Dear Friends,
When we launched Rehema, we embarked on a mission to support underprivileged and academically promising children in Kenya to advance their education past middle school. According to the World Bank (2015), approximately 36% of Kenyans live below the poverty line and subsist on less than two dollars a day. Many families cannot afford three meals a day, let alone an education for their children. As Kenyan high schools are privately funded by parents and most students do not have access to financial aid or student loans, many Kenyans must terminate their education after middle school. Our scholars have faced a multitude of obstacles; they have gone without food, have been displaced from their homes, and repeated grades in elementary school because they lack a sustainable family income. These struggles have not dampened our scholars’ thirst for education. In fact, it has sharpened our scholars’ focus on breaking the cycle of poverty that holds them hostage. One of our scholars Joseph, recently graduated from Masinde Muliro, a four year university. He will walk across the stage this December with his degree in hand. He will be the first person in his family to attend university and graduate. Another scholar Cherry, will be graduating high school at the end of this year. She will be the second Rehema scholar to finish high school. She intends to go on to university next fall. She plans to be a doctor.
Rehema currently supports 24 students ranging from high school to university. With your help, we have been able to fully support the education of these young and bright students.
We would like to thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Theresa Okeyo Owuor, PhD.
Communications Director
We are a community that gives. Your donations last year and especially during the 2018 Giving Tuesday campaign, exceeded our expectations at a total of US$ 25,311. As a result, we were able to award more scholarships than we had initially planned. This year, we are proud to announce that with your help, we awarded 14 new high school scholarships. Our new Rehema scholars include: Sandra, Jafari, Ekaru, Victor, Mwandume, Zablon, Samuel, Immaculate, Ian, Gracious, Alfred, Susan, Muthini, and Selesa. We would like you to join us in extending our congratulations to them, and to their families, guardians, communities, and educators. Read more about them here.
The Community Ecosystem
Peninnah Mutungi, our Executive Director (center) visiting with our scholars Florence and Faith in Makueni, Kenya.
We would like to acknowledge and applaud the efforts of the communities that support our scholars. As you read below, you will notice that our scholars have generous and resourceful communities surrounding them, both in Kenya and in the USA. Not only are they receiving your scholarship support, but they also have local teachers, clergy, friends, and families championing their cause. All of the Rehema scholars highlighted below are now in high school. Their stories provide an example of how our scholars benefit from the donations and sacrifices that you made for their education and well-being.
Ian
Ian is one lucky kid! The people that surround him have given selflessly of themselves to help him succeed in life. Ian had a friend and classmate in elementary school who would share his lunch when Ian’s family could not afford to buy food. Ian had a school teacher who realized that Ian was unkempt and dirty when he attended school and asked him what was wrong. The teacher discovered that Ian’s entire family had been homeless for about a week, and were sleeping in the streets of Nairobi. When Ian’s family later moved to a cheaper city in search of work, one of his teachers took him in. He remained under the care of his teacher until he completed elementary school.
Zablon
With no future in sight, Zablon moved in with his brother in the Kibera slums in Nairobi. At that time, his brother was a first year college student and barely making ends meet himself. Knowing that life in the slums could lead to illegal drugs, sex trade, and gangs, his brother decided to suspend his own studies, sacrificing his academic sponsorships, in order to take care of Zablon. The two brothers have worked hard to stay afloat and to stay in school. With the help of his brother, and now with Rehema’s support, Zablon is in school as a high school freshman.
Muthini
When Muthini was in elementary school, the administration decided to exempt him from paying tuition and school fees since his family had no means of doing so. When he was awarded a Rehema scholarship, his local community came together to make sure that Muthini was able to go to school. They did a small fundraiser to ensure that he got basic necessities and supplies for the new boarding school, and the local pastor helped transport him safely to school. Read more about our scholars here.
What would you like to be when you grow up?
A note from one of our scholars on why she wants to be a doctor.
A lemonade Stand in Honor of Rehema
This summer the three wonderful girls reminded us of the many individuals, companies, churches, communities and other private foundations, who have given of themselves to ensure that our scholars have resources to pursue their education. Sue Perez, one of our sustaining donors shared with us pictures of her grand daughter Ella and her two friends Kalia, and Savannah, selling lemonade to help benefit our scholars. We are incredibly grateful to Sue and the parents of Ella, Kalia, and Savannah for supporting their efforts to raise funds for Rehema. These girls remind us how every person, no matter the age, can be a force for good and move Rehema toward its mission. Read more here.
Kenyan Safari
This past spring two of our donors had the opportunity of traveling to Kenya where they met with some of our scholars and their parents
One of our donors, Marilyn Thomas (left) with two of our scholars' parents - Margaret Juma and Rose Onyango.
Sue Perez a sustaining donor, with Susan, Immaculate and their moms in Kenya this past April.
Member Spotlight - Millie Tutlam
Nancy (one of our scholars) and Millie during her visit to Kenya.
Millie Tutlam is one of Rehema’s co-founders and is the current finance director. She brings her tax expertise to Rehema. She is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Missouri. Millie obtained her Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky and a Master of Accounting degree from St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri.
“This hits close to home for me personally, because I grew up in a very poor family. My mom had eight children and we lived in a single room home. The single room was the living room, bedroom, and kitchen. We shared a bathroom with another family. I was driven to make it out of poverty, and I knew that the only way out was through education. My dad was a truck driver and he did not get paid much. He took out loans to educate my older siblings, and did not have a dime to his name by the time I was old enough to attend high school, as by this time he had retired and relocated to live in the countryside. Finishing high school was a miracle. I was behind on tuition and fees each semester, but the school’s principal never sent me home. You see, my cousin was the school nurse and she would plead with the school principal so that they would let me stay. Not many students were as lucky as I was; they would be sent home for outstanding unpaid tuition and this would affect their studying. Some would miss really large chunks of time, and had difficulty catching up by the time they got back to school. Education is very essential to break the cycle of poverty. It did exactly that for my siblings and me. We are now very successful members of society because we had a chance to go to school.”
Millie embodies the phrase, "to whom much is given, much is expected". She is passionate about education because she had a very difficult life growing up, when education was almost a luxury. Many people identified her potential and supported her through her high school, and eventually with her college education.
To read more about team, please click here.