Our free school uniform program.

What a fun week it’s been! Pre Covid, our Springs of Hope Foundation vocational training students visited schools in the slums surrounding us in Naka, a suburb of Nakuru, Kenya as part of their training. Our students were each assigned two children to measure and make an entire free school uniform for. The program was just as empowering for our students as it was for the little ones that they were able to provide with smart new clothes and a new sense of dignity. You see, our students were once those children, dressed in rags as they went to school, and in and out of school whenever their parent, usually a single mother, couldn’t pay their school fees. As all schools were immediately closed in March 2020 that program had to be put on hold.
Many of the single mothers who live in our surrounding slums and worked as house help prior to the Covid pandemic were laid off in 2020 and have not been called back to work since.
Last week Martha and Antoinette visited two local schools. A primary and high school. The purpose of their visit was to interview five girls to be chosen for full sponsorship by a very generous donor.
Now that things have settled down a little, during their trip to the two schools it was well and truly evident that it is once again time to start up our free school uniform program.
Once the word was out the headteacher brought so many children desperately in need of new uniforms over to our complex. Our students got to work measuring and recording the name of each little one they would be making a new uniform for.
Timing is everything! A few days earlier I received the good news that the Rotary Club of Marquette West, Marquette MI, had awarded a generous grant to cover the cost of the fabric and wool for our school uniform program.This is a great exercise for our students. I’m looking forward to reporting to you on our progress.