As a result of our past and present assistance to individual students, we are continuously being contacted with new requests. The needs are really unlimited. We are, almost continuously, looking for new sponsors, whose assistance goes, of course, as always with Watu Kwa Watu, 100% to the beneficiaries and their schools etc., with no administrative costs form the side of the Watu Kwa Watu. We are also sending to the sponsors the scans of all the bills paid with their donations.
The latest example, now in February 2021 is Sofia, who has just returned to the three-year medical nurse program in a Medical College (the name and other details are changed to protect privacy). At the moment of writing this post we are in fact still looking for a sponsor for her studies.
Sofia has become orphan at a very early age, while still in primary school and was adopted by her uncle and aunt, who have supported her education up to the end of the secondary school and the beginning of her college, where she has started to study to become a nurse. She was throughout a good and hardworking student. Unfortunately, the uncle and aunt both have died in a collective taxi (Matatu) accident. The more distant family, who took over their residence, not only have stopped supporting her education, but also kicked her out of the house.
This made her homeless. Initially she started to sleep at the nearby petrol station and has tried to earn something doing casual work at the local market. Next, she has managed to get a job as a servant, and she has rented a small room in a slum. It was however a very poor and unsafe housing and one night she was gang-raped by five men. She was left in such a bad condition, that she needed to be hospitalised. The case was in fact even reported by the local media.
When she was released from the hospital, the doctor, who has treated her, offered her that she could stay at his home with his wife and children, and that she could resume her studies, for which he would pay. Sophia gratefully accepted. The doctor made the initial payment for part of the first semester, of the 3-year program, and Sophia started school again. Unfortunately, however, after a few weeks, the doctor also attempted to have sex with her, and when she refused, he threw her out and stopped paying for her studies.
Luckily, at that time Sophia had already a friend, another young lady from her school, who was in a better financial position. She was renting a safe room near the school and did invite Sophia to move in with her. Sophia avoided becoming homeless again, but of course could not resume her study without paying school fees and other costs.
The school authorities, moved by her history, agreed to accept her back again, and provide her with accommodation and meals and with the basic required school supplies. This way she would not lose her current first semester. What they could not wave was the school tuition. To enable her to rejoin, the trustees of Watu Kwa Watu have advanced the funds for completing the payment for her first semester (partially paid already), and for the second semester. Now, as mentioned earlier, we are looking for a sponsor, or sponsors.
Updating this post, in November 2021, we are glad to be able to report that a sponsor from Germany, friend os Watu Kwa Watu, has paid for Sofia’s further studies, exam and licence costs. She has completed her studies and has now a job as a nurse. She is paying a part of the costs of schooling of her two younger siblings.