These girls are like any girls, anywhere. They love to learn and play and have big dreams. However, like around 39% of Kenyans, they live below the poverty line and face difficult challenges.
With the support of Compassion’s local church partners, these girls have the care they need to rise above their circumstances with determination and hope.
Welcome to a day in the life of Kenya’s girls.
Morning Breaks in Kenya
Habari za asubuhi; good morning! That’s Swahili, one of the official languages of Kenya. It’s time to get up!
One by one, girls rise to greet the day. Yawning and rubbing their eyes, some spring out of bed while others take some coaxing to leave their blankets. Some push aside the mosquito nets that protect them from malaria; others nudge aside younger siblings who share their mattresses.
Breakfast in Kenya tends to be simple. A cup of hot, milky chai, bread, porridge or fruit. However, circumstances like poverty, droughts and locust plagues mean many girls will start their day hungry.
Around 36% of the population is undernourished. And more than a quarter of children under 5 have stunted growth, meaning they have a low height for their age, often stemming from long-term malnutrition.
Compassion’s local church partners are working to support those in need through initiatives like malnutrition monitoring and intervention, ensuring children have what they need to grow.
Time for Morning Chores
Before heading off to school, Kenya’s girls usually help their families with the morning chores. In eastern Kenya, Faith collects water from the riverbed for her family to drink and use for cooking and cleaning.
In Kenya, 9.9 million people drink directly from contaminated surface water sources, according to UNICEF. Unless families have a simple way to treat the water, it can put children at risk of dangerous waterborne diseases like cholera.
At local churches throughout Africa, Compassion is working to provide safe water by building wells, implementing filtration systems and even installing clean washrooms.
Maindi milks her family’s goat. She is part of the Rendille people of eastern Kenya, an Indigenous tribe that traditionally lives a nomadic lifestyle while caring for their animals.
After Maindi finishes the milking, she walks to school. Because she is registered in Compassion’s program, she is the first child in her family to receive a formal education.
Let’s Go to School
To get to school, many girls face long walks, particularly in rural areas. It’s not unusual for them to walk several miles each way. Gaudencia walks through the streets of her neighborhood in Mathare, one of Nairobi’s most impoverished areas.
In Kenya, every child has the right to free and compulsory basic education. The country has made significant literacy strides in recent years, but challenges like crowded classrooms and an inability to afford school supplies can impact a child’s learning.
As part of Compassion’s program, children receive education support such as additional tutoring, lessons at their Compassion center or help in covering the costs of school fees, uniforms and supplies.
Back Home for Afternoon Chores
Back at home, many of Kenya’s girls have a few jobs to do before they are free for the afternoon. In their seaside community, Flora helps her mother dig in their vegetable garden. The main veggies families grow are potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, snow peas, kale, beans and carrots.
Praise helps her grandmother scrub clothes with soap before rinsing them clean and hanging them to dry on a line under the bright sun.
Focusing on Homework
Tracy sits in her grandmother’s grocery kiosk after school. In between helping her serve customers, Tracy does her homework. “I love to help my grandmother at the shop, plus it also helps me to know how to talk to people and to practice mathematics because of working out the change to give,” she says.
Maindi does her homework in the afternoon so she can concentrate before her older siblings and father return home from tending to their animals. Her home doesn’t have electricity, so when it gets dark, she uses a kerosene lamp.
Plenty of Time for Fun
With chores complete and homework out of the way, it’s time for fun! Mary plays “keep away” with staff outside her local Compassion child development center.
Leach shows off an adorable puppy in her community in Nairobi. The young girl wants to be a teacher when she grows up. “I want to make a positive impact in the lives of little kids … and give them hope for the future,” she says.
Praise lines up a goal at the local soccer field in western Kenya. Soccer is the most popular sport in the country.
Dinnertime
Salama and her family eat dinner outside together. With lots of siblings and cousins, their typical meal of bean stew and ugali (maize or cassava-flour porridge) is chaotic and full of laughter.
Leach helps her grandmother make her favorite meal — chapati. In Kenya, the flatbread is a special treat that is eaten on special occasions. Leach’s family serves it on Christmas.
Time for Bed
Abigail gets ready for bed in the Rift Valley. The area has beautiful, expansive lakes plus swampy marshes, so mosquitos call the area home too. She sleeps under a mosquito net she received from her Compassion center that protects her from malaria and yellow fever.
“I can now sleep throughout the night without waking up to fight with mosquitoes. — Abigail
After a busy day of learning, playing and growing, Kenya’s girls lie down and dream. Although each day brings its challenges, Kenyan girls served by Compassion are strong and empowered to conquer them.
Usiku mwema! Goodnight from Kenya’s girls. Tomorrow is another day, and it is full of hope.
