Gracious from Chepseon Primary School holding her new school uniform. ©World Vision Photo/ William Wandie.

Gracious represents the happy, warm, and welcoming faces of children in Chepseon Primary School, Salgaa. Behind the smiles though, are hidden stories of struggle, suffering, and in some cases despair.

Chepseon Primary School was started in 2006 by two village elders as an Early Childhood Education center. They wanted to keep children away from crossing the road due to accidents that had killed several of them. Today, the school has over 650 children, all from Salgaa town in Nakuru County, Kenya.

Chepseon primary School pupils performing a welcome dance for visitors. ©World Vision Photo/ William Wandie.

The majority of the children are from poor households and do not receive enough food. Some sleep in the streets and others are orphaned. Most of the children are also abandoned by mothers who got impregnated by truck drivers that usually stop in Salgaa while on transit to other locations within Kenya and other East African countries. Due to high poverty levels, many women in Salgaa engage in commercial sex work in exchange for money given by truck drivers during their overnight stopovers in the town,

The school is overflowing, teachers are overwhelmed. But they maintain high spirits. These are Just a few of the many challenges that World Vision is keen on addressing in Seven Public Schools in Salgaa.

Jubilant faces of Chepseon Primary School. ©World Vision Photo/ William Wandie.

One of our key initiatives is to uphold the dignity of children and ensure that each child gets the support needed to attend school and succeed. Through donations from local donors, and partners among other Kenyans, we were able to support 60 vulnerable pupils at Chepseon Primary school with new school uniforms and other essential school items including pens and sanitary pads for girls. Many of these children are orphaned or from poor backgrounds. Consequently, their guardians are unable to provide basic learning materials for them. Cumulatively, the entire school received a donation of 8,000 pens and 11 cartons of sanitary pads.

The items were presented to the pupils during a recent visit to the school by World Vision Kenya together with partners and donors that are supporting the organisation’s local fundraising initiative, which is aimed at transforming the lives of vulnerable children in Salgaa. Our hope and prayer is for pupils like Gracious to have renewed hope and confidence to succeed and live life in all its fullness.

Teacher Purity Chepkwony (Left) of Chepseon Primary, Canary Njihia (Middle) World Vision Kenya Project Coordinator, and Anthony Mburu (Right), World Vision Kenya Business Development Manager for Local Resources.
Donors and partners with pupils of Chepseon Primary School. The school also received 8,000 pens and 11 Cartons of Sanitary Pads for the girls in the school. ©World Vision Photo/ William Wandie.

As more resources and donations become available, we plan to address several other challenges at Chepseon Primary School. The school has a new classroom block constructed through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). It is in dire need of desks and other furniture. Currently, there are 10 classrooms, each accommodating an average of 80 pupils with up to four sharing a desk.

Pupils of Chepseon Primary School during a class session. ©World Vision Photo/ William Wandie.

A total of 320 desks are required to fill up the four classrooms, each costing KSh. 5,500.

Your donation will help to greatly improve learning conditions for the children.

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