Visiting Jecinta in May 2018

Before the start of our third MasterPeaceWalk in Kenya, we visited Jecinta.

Thanks to her extremely high final grades in primary school, Jecinta was admitted to Moi Girls Highs School Nairobi, a school known as one of the best in Kenya. The village elders of her manyata (Maasai village) asked Ezekiel Ole Katato to send a request to StandUp4Talent to sponsor this bright girl. The parents of Jecinta fully support her choice to study.

Moi Girls Highs School is located in the middle of Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi. After a drive through dusty streets, full of potholes, garbage and small shops we reached the gate of Moi Girls Highs School. Inside the gate everything is clean, spacious, beautiful buildings and well maintained flowerbeds. What a contrast with the world outside the gate!

After a security check (normal procedure at boarding schools in Kenya) we were welcomed by a rather strict lady who wanted to send us away immediately. The information we had about the visiting hours of the school turned out to be not correct, and there were strict rules for visits made by parents or sponsors. After some pressure (visiting Jecinta this morning is our only possibility and we come all the way from the Netherlands!) we got permission and Jecinta was allowed to leave the classroom to see us.

She was very surprised to see us and showed us around the school grounds, as far as allowed. Everything is very strictly regulated and organised at Moi’s! That is probably one of the reasons that makes them one of the best schools in Kenya.
She even had to hand over the presents we had bought her to the room guard. She would get them back when she would go to visit her parents. Let’s hope the room guard kept her promise and really gave them back to her.

Despite the strict regime, Jecinta is having a great time at this school. She is a very open and spontaneous girl who likes to talk about her studies and her ambitions. She would like to become a doctor. The results she achieved until now are very good, so there is a good chance that she can make her dream come true.

Just after we said goodbye, lunch break started and the schoolyard filled up with smiling girls in blue school uniforms. No matter how strict your school is, you can still have a lot of fun with each other!