t the beginning of October, our Kenya team traveled to Alale Girls Secondary School and St. Anne’s Girls Chelopoy in West Pokot. The journey took two days and covered 657 km (408 mi). Our Kenya team takes this annual trip twice a year, in February and October. The purpose is to check up on our sponsored students, encourage and mentor them, and continue to strengthen our partner relationships. In doing so, we can see an increasing impact on girls’ education and rally for the same.
A few mentionable differences from this trip are the two female leaders we met from each school. At Alale Girls Secondary, the new principal, Madam Dorothy is a young and energetic lady. She had experience as a deputy principal at a school in Kapenguria, one of the main towns in West Pokot, before being transferred to Alale Girls. Dorothy’s enthusiasm to support the girls in their education journey encouraged us as we have seen the school struggle to have a consistent leadership head since Madam Pamela retired after 17 years. While at Alale, the team was also joined by Pastor Mary, from the AIC church close by, and Madam Damaris, one of the school’s board members. Having strong female leaders from the community speak with the girls positioned them as role models that the students can look up to and be encouraged.
The second school we visit is St. Anne’s Girls Chelopoy which is about 46 km (28 mi) from Alale Girls Secondary School. At St. Anne’s the team also received a warm and lovely welcome from the new deputy principal, Madam Caroline. Caroline is a local Pokot lady who has overcome the cultural challenges in her educational journey and also proved to be a role model for the girls. She shared with the team an overview of her story and how her persistence to complete her education through university was a large milestone as a woman in her community. Similar to Dorothy, Caroline had worked at a school in Kapenguria before being placed as a deputy principal at St. Anne’s Girls. After connecting with Caroline, the team had an opportunity to speak with the entire school and encourage them to keep pursuing their education to its full completion, not getting deterred by cultural practices or mindsets that would seek to hinder their progress.
Dorothy is on the far left, Pastor Mary is in the middle of the students, and Madam Damaris
from the school board is on the far right.
The second school we visit is St. Anne’s Girls Chelopoy which is about 46 km (28 mi) from Alale Girls Secondary School. At St. Anne’s the team also received a warm and lovely welcome from the new deputy principal, Madam Caroline. Caroline is a local Pokot lady who has overcome the cultural challenges in her educational journey and also proved to be a role model for the girls. She shared with the team an overview of her story and how her persistence to complete her education through university was a large milestone as a woman in her community. Similar to Dorothy, Caroline had worked at a school in Kapenguria before being placed as a deputy principal at St. Anne’s Girls. After connecting with Caroline, the team had an opportunity to speak with the entire school and encourage them to keep pursuing their education to its full completion, not getting deterred by cultural practices or mindsets that would seek to hinder their progress.
The team’s last connection was with one of our alumni ladies, Norah Cheyech, in Kitale town which is about 202 km (125 mi) from West Pokot. Over the last year, we have been building out an alumni program to strengthen the presence of role models for our secondary school students and university scholars. Connecting with Norah was an integral part of dreaming more about how to encourage and mentor Pokot students in their education journey. Norah graduated from university in 2022 with a Bachelor of Education Science, Physics & Chemistry and is currently a junior high school teacher in a town called Kericho in the western part of Kenya. She attended Alale Girls Secondary School for high school and has returned numerous times to motivate and encourage current students to complete their education. Norah is a pacesetter and trailblazer in her community and we are eager to see many young girls follow in her footsteps.
We are grateful for the Kenya team’s successful and enriching trip to West Pokot! It is exciting to see the growth taking place and are anticipating greater things by the next trip in February 2025. Thank you to our extended THS family for the continued support and rallying for girls’ education and empowerment, lives are truly being transformed.
