Empower, Engage, Educate in Rural Kenya!

"I felt so good when we won. When the results were announced, I could not believe my ears. We were the winners. My heart was filled with joy that I had never experienced before." Angela, Mbaikini School WRO Winners!

A couple of years ago, as we initiated a coding and robotics program, we had the BIG Dream of bringing a group of students to a robotics competition. We really had no idea of how it worked or what to expect, so Patrick Munguti and his Tech Team got to work. A Kenya Connect volunteer and robotics champion, Daniel Vlastas, helped guide us to the World Robotics Olympiad and provided guidance to the staff. Patrick attended the competition last year to understand it.

Over the past year, the Tech Team purchased 5 game mats and affixed them to boards and started to work with the students. In May they selected students for four teams: three senior teams and one junior team. In addition to the Mbaikini Girls being in first place and winning the judges BEST TEAM Award, the Makalu Junior team won 4th place out of 22 teams!

This year's WRO theme solved a real world problem called Earth Allies. The senior game involved clearing debris, reconnecting pipes and reconstructing houses after a city was hit by a catastrophe. 

We are deeply grateful to the teachers who have joined us in bridging the digital divide. They have welcomed us into their classrooms while also becoming digital learners and teachers and supporting their students for this special program. Teacher Florence from the Mbaikini Girls School shared, "When we won, as a teacher I was overwhelmed with joy since ours is a small school and we were competing with private schools and national public schools. I saw God's doing and I also learned that if you dream it you can achieve it. The girls have made us proud!"

In countries like the US and UK, robotics is fairly common with many children participating in school, camps and after-school programs and even at home. For the girls who won, robotics is new. Before the competition, Magadaline shared, "what makes me excited about going to the robotics competition is because it takes courage to be able to excel in coding a robot to operate and also designing it requires creativity." 

Patrick Munguti, Director of Education and Technology exclaimed, "I am so excited that the girls won the national championship in the WRO 2024 senior category. Their dedication and resilience has paid off. Mbaikini Girls Secondary School is very under-resourced and seeing this win reminds me that all students have the potential to achieve greatness. I am happy Kenya Connect through our partners was able to provide the necessary resources to the girls."

Thank you for your financial support to allow our tech program to grow and thrive. Your donation helps with tech, literacy and empowerment which is opening new pathways to learners in our rural and poverty-stricken community.

The Team is eligible to participate in the International World Robotics Competition in Turkey at the end of November. We are hoping we can make it happen! 

They came on the back of motorbikes, buses, cars and on foot. In mid-June, 400 parents joined us for a mobilization event at the Kenya Connect campus to discuss ways to decrease teen pregnancy and gender-based violence. We were hoping for 150 parents and 400 came!

In 2022, we launched the Girl/Boy Empowerment program when we learned that 3964 girls in our county became pregnant during a 3 month period in 2020, and when we dug into the numbers, we found that 96 girls at our 63 schools became pregnant; many as a result of non-consensual relationships. We knew we needed to do something. Under the leadership of Faith Doucette, we launched the year-long Girl/Boy Empowerment Student and four session Parent Program. At the heart of both programs is communication, understanding body boundaries, respect and consent while providing accurate sexual reproduction information.

Our third phase was launched at the Parent Mobilization meeting with parents from throughout our region coming to learn how they can keep their children safe. As they arrived, each parent received three colorful advocacy posters to hang in their communities. Once assembled, the parents heard from the Girl/Boy Empowerment team, a local pastor, and elected officials who shared content information and encouraged parents to talk with their children about sexual health and reproduction and about how to stay safe from gender-based violence. 

Many people have asked, "why include the boys in this program?" We believe by including boys and men, they learn about consent, respect, boundaries and peer pressure and can be advocates for girls while learning how to develop healthy relationships. It was clear at the session that fathers were as engaged as mothers.

At the conclusion of the event, one parent shared, "Can we have another session next month?" and everyone clapped. It is clear that the community wants to learn more to protect children and to decrease gender-based violence.

We are grateful to your support that allows us to create and implement these programs that help keep children safe so they can remain in school. We also know that families that communicate provide a healthy foundation for their children and community. Thank you for investing in our work. We couldn't do it without you!