 Girls in a typical village setting We are happy to update everyone on the progress being made with Lenana Girls High School! A brief background on the school - CGA has established a national center for academic excellence for bright and hardworking, but disadvantaged girls from all over Kenya. The mission of the school is to provide a nurturing and supportive environment within which girls from disadvantaged backgrounds can realize their full potential both academically and personally, and to address the imbalance in access to quality education and leadership opportunities for disadvantaged adolescent girls.
Such opportunities are crucial for young Kenyan women. Currently, 90% of Maasai, Kalenjin, Gusii, Meru and Kuria girls are circumcised and married off before they reach the age of 13 years. As a result, young girls are often sentenced to wifehood at an early age at the expense of an education. Lenana Girls High School (LGHS) works to alleviate this problem by offering a top quality education and other opportunities to as many of these vulnerable girls as possible. The goal is to create a school that is 100% self-sufficient within 5-10 years. With the help of our generous supporters, CGA has purchased a six acre plot of land that will be home to LGHS. Construction on the school will begin as soon as funds are available. While we wait for the completion of this building, LGHS will commence its inaugural school year with a class of 25 promising students on site at CGA. Here at CGA, we can't wait for this exciting endeavor to get underway, and we are currently planning not only for the upcoming academic year but also for the hands-on business and farming trainings, the cultural center and programs, and mentoring programs that will be part of the overall LGHS curriculum. During this holiday season, we are introducing a new fundraising program and are asking our supporters to take a minute to view LGHS's holiday gift options below. We hope that you will consider taking part in this unique opportunity to always be a part of LGHS! LGHS is offering the following holiday gift packages as part of our fundraising program. Option 1 - $15 - One brick on LGHS's walkway. Choose a name or a family name to engrave into a brick that will become part of the main walkway at LGHS. A great gift for a family member or friend who'd appreciate a unique and charitable gift! Option 2 - $25 - Two bricks for the same purpose as above. Option 3 - $55 - Bricks for an entire family's holiday gifts. (Maximum of 8 bricks) Option 4 - $100 - One leaf on the metal tree in LGHS's reception area engraved with the name of the gift recipient. Option 5 - $500 - A tree planted at LGHS with a name plate for the gift recipient. All contributors will receive via email a certificate of thanks with details about the gift for the recipient. To purchase your LGHS holiday gift, you may visit our fundraising page by clicking here and donating through PayPal. Of course feel free to contact us with any questions! As always, thank you for your support! We look forward to continuing to update you on the progress of LGHS!
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 Pathfinder Primary students celebrating Welcome to Common Ground for Africa's Blog! Our new blog will act as a platform to keep our supporters informed and up to date on current projects, progress and events. We will also periodically update our supporters on ways assist CGA's initiatives and how to become further involved. This blog will feature a number of guest bloggers ranging from CGA's volunteers from around the world to CGA staff members to students from Pathfinder and Lenana academies. We look forward to hearing what both our bloggers and viewers have to say, so please feel free to comment and leave us feedback!
This first entry will provide our supporters an update on some of CGA's activities and achievements the past few months. We will begin with Pathfinder Primary School, one of our longest running programs. The school continues to perform well both academically and in terms of community outreach and impact. Pathfinder students continue to post some of the highest scores in the region on standardized exams and we look forward to seeing which high schools our Class 8 students will be accepted to. The school has also won a number of awards for its community outreach programs and continues to conduct Biointensive agriculture to local women's and youth groups. The school will complete its academic year on November 30th when students will have a break until after the New Year. Another exciting venture that has made significant progress these past few months is CGA's SiSi Fund micro-loan program. This innovative lending program focuses on individual recipients, many of whom come from incredibly impoverished backgrounds and whom, without the help of the SiSi Fund, would never have the opportunity to access loans. The Fund works closely with these recipients to ensure each one fully understands the terms and procedures of the loan and that their business is viable. To date, we have a number of recipients in Kipsongo Slum and in surrounding villages including Wekhonye and Nakwangwa. Anyone interested in contributing to a SiSi recipient, should check out our SiSi Fund page. We look forward to seeing the progress these recipients will achieve! CGA's other projects continue to make great strides as well and we will focus on some of the projects in upcoming blog entries. The Kenya Ceramic Project water filter project continues to supply life-saving water filters to needy families, our agriculture and poultry/livestock projects continue to provide hands-on educational opportunities to Pathfinder students, and progress continues to be made on Lenana Girls High School. Our next entry will focus on this school and on our plans for the upcoming holiday season. A huge and sincere thanks from all of us at CGA for taking the time to read our blog and for all the tremendous support we've received recently and throughout the years. We hope you will continue to read our blog and that you'll stay involved with our projects! Asante Sana, Common Ground for Africa |
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