Nyaboke
June 24, 2024
Helidah
June 25, 2024
As form 3 students (Grade 11), Merciline and Bridgit are the highest educated in their family.
They have two other sisters and one brother. Their father dropped out of school in grade 3 while their mother dropped out in 2nd grade.The family lives in rural Kenya and practices subsistence farming on their small farm, producing barely enough to feed the family. Because of his very low level of education, their father is only able to occasionally get casual jobs that don’t pay much. It’s a struggle trying to make ends meet on the $1 he makes a day on the days he’s able to find casual work.
Their eldest sister dropped out of school in 8th grade and recently had a baby while at home, straining the already scarce resources. Merciline and Bridgit are on track to change the narrative of their family background by finishing their education and getting trained in specialized skills that can help them get well-paying jobs or establish businesses to help support their parents and uplift the standard of living so that they can at minimum be able to meet their basic needs.
