On a walk around the village of Kapkemich, we were met by a young girl just standing by the side of the dirt road hoping we would stop to talk with her. She was curious as to who we were, why we were there, and clearly hoping we could help her out of her current situation. Her name is Lorren and this is her story.
“Can you help me?” The words are hard to hear, especially when they come from a child. “Can you take me to the USA?” she asked. As we asked her to tell us more about her life and situation, we told her that to get to America “You must work hard and make good grades, and then maybe…”
We learned she was hoping we would help her as:
- It’s hard to good grades if you go to school during the day and come home to a room without electricity where it gets dark by 6 p.m.
- It’s hard to get good grades when you don’t have a mother to keep house, there is no running water or plumbing, and you’re hungry.
- It’s hard to get good grades when your school fees don’t get paid by your father, who is a day laborer struggling with addiction, and you’re under threat of not being able to return.
- It’s hard to get good grades when the roof leaks on your study materials.
We asked Loreen if she could get us her transcript from her current school, a government primary school for both boys and girls about 5 miles from Kapkemich.
We walked with her to our new FOSA office and introduced her to Emmaculate to discuss her potential enrollment as a boarding school student at St. Anne’s beginning in the new school year in January.
What we learned was this young woman had made good grades in her science classes. She had an A in physics and a B in chemistry! She was ranked second in her class in business studies and religion education and she was ranked in the top 6th of her entire class!
Imagine what this student could accomplish in a boarding situation where she gets three meals a day and has a place to do school work in the evening. We’re going to find out because our FOSA team and St. Anne’s have now worked with her family and the Ministry of Education to get her enrolled as a boarder at St. Anne’s.