Mentor Workshop - Education For All Children

Kakenya Inspires EFAC Scholars at the 2010 Mentor Workshop

"I had a dream that all of the girls in my village could go to school." Kakenya, a 32 year-old Maasai woman, joined us at our 2010 Mentor Workshop and shared her inspiring life story. At a young age she was presented with the discouraging reality of her culture: her father promised her in marriage so she would never receive an education. The bright, young Kakenya negotiated her way out of marriage and into an education. First primary, then secondary, and finally she followed her dreams receiving a US university scholarship. Today she runs a girl's primary school in her Maasai village and is completing her PhD in education. Her heart-felt speech had the students on the edge of their seats, relating to the struggles she had overcome. She sees a brighter future for Africa. Kakeyna sees students, empowered and with an education, as senior executives in big companies, owning their own businesses, heading government ministries and championing human rights. She shared her passion with our students and they responded with great excitement.

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The 3rd annual EFAC Mentor Workshop took place in September 2011 at Alliance School in Kikuyu. One hundred forty-eight EFAC scholars traveled from all over the country to join fifty mentors from Africa Nazarene University for the three-day workshop. The focus of this year's workshop was "Choosing a Career," and professionals from medicine, technology, business, community development and engineering attended the workshop to speak with the students. After last year's workshop, one of our scholars at Starehe Girls Center, commented that: "The mentoring workshop has helped me by enabling me to see the real me. I am now able to be social and express myself freely since I am proud of whom I have become. I am a great leader and a good listener because of this mentoring workshop. I can't wait for next year."

Education For All Children is fortunate to have a strong partnership on the ground in Kenya with our ANU team. Led by Vice Chancellor Leah Marangu and EFAC country-wide director Mary Kiguru, our younger mentors create strong role models for many of our scholars who are away from their school community for the very first time. The strong bonds they build during this annual workshop pay major dividends throughout the school year with the new confidence the students bring to their studies.

Learn more about Africa Nazarene University.