Sharing Hope: Students from Budalangi

The Mwanzo community is grateful for the opportunity that we received this past year to extend a helping hand to students in need from St. Lawrence Hekima Primary School in Budalangi, a community about 45 miles from Rabuor.

St. Lawrence was founded to provide education to orphans and vulnerable children from the region. Due to torrential rain brought about by climate change, their school building had been washed away in flooding. Their grade eight students were facing the prospect of failing to complete their studies, and as a result losing the chance to take the national exams required to continue to a high school education.

Teacher Lucy Baraza, a teacher at MWCEA who is a native of Budalangi, shared about St. Lawrence’s struggles with other teachers at MWCEA. Mwanzo staff visited St. Lawrence and offered to assist these students however they could. Following much planning, families, students, staff at St. Lawrence, and Mwanzo staff arrived at a plan for the 8th grade students of St. Lawrence to be hosted in Rabuor and finish their 8th grade education at MWCEA.

Mwanzo and community leaders, led by Loyce’s mother, Mama Rosemell, opened their homes and school to these students from May through the end December 2022. MWCEA staff, students, and families came together to extend generous and loving support to these students.  

Mwanzo hired Susan Owino, a widowed woman from Rabuor to support the girls with personal needs before and after the school day, and male teachers from MWCEA took on the care of the boys. Parents and guardians also welcomed and supported the new students, some bringing vegetables, sugar, grains, and even fruits for the students as they had the means.

The new students were from a different tribe, providing an opportunity for MWCEA students to form friendships with students from a different region with differences in culture and language. And as they settled into their temporary home, the new students contributed their unique strengths to the MWCEA community. Melvin, a talented singer, performed as a soloist and led choruses in school. Gabriel was selected as one of the school’s best soccer players to represent MWCEA at the sub county level.

After their missed class time from the floods, the new students were eager to resume their education. MWCEA and Budalangi grade 8 teachers arrived in school at 6am and left by 8pm, working long hours and holding weekend lessons to help the students master the curriculum.

After successfully sitting the national exams in November, the students from Budalangi graduated from grade 8. Some received sponsorships to go on to a merit-based high school, and others returned to their home villages to continue their education.

The Mwanzo community is truly grateful to have been given this opportunity to practice and share the values we treasure: Hope, Opportunities, Possibilities.

Melvin, age 16, comes from Kamalunga village in Siaya County. She is an orphan and the second of seven siblings. She loves school and hopes to get a college education and be a teacher.

Pius, age 13, comes from Kamalunga village in Siaya County. His father passed away in 2015 and his mother is a peasant farmer. He wants to be an engineer.