connect To Learn scholarship for girls was thus considered to have the potential of increasing secondary education opportunities to girls from the village who would have otherwise missed the opportunity for secondary education due to inability to raise school fees and other levies.

Through CTL scholarships 34 girls have so far been admitted in Uranga Secondary School since the inception of the program in 2012. Of the 34 girls, 2 completed their secondary school in 2013, while 5 will completee their secondary school in 2014. Of the 2 candidates of 2013, 1 girl performed exceptionally well and was admitted into University on direct entry by the Kenya Universities Joint Admission Board. The other 1 girl qualified for entry into a middle level college. Being a day school, most of the girls had to walk up to 5 kilometers to reach school, thus walking up to 10 kilometers each day to school and back. This posed a serious challenge to the girls, and the MVP-CTL program purchased bicycles for the girls on scholarship to ease their movement to school. This has however not been as effective as anticipated, due to the rough and hilly terrain, limiting the girls’ ability to ride their bicycles to school. There was also the threat of mugging, considering that the girls would ride to school early morning, and back home late evening. Insecurity in the area was a serious challenge. In September 2013, a girl, while on her way to school in the morning was attacked and raped. Thanks to the security agencies the culprit was arrested and convicted to 14 years in prison.

The White Feather Foundation and the William and Sue Gross Family Foundation donate $30,000.

Following this case, construction of a girls’ dormitory in Uranga Secondary School was seriously considered. An appeal was made to CTL to consider supporting with fundraising to realize this. In November 2014, we received with excitement the news of successful fundraising and donations from the White Feather Foundation and the William and Sue Gross Family Foundation, totaling $30,000 towards the construction of a girls’ dormitory at Uranga Secondary School. This donation was officially then communicated to the school administration, parents, students and local leadership at a ceremony held in the school on 21st November 2014. Despite closure of the school for December recess, all the students came back to school to witness the ceremony. All teachers, parents, and the local leadership, including the area member of the National Assembly attended the function. The announcement letter provided by the donors was publicly read out to the audience by the MVP Team Leader in its’ entirety.

Major Remarks

1. All the speakers underscored the importance of security in the area, and particularly for the girls, even if they will now reside in school.
2. The local leaders and school Board of Management expressed their appreciation of the support and committed to work with the security agencies to ensure girls are safe in the school.
3. The local leaders encouraged the girls to work hard and excel in their education considering that they have a rare opportunity in form of scholarship.
4. The local leaders committed to also raise funds towards expansion of boarding facilities to support more girls in the school.
5. The representative of the girls thanked CTL and the MVP for giving them a rare opportunity to realize their academic goals. Generally, this announcement was received with a lot of excitement, and we look forward to more fundraising locally to improve on girls’ education in the area.

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