I was recently informed that one of the boys at Grandsons who was sent to a secondary school will have to stop school because his sponsor decided to pull out. This is a problem that Grandsons has to deal with often and unfortunately the children are the ones who are loosing emotionally, pshycologically and educationally.
I remember when I was volunteering at Grandsons I had been asked if I wanted to sponsor a boy and of course I wanted but I knew that I couldn’t secure funding for four years of school fees that is required to pay in Kenyan schools and so I said no. I thought I could support them and help them in other ways as I didn’t want to disappoint them by promising them to sponsor them and then suddenly stop it. It’s always very good to give hope to the children by sponsoring them to go to school but it’s even harder if you take that away from them.
Ben Tensmark Wanjala (pictured) is one of the boys that his sponsor had to pull out due to financially difficulties. He is an ex street boy approximately 16 year’s old and was rescued by Grandsons. Due to difficulties to fundraise money for his education Ben started his first year at the high school with a month delay even though he became 7th out of 52 at the first term progress results. He likes reading, he is good at maths, English and he loves geography. Ben is currently starting his second term at St. Mary`s High School at Lushangonyi, Voi area and the volunteers that are currently in Kenya fundraise money for his education for the rest of the year.
If all of us who have visited the centre -and have seen where these boys come from and how hard it is for them to get where they are today- could contribute £1 it might be possible to keep Ben at school for at least one year.
Ben would be grateful to us for any donation we can give. We will make sure to keep you updated of his perfomance if we manage to get him back to school.
Here is the account for Ben’s sponsorship:
Reference: Ben Tensmark
Bank Name: HSBC
Account Name: Africa Watoto Friends of Grandsons
Account Number: 60037931
Branch Sort Code: 40-02-52
To see more options of how to donate visit our donation page
Thank you!
How much would it cost to keep Benson at school per year?
Hi Mathew, thanks for your message.
Secondary school per year in Kenya is approximatelly £500-£700 depending on the school. If you are interested in sponsoring him please email me at stella@africawatoto.org.uk and I can give you more detailed information about the fees.
It is a very big decission to sponsor the children at Grandsons but if you get the chance to volunteer there you will have a better understanding of how the sponsoring works. I personally met Benson when I was volunteering and he is a very bright boy. There are other ways of helping with the children and sponsoring is a very big decission as the culture in Africa is very complicated. Don’t let this put you off sponsoring but go and see the good work that is going on at Kikimbali and then decide.