June 30th 2012 was a special day at Ndoto. First, because it was my birthday. And second
because it marked the deadline of issuing Ndoto sponsorship Application forms
for 2012. I choose to talk about the
latter. Unlike last year when about 55 students
collected the forms on the first day, this time the first two days saw over 250
students collect the sponsorship application forms! That is 3 times more than
the spots we have for this year since we are in the habit of taking only 50 students yearly. As students and
their parents streamed at the Ndoto office in Obunga, we kept wondering how
many applicants we would get this year. Every case looked deserving and the
thought of turning some students down always makes me sad. The ugly truth
however is that we depend on people’s generosity to do our work and therefore
we can only take a limited number of people at a time. By the time we closed
the applications on 30th June, a massive 389 students had applied for the 50 spots. Yes, 389 students
for 50 spots!! The implications of that is a rigid vetting process that will
see us select those who are to join Ndoto. That is tough! The good news though
is that at Ndoto we endeavor to act justly and show mercy always and every case
is treated as special.
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| Some of the submitted forms from the 2012 applicants |
As has been the case in the past, majority of the students
who applied this year mainly come from Obunga slums in Kisumu, Kenya. For those
who don’t know it, Obunga is a slum in Kisumu and is mainly characterized by
deplorable living conditions and abject poverty. The inadequacy
of physical infrastructure and basic social services in this area is
comparatively worse than in other slum areas and roads are generally impassable
due to poor drainage and inadequate spacing of houses and other buildings. This is an area of drug addicts and unemployed people, young
and old alike. Common economic activities here include selling vegetables,
charcoal, second hand clothes, fish and running of small food kiosks in order
to make ends meet. Women and young people brew illicit brews which are illegal
and punishable by the courts to provide for their families and pay school fees
for their kids. Housing remains a big
problem in the Obunga slums as majority of residents live in tiny/ single room
iron sheet houses locally known as MABATINI, with house occupancy of
four to eight people per house. In general, majority live in a vicious circle
of poverty as they cannot invest and even support the education of their
children. Through support from Ndoto, students from poor families have been
able to go to school and achieve their dreams. Students sponsored by Ndoto are
seldom sent home for school fees. As a result, Ndoto is a place that everyone
wants to be, almost all the students in the community want to join this program
so that they too can enjoy being in school and be assured of a brighter future
through education. Since its inception, Ndoto has been exceptional in its work
in Obunga and has won the respect of many in the community. Not many
organizations have had the greatest impact in the community like Ndoto has in
the past few years by faithfully sponsoring students at all levels and enabling
them to acquire quality and affordable education and life skills that they need
in order to afford them a quality life and emancipate themselves from the
vicious circle of poverty, diseases, ignorance, dependency and war within the
families. It is not surprising therefore that a total of 389
students applied for the sponsorship program despite knowing that we only take
a limited number of 50 every year.
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| more 2012 applicants |
Over
60 students have already turned in their forms, all immaculately filled in,
with all the necessary reference letters and documents appended. The submission
deadline is scheduled for July 31st, 2012. As I was going through
the forms that have been turned in today, it crossed my mind just
how hard it’s going to be selecting 50 students out of 389 applicants. Every single
completed form from a student applying for the sponsorship represents a story
every bit as compelling and complicated as the other. These are no ordinary
people. They have BIG dreams!! Some want to be doctors, architects,
Journalists, pilots, engineers, some
lawyers, teachers, pastors, priests, nurses, others accountants, businessmen,
politicians, drivers, and so much more! They come from different levels
of education too. Some are in nursery school, others first to eighth grade,
others in high school and some in colleges and universities. All these applicants are praying that if
selected to join the program, Ndoto will help them be what they dream to be. If
we give them a chance, each of them has something amazing to offer.
It
is impractical to help everyone in this community. However, for any student who
cares to dream, Ndoto which in itself means to dream endeavors to support these
students and help them to realize their dreams. Some of these students have
gone through a lot of struggles and problems in life that have discouraged them
and even made them think they will never be what they want to be. At Ndoto we
don’t want these students to be pushed by their problems but we want them to be
led by their dreams and ultimately live the life each one of them wants to
live.
We
have 114 students now. If we take 50 students which I highly doubt because we
could end up taking 55 or even 60 given the high number of applicants, then
Ndoto will have a total of at least 160 students by the start of school in
January 2013! That has HUGE implications
in terms of recruiting sponsors and raising funds to support the program
activities including hiring and training able staff that will take care of
these precious people.
It
is hardly three months since Allison Schlack; Ndoto’s Executive Director came
up from the USA with the good news that all the 55 students admitted into the
program last year had all gotten sponsors. We were all ineffably elated and grateful
to God for his faithfulness and provision. We celebrated with our trade mark
group hug oblivious of the fact that 3 months later it would be time for her to
hit the road again recruiting sponsors for yet another group of new students. With
160 students expected in the program by December, I am already wondering where
our next Christmas retreat would be. We have literally outgrown all the facilities
we have used previously. Not long ago, we used three 14-seater matatus to ferry
students to a retreat centre at St. Rita Buoye, then it was this April it was a
60-seater bus making two trips to Ahero for this years’ April Retreat. And now
with 50 to 60 more students, it could be 2 60-seater buses!! Looking back, I
remember the days when Allison Schlack had only 29 students in the program. She
knew each student by name, where they went to school, their parents and
siblings and every nitty-gritty about them. And she would queue in the bank
halls to personally pay their school fees and accompany them to buy supplies.
Before she could blink, there were 79 students in the program, then 112, and
soon 160!!! With a student population of 160, and a staff of about 7 in Kenya
alone, Ndoto has grown so fast and so has the need to serve these students well
and provide for their needs. We
cannot control them, but we want to influence them for God and towards God and
not just give an education. Because at the end of this life their education
wouldn’t matter, whether they knew God and served Him will.
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| Ndoto students at the April 2012 retreat |
God has
been faithful over the years and has provided all we need to run this program.
He has constantly reminded us that He is sufficient for all our needs, even
when as human beings we doubt. When we
selected 55 students to join the program last year, I didn’t know everyone
would have a sponsor by April. God provided and we are all grateful for His
provision. He is aware of our needs and our wants and it is good to know that His plan is for us to
learn how to lean on His sufficiency even in difficult times.
As we begin the
process of selecting the students for the 2013 academic year, pray that God
will continue to provide like He has always done. The school year for the new
students start in January 2013. Our goal has always been that every single
student has a sponsor by then. But like I said before, a lot of what we do
depends on people’s generosity and that means we have to pray pray pray and
fully rely on God to provide. The good news is He has never failed us. And that
really blesses my soul.
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| Ndoto students writing letters to their sponsors |
To those interested
in signing up to sponsor a student and make a difference you can check the
sponsorship levels from our website www.ndoto.org.
With as little as $35 a month you can get a kid through school in Kenya and
make a difference in the life of a kid from Obunga. Someone once said that if
you can’t save a village, change the life of one person within that
village. If you can’t change a person’s life, bring a better moment to
his life. Helping others on any scale is a wonderful gift to the world,
but more importantly it is a wonderful gift to yourself. Do something
that’s greater than you – something that helps someone else to be happy or to
suffer less.
To those already
sponsoring students with Ndoto, smile and enjoy the fact that you are making a
difference – one you’ll likely remember forever.
And to everyone,
PRAY!! PRAY!! PRAY!!!!!!
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies
with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is
immortal.” Albert Pike
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