Meet KDEF Student, Basiana Jumapili
Basiana is the firstborn of eight siblings, six boys and two girls. She is the only girl in her family to go to school. When she mentions her sister, her smile fades away, and tears can be seen in the corners of her eyes. She says if her father had not died, her family would have reconsidered taking her sister to school.
Basiana’s father passed away three days before she sat for her grade 8 KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) national exams. The KCPE is a certificate awarded to students after completing the approved eight-year course in primary education in Kenya. This exam is an entry examination that enables candidates to progress to Secondary education or training in tertiary institutions.
His death devastated the entire family. While alive, Basiana’s father was the sole provider. Things took a dire turn with his death. Life became more complex and challenging. Her mother, who has been a stay-at-home parent ever since she married, was forced to step up and provide for them with the few resources she got from burning trees to produce and sell charcoal and constructing manyattas, simple traditional houses made of sticks.
Basiana with her mother
After grade 8 and her father’s death, Basiana was certain that this was the end of her education. Her mother could not afford the required school fees, and repeating class eight was not an option because there are fees required to re-register for grade 8 and buy a uniform. If not for the KDEF scholarship, Basiana says she would have fallen victim to child marriage. She is lucky that this was not the case. Every time she mentions KDEF, you can see her face glowing with a shy smile followed by a burst of small laughter. She counts the wonderful things KDEF has done for her and her family beyond the high school scholarship. She still remembers how KDEF supported her family with food when COVID 19 hit the country hard.
Basiana dreams of becoming a nurse. she is currently in form two at Bishop Cavalleria secondary school. During the school holidays, Basiana hopes to the get the opportunity to visit and stay at the KDEF Centre, to spend more time studying and revising for missed points in her previous exams.
The KDEF Centre is a one stop center for all KDEF operations, Including; Office space, sponsored students' hostels, a modern resource center with a library and staff housing. The establishment of the center was necessitated by the need to host KDEF students after the realization that most of the sponsored students do not have comfortable and safe homes to stay during the holidays. Most of them are exposed to unlawful practices such as FGM, early and forced marriages and child labor. The center provides a conducive environment to study and put our students at the same level with other students that come from affluent areas of Kenya.
Basiana is one of 144 sponsored students KDEF supports through their high school scholarship program. Of this 65% girls and 35 % boys are enrolled in over 40 high level boarding schools throughout Kenya.