What does the offering of $50,000 mean for Hope Academy students? This allows us to continue the project of the long waited high school. So far, three classrooms have been built. In Kenya, high school grade levels are referred to as “Forms 1-4” which is our 9-12 grades. The process of being approved as a high school with the Department of Education has already begun, and we’ve discovered that it is more tedious and demanding than we had originally thought. However, we’ve come too far to let our arms down now. We have a short list of approvals we are working through, and our starting plan is to begin the high school term with Form 1 and Form 2 (9-10 grades) because of the requirements outlined on minimum amounts of teachers needed, labs, a Headmaster, a new toilet block and several other areas. One classroom of one grade is not cost effective and very inefficient, so we are trying to be as strategic and wise with our plans and the funds we have been given. Dr. David Janney, World Hope’s president, shared, “Starting the high school is very important. Without it most of these kids from Kawangware slum will never be able to attend a high school; thus, their chance of getting out of the slum and having a productive life is slim.” We plan to build a needed toilet block for the children to have a restroom to use, to reconstruct the wall that had been torn down that keeps Hope Academy enclosed from the surrounding slum, to install sinks, soap dispensers, and faucets with clean water, to furnish the new classroom with desks and chairs, and to give 60 more students the opportunity to attend school at Hope Academy. As 60 students move up to high school, this opens the door to induct 60 more in the lower grades. Our greatest desire is to see all the students that have started at Hope Academy in elementary grades given the chance to stay in the school through graduation. The funding we have received has enabled us to get to this point and to begin operations once we are approved. There is, though, an “after” in the continuation of the programs that will need funding in the coming years. We would love to fund every program and idea we have to help the children in Kawangware slum, but in funding what we have already set out to, we will be stretched. We need your help. In Kenya, a little bit can go a long way. Efforts such as keeping education available in the slum are changing and saving lives. By being a part, you can touch these lives. This is true: you can save lives too. But how, you may ask? Consider pledging a monthly support of just $10 and becoming a part of 2500 Strong. Find out how to give to 2500 Strong»