THE TOPOTI FAMILY

The Topati family consists of the patriarch Oltuati and his five wives – Nailepu, Nanigo, Naitoe, Nashipae, Nkodi. Each of the wives have children and most are grown, but Nashipae has five-year-old twin girls and Naitoe and Nkodi both have seven-year-old sons. None of the children in the family have gone to school, younger or older.

Evelyn, one of our Team Angaza members, saw young Motondo - one of Oltuati’s daughters – out herding sheep one school day in their shared village of Kitilkini. So she first started visiting the Topoti family in June of 2021 to talk to them about sending their children to school. Initially Oltuati was annoyed and would ask her to leave, but Evelyn has a fabulous sense of humor and contagious laugh. Eventually she wore Oltuati down and he would talk with her and allowed her to speak with his wives, who were immediately onboard with taking their children to school. In September, Oltuati relented and gave consent to enroll all four of his younger children. The three wives took the children to Kitilkini ECD the following week. In the end, Oltuati promised Evelyn a burro as a show of friendship.

Evelyn and our six other Team Angaza volunteer with for For the Good for two years in exchange for post-secondary tuition. Each of them has completed secondary school and all are working on post-secondary certificates in subjects ranging from Early Childhood Education to IT; many hope to ultimately transition to University.