Naisula Education Program - Letters and prose

Beatrice reads from her speech, Feb. 2003 "This is the happiest day of my life. As I stand here today, I feel like any other child who has passed exams and is going to high school. Today, some of us being sent off would be working as house girls and herdsboys for rich families because we all share one name — ORPHANS.

We had dropped out of school because we are orphans. We went for many days without food because we are orphans.

We were beaten and discriminated (against) because we are orphans. Relatives and neighbours grabbed the little that our parents left us just because we had no strength to fight back.

We lost hope and had no one to wipe our tears. It was made worse when some of us were named AIDS Children and neighbours even stopped their children from playing with us lest we infect them.

This day is a dream come true for all of us. God gave us a parent. God put us in a family of 200 brothers and sisters and a mother who loves us so much..

We have the best uniforms, our fees are paid on time, books provided and anyone can easily identify us because we are the only children in primary school with bags for our books. I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank this lady that changed my life and my name.

Today, I am no longer called 'that orphan girl'. I am called Beatrice Ajuang and those who call me by any other name refer to me as 'that bright girl'. How could I and the rest of the children have proved to the world that we could make it without mama Natasha?

I may still miss my parents, but one thing I know is that with Natasha and Mary around, I will never miss any opportunity just because I'm an orphan."
- Beatrice Ajuang

New Hope as Naisula* Orphans Excel in Exams, January 15, 2003

Mary Makokha of the Rural Education and Empowerment Program in Butula, Kenya, relates a personal story of one orphan as well as the success of the orphan education program to those who have supported its continuance for the school year 2003.

“This is the incredible story of a little girl of 12 who had to drop out of school at an early age to get employment to sustain her ailing mother and younger sister.

Marceline’s father used to work at the coast. It was a happy family until the father started ailing and Marceline’s mother developed TB. However it was not until Marceline’s father died that she dropped out of school in class six. Marceline had to accompany her father’s body back to their ancestral home. By then her mother was very sick but Marceline thought it was only the shock of losing their father.

After the burial, it became clear to Marceline that they would never go back to the coast again. It was also to be the end of her education. To get a few drugs for her mother, Marceline had to make a big sacrifice. She had to leave home at a tender age of 12 and accompany a woman she had never seen before to go and work for her in Eldoret. For one and a half years, Marceline worked, taking care of the baby, carrying large containers of water, washing clothes and doing the entire house cleaning that saw her go to bed well beyond midnight. Sometimes she had hardly slept when she heard her mistress shouting insults at her ordering her to get up.

Then one day I got a message that I was urgently wanted at home. I thought my mother had died’. Marceline was therefore shocked to find her younger sister Emma going to school! ‘I was told that there was an office that had been opened up in Butula and was going to educate orphans. My mother also told me that she had been tested at that office and found to have AIDS’. Marceline’s mother told her she would go to school but she also reminded her to work very hard and to be an obedient child. Later Marceline found herself at the REEP office where she met many other orphans like herself. They were talking about a visitor who had come from America. She had not seen the visitor but she learnt her name was Natasha—a name Marceline has grown to cherish so much.

Today, Marceline is a totally different girl. She sat for her elementary school examination and scored 388 marks out of the total 500. She is sure to go to a good high school in her province.’When Natasha last came, I recited for her a poem in which I promised to work hard. I was second in my school’. Indeed in Marceline’s class, four children are orphans under the Naisula project (“Keeping Hope Alive”) and they took the top four positions in the final national examination in their school starting with Victor who had 397, Marceline 388, Mildred 369 then Emma 348 (Emma is Marceline’s sister) Although Marceline’s mother is still sick and her children know that she may not live to see them through school, the joy of her children has also given her a reason to stay alive.

Out of the 28 children under the Naisula project who sat for their final elementary school examination last year, 22 excelled beyond everybody’s expectation.

The top female student, Beatrice Ajuang, is a miracle child. Had her mother not died one hour after her delivery, she too could be dead through HIV infection from breast-feeding. Her father had died, leaving a sick pregnant wife. Her grandmother and three uncles raised Beatrice. Things seemed okay, until the uncles also started dying, one by one. Later their wives also died leaving the grandmother with six more children.

Beatrice stopped school for two years and she had found somebody to employ her when her luck struck. She was picked for the Naisula project. At 15, Beatrice knows that she wants to be a doctor. She will soon be joining one of the best high schools in the country.

It is amazing how children can change when they are given hope. Sometimes I think of the conditions under which these children live. While some have lost both parents and have to fend for themselves, others go to school only on the days when their dying parent is feeling better; otherwise they stay at home to nurse them. It is actually a miracle to see them doing well in school and dreaming of big careers. I know that one day, these children will have a story to tell - a story of hope and a story of good people out there. For all who have assisted Natasha to bring a smile on the faces of 200 orphans, I say God bless you. You may rest assured that somewhere in Africa, you have kept hope alive.”

^* Naisula is a Maasai name meaning "She who has excelled" that was given to Natasha Martin by members of the tribe in 1999.

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