Our Kenya program is a bit unique in that we offer sponsors the opportunity to purchase items for their sponsored child through our online shop. These items have been specially selected by the school’s director to ensure that they are useful and culturally appropriate. Sponsors should never feel any pressure to purchase items from the online shop. Sponsorship itself is a tremendous help to the children, and they have no expectation of receiving additional gifts. Nevertheless, some sponsors do enjoy the ability to provide a gift to their sponsored child, and wonder what items from the online shop would be most useful. While your sponsored child will undoubtedly be delighted with anything you choose, one of the following items may be particularly useful:
Uniform
Students at the schools generally have only one uniform,
which is worn six days a week and washed and hung to dry on the seventh
day. Often the child’s only uniform will
be a worn and ill-fitting hand-me-down.
Uniforms and uniform sets that include pullovers are available in the
online shop for all ages.
School Shoes
Students are expected to wear black school shoes with their
uniforms. However, some children do not
have school shoes at all, while others wear shoes that are too small, too
large, or excessively worn.
Textbooks
Textbooks are crucial to the academic success of our Nairobi
Kids. Due to lack of funds, children at
GPS and WHS share textbooks. Sponsors
may purchase both individual texts and complete sets for their sponsored children
through the online shop. Please note
that when you purchase a textbook for a student, that student will have use of
the textbook throughout the academic year (including bringing the book home
with them). However, when the student
moves to the next grade level, the textbook will remain in the classroom to
benefit the next class of students.
Revision Books
Revision books are available for students in Standard 6
through Form 4. Revision books provide
detailed summaries of key concepts and are extremely helpful to the students in
studying for their examinations (including the KCPE and KCSE Exams). Each subject has its own revision book. Each high school subject revision book covers
the concepts taught in Forms 1-4 (thus a WHS student would only need one
revision book in each subject to cover all four years). There are two sets of primary school revision
books: one that covers standards 7 and 8, and one that covers only standard
6. Some sponsors choose to purchase
revision books for their sponsored children to help them with the subjects in
which they seem to struggle the most.
School Supplies
All of the children could use a gift of basic school
supplies (the school will ensure that the items purchased are
age-appropriate). In addition, students
in Standard 6 and higher would benefit from a purchase of the math sets, while
high school students would find it helpful to have math sets, scientific
calculators, and/or math tables for KCSE Exam Prep.
School Bag
A school bag (typically a backpack) is a useful gift for a
student that has been given books or supplies.
The children typically live in very small, dusty dwellings and it is
nice for them to have a place to keep their school things together and a means
by which to easily transport them back and forth to school.
Thanks for the great list. I would add one thing: Sanitary supplies for girls especially. Missing school due to one's period is a major factor in lower test scores for girls.
ReplyDeleteI second the sanitary supplies idea. Along with that, extra underwear is needed for the child.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first got my sponsored child, I noticed his clothes and shoes. These were the first items I provided, along with new socks and underwear.
After this, providing a backpack along with supplies and books is a nice surprise.
Please write your child. They are thankful for you.