With Gratitude, From Rebecca

By: Nick Johnson

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Everyone deserves an education.  While this statement seems simple enough, the reality of providing access to affordable education across the globe is significantly more complicated.

In Kibera, an overcrowded community where extreme poverty is the norm, children’s prospects of attending school are often sidelined by the need to help support their families, either by working or doing household chores.  School fees are expensive, and that cost—combined with the burden of losing a set of extra hands— can be too much for families to bear, making education a thing of dreams for many Kiberan youth.

But these dreams are never forgotten.  Rebecca Wanyama certainly didn’t forget hers of graduating from college, and in December of last year, she turned that dream into a reality.  With the help of a scholarship from Carolina for Kibera’s education program, Rebecca overcame her family’s economic and emotional hardship to not only complete her degree, but to earn top honors as well!

We recently opened our inbox to find this email from her, thanking us for our support.  We wanted to share it with you:

“My name is Rebecca S. Wanyama.  Being one of the beneficiaries of your education sponsorship program, I’d like to convey my sincere gratitudes for your 2 years partial financial sponsorship that you offered me that enabled me to successfully complete my diploma course in business administration at the Kenya Polytechnic University College.

I graduated on the 17th December last year with a credit (upper class honors) and am writing to thank you so much for your financial support that enabled me to fulfill and recover my long lost dream of finishing college education, after having dropped out 10 years earlier due to my father’s death (he was the sole provider for my family).

May the Almighty God bless you all: donors, volunteers, the management and staff of this noble organization (Carolina for Kibera).  Thank you and God bless you richly.”

Resilient and determined, Rebecca prevailed against the odds to achieve what she once thought was impossible due to her family’s circumstances.  Her authentic gratitude serves as an additional testament to her remarkable character.  Rebecca’s story reminds us that many in Kibera yearn to explore and foster their talents, but often lack the opportunity to do so.  If given the chance, they will excel, finally turning dreams and aspirations into reality.