JUSTINA: A SECOND CHANCE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL
“When I stay at home, I lose hope. I cry deeply in my heart. My parents told me I would be married, because of lack of school fees. But I want to fulfill my future. I want to be a nurse.”
Portrait of Justina in Entasekera in 2019. Photo: Kate Lapides-Black.
Justina is from the Loita Hills of southern Narok County. Her father has three wives and sixteen children, six of whom are enrolled in school. Justina wants to be a nurse and received good marks on the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam that is given at the end of 8th grade and determines if and which secondary school one may transition to. Unfortunately, there are no day secondary schools near Justina’s village, only a boarding school with a fee of $400 USD a year. Justina was enrolled in the boarding school and would have been the first girl of her family to go to secondary school, but her family couldn’t pay beyond the first term. She was forced to leave school and her parents were planning to find her a husband; marrying off a daughter a a tender age is thought to secure her future.
We met Justina in 2019 and saw her passion for school and desire to learn. We found a local sponsor that paid off her debt, a For the Good donor provided a scholarship and we were able to convince her father that Justina would have a better future if she stayed in school and delayed marriage. With this support from her family and For the Good supporters, Justina returned to secondary school in the fall term of 2019 and has continued to progress through 2022.