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Featured Students

 

Gloria Mumeita Kotente

When Mumeita completed her first year of secondary school, her parents were no longer able to pay school fees.  Mumeita was an A student with a bright future ahead of her, so outstanding that letters of recommendation were attached to her application for scholarship from the headteacher of her primary school and from the assistant chief in the area where she lived.  Mumeita lived up to these recommendations and graduated from Moi Girls Secondary School in November 2009, achieving an A- on the Kenya national test, almost unheard of for a Maasai girl from rural Kenya.  She would like to go to medical school, but has been told that she needs at least an A on the national test to qualify.  Her university education is pending.

Date of Birth: 06/18/1992
Started Program: 3 years 30 weeks ago
Start Grade: 10th Grade (Form 2)
Current Grade: Secondary School Graduate
School: College Application Pending
Sponsored: No

 

Catherine Timanoi Koyiah

Timanoi's father has been trying to marry her off since she graduated from primary school, but an MGEF scholarship kept her in school. She is the first of five children living in extreme poverty, dependent on relief food during the droughts. Timanoi was accepted to the Faculty of Veterninary Medicine at the University of Nairobi in September 2009, and we believe the first Maasai woman to be accepted to this program.  Her father still wants to marry her off, but in Timanoi's words, "I am not ready to be someone's wife. I would like to achieve my academic goals and change the living standard of our family."

Date of Birth: 12/08/1990
Started Program: 6 years 30 weeks ago
Start Grade: 9th Grade (Form 1)
Current Grade: University
School: University of Nairobi
Sponsored: No

 

Yiamoi Lasiti

Yiamoi was pledged in marriage at the age of two, and was to be married in March 2007 just before her 13th birthday, but an uncle, a neighbor, and her brother stepped in to prevent the marriage after MGEF agreed to give her a scholarship. Yiamoi’s sister was married when she was just 11 years old. Her father, who is illiterate and jobless, has three wives and had been receiving dowry payments for Yiamoi for nine years, a debt he would have had to repay and was unable to do. The community agreed to raise the money to repay the debt so that Yiamoi could go to school. In March 2007, at the age of 13, Yiamoi enrolled in school for the first time, but is still at risk. Her father still wants her to marry so he can get the dowry payment.

Date of Birth: 03/12/1994
Started Program: 3 years 19 weeks ago
Start Grade: 1st Grade (Class 1)
Current Grade: 3rd Grade (Class 3)
School: AIC Girls Primary School
Sponsored: Yes

 

Winnie Natilikia Lemayian

Winnie's mother, a teacher in an elementary school, unexpectedly passed away in May 2007.  Winnie's life became less stable; her father remarried and abandoned Winnie and her four brothers. With no one to pay for Winnie's education, she would have had to drop out of school. Her grandmother contacted MGEF and requested assistance for Winnie.

Date of Birth: 12/22/1991
Started Program: 1 year 30 weeks ago
Start Grade: 9th Grade (Form 1)
Current Grade: 10th Grade (Form 2)
School: Sister Mary Stephen Nkoitoi Secondary School
Sponsored: No

 

Pilale Pakire Nkumama

Pilale is one of 15 children born to her father's three wives.  Her mother has no education. Pilale is the fifth child in her birth mother's house.  Her father does not believe in educating girls and has already married off his eldest daughter at age 16.  The family is extremely poor, and the prospect of a dowry of cows, goats and cash in such a family places Pilale at high risk to be married as soon as she reaches puberty. 

Date of Birth: 01/01/2000
Started Program: 1 year 47 weeks ago
Start Grade: 1st Grade (Class 1)
Current Grade: 3rd Grade (Class 3)
School: Kajiado Adventist Primary School
Sponsored: No

 

Evelyn Naserian Oltinki

Evelyn made it through primary school, but would not have been able to go to secondary school without the MGEF scholarship.  She is now enrolled at the university to earn a degree in education.

Date of Birth: 10/15/1989
Started Program: 6 years 30 weeks ago
Start Grade: 9th Grade (Form 1)
Current Grade: University
School: Kenyatta University
Sponsored: No

 

Lasoi Seempon

Lasoi's father died when she was only three, and according to custom, her mother went to live with her father's brother.  Her mother died in 2006 when Lasoi was 13.  Without her mother to protect her, she would have been married her off by her father's brother for the dowry.  MGEF saved this bright, cheerful, successful student from early marriage and economic dependence.

Date of Birth: 01/01/1993
Started Program: 3 years 30 weeks ago
Start Grade: 4th Grade (Class 4)
Current Grade: 7th Grade (Class 7)
School: Kajiado Adventist Primary School
Sponsored: Yes

 

Caroline Kashinin Senteu

Caroline is from Loitokitok, Kenya, a rural area near the Tanzania border.  She is the third-born in a family of six children.  Both of her parents are uneducated, and like most Maasai men, Caroline's father does not believe in educating girls.  Caroline desperately wanted to go to school, so her mother took her, and because she was so bright, she received scholarships through secondary school, but there is where her education would have ended if not for MGEF.  She graduated from college in December 2008 and has been working at a clinic near her home since graduation. Her father divorced her mother a few years ago because she refused to have more children, and Caroline is now the sole support of her mother and two younger siblings still at home.  Caroline is planning to get a degree in Public Health Administration.

Date of Birth: 05/15/1985
Started Program: 4 years 25 weeks ago
Start Grade: College
Current Grade: College Graduate-Diploma
School: Kenya Medical Training College
Sponsored: Yes

 

Abigael Semoina Kaipoon Sintiyo

Semoina's father abandonned his family and left her mother with 12 children to support on her own.  Her mother is illiterate and barely able to provide for her family. 

Date of Birth: 05/24/1992
Started Program: 8 years 30 weeks ago
Start Grade: 4th Grade (Class 4)
Current Grade: 11th Grade (Form 3)
School: St Clare Girls Secondary School
Sponsored: No

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Give to the General Scholarships Fund

A donation to MGEF will help to buy shoes, a uniform, and supplies for a student, or pay school fees for a needy girl to go to school.

Learn how to make a donation to general scholarship fund.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is an opportunity to be a part of one student's life for the duration of her education and beyond.  If you are interested in sponsoring a student, please contact MGEF so that we can discuss which is the best student for you.

Find out how to sponsor a girl.

 

 

How You Can Help

A donation will buy uniforms or books for students, help fund a workshop or pay tuition for a needy girl to go to school.

Learn more about how you can help.