Please Meet Carolyne – Entering High School Freshman, Kenya
One of the Asante Africa Foundation's 2010 new scholarship recipients
Every year, 80 Kenyan girls are chosen from among over 5,000 applicants, to enter the prestigious Starehe Girls' Centre, one of the top girl's boarding schools in all of Kenya. This year, Carolyne Riungu is among the entering freshman class due to her brilliant scores in the qualifying national exams. She was number 40 in the whole province of over 100,000 pupils, with a score of 417 marks out of 500.
Carolyne is leaving her village home in the outskirts of a small Meru District town where she lived with her parents and her sister. Her family has struggled to provide for her primary education due to her ailing father who must walk with the aid of crutches and her struggling mother who provides for the family by washing clothes.
Starehe Girl's Centre promotes higher education, community service and youth leadership for disadvantaged girls. The school offers resources for talented girls would have no access otherwise. The security of a boarding school is irreplaceable in the life of a Kenyan adolescent girl. She will have access to basic necessities, avoid being married off at an early age, and remain in a safe, supportive environment where she can focus on her own success.
Carolyne is sure to thrive in her new community. She is more than worthy of the opportunity to enrich her life and help her family, but it is only through schools like Starehe Girl's Centre and organizations like Asante Africa Foundation that bright young girls like Carolyne can begin to advance their lives.
She has set her goals and dreams on being an international journalist who will expose all the unfairness done against the weak in her country.
