About Kenya Foundation to Aid Children Through Education
Our belief is that education is the best defense against poverty and disease and our mission is to promote it in Homa Bay, one of the poorest areas in Western Kenya, and possibly the hardest hit by AIDS.
In Kenya, while primary school fees are provided by the government, secondary education is out of reach for the poorest children, many of whom are orphaned or have parents who are too sick to provide for them. Without education these children have little hope of escaping a life of the most extreme poverty.
Our efforts will be concentrated on girls, who are especially vulnerable to very early marriage, sexual exploitation, AIDS and pregnancy as early as 13 or 14. In the worst cases a girl may be alone, HIV positive and the mother of several children before she is an adult.
Secondary boarding school educates girls in a protected environment for four years; it offers them better knowledge of how to protect and care for themselves and their families and better hope for a job after graduation. Those who perform especially well may, with the help of government loans and scholarships, be able to continue toward higher education and a professional career, becoming leaders in their communities and role models for other women.
Seven hundred dollars will pay for a student’s fees for a year. KFACE also fundraises throughout the year to help pay for the personal items a child needs in order to attend boarding school. Our Foundation proposes to recruit people, or groups, who want to sponsor a child for four years or, if that is not possible, who will donate what they can towards other needs, such as books, travel to school or extra medical expenses.
We do not exclude boys but we focus primarily on girls, as they are more at risk and their families and community are less likely to help them.
About Homa Bay
Homa Bay is a fishing town of about 35,000 on the shore of Lake Victoria. It is also a district, including numerous villages sprinkled about the countryside in the area. There are about 60,000 people between the town and the villages. It is estimated that more than a third of the population either has AIDS or is HIV positive.
Kenya Foundation to Aid Children through Education (KFACE) was established in 2010 under the Society Act of British Columbia and granted charitable status by Revenue Canada under #83911 5201 RR0001. The Directors are: Marguerite Chiarenza, Allison Baxter, Rosalind Trotter, Erma Weernink, Margherita Repetto, Martin Addison and Melissa Smith.