Encouraging the Young Girls

Our Suba Lakers Football Club hosted its first ever tournament for Under 13 year old girls. Fourteen teams showed up early on the 20th October, a Kenyan National Holiday. Our club officials were hoping for around six teams so we were stunned at the response. Even despite the heavy rains that had made the roads difficult to travel on (and also washed away the lines we had drawn on the field the previous day) the teams arrived early which is rare here. Many people commented that this was the first time they had ever seen a tournament like this in Mbita. Each team played with seven players and we used a smaller field which gave the players more chances to touch the ball.

Our goal was to encourage the young girls to be developing their various talents. Many times girls don't get the opportunity to play at their schools because the boys take the ball and dominate the field. If girls get to play, then it is usually the older ones, which leaves these younger ones left out. We also wanted to use the tournament as a way to spread the Gospel and to encourage the young girls in other ways. A pastor came and shared a message with all the teams gathered around before the seminfinals began. Also, a successful woman from the community share some words of wisdom to motivate and inspire these young girls to work hard in school and take good care of their bodies.

Age vetting was a difficult process as almost every coach brought older girls that we had to disqualify. In fact, one team had seven girls who did not make our age cut. The sad part is that the coaches would prep the girls to lie about their age and year of birth; a very common practice in this country.

Each team was able to play at least two matches and most played three matches. The winning team from each pool qualified for semifinals in the afternoon. In one semifinal Temo from Rusinga Island met with Wanga Primary where my good friend is the principal. In the other seminfinal CGA face Milimani. CGA allowed their first goal of the day by one of their own players heading it backwards into their own goal. It was a heartbreaking way to lose, but they rebounded to blow out Wanga in the third place match. Milimani won the championship on penalty kicks in a hard fought match.

We were able to feed lunch to each team and also give them a football and certificate. Each coach received a t-shirt. And we handed out many awards like cleats, t-shirts, goalkeeper gloves, etc. to the outstanding players. Everyone went home happy.

It was an incredibly fun day and very successful in motivating the girls from all around this district.

Across the Lake

Even though all of the students from Christ’s Gift Academy have grown up on the shores of the second biggest freshwater lake in the world, most of them have never travelled across on it on a boat. On Friday, forty-four CGA students and ten teachers travelled by boat to Mfangano Island for the release of the results from a joint exam we did with the other top schools in the district. It was the first time many of them had been out on Lake Victoria. They really enjoyed the scenery and being able to look back and see their homes from a different perspective. The boat ride each way lasted about one and a half hours. They were busy telling stories to each other, pointing to landmarks they could recognize and singing songs.

Once reaching Mfangano, they were warmly greeted by the students of Gethsemane Academy, our sister school on the island. Similar to CGA, the school was created to give a quality Christian education to the orphans and help them break the cycle of poverty in their lives. During the release of the exam results, the highlight for CGA was being #1 in English for 6th Grade. Also, several individuals were honored.

6th Grade- Wendy was #2 overall in English and Esther Juma was the #3 girl overall out of over 200 students

8th Grade- Valary Macklago was #1 overall in Math and #5 girl overall out of over 200students. Adah Sharon was also in the top ten girls

Secondary Students Preparing for National Exams

It is with proud hearts that 16 former Christ’s Gift Academy students will be taking their National Exams from October 21 – November 11 at their various secondary schools. This will be the first group of CGA students to reach this milestone in their lives. Many of these students began at CGA in Nursery school the year the school was founded, 1997. Without the support of Christ’s Gift Academy and their sponsors, many of them would have never had the chance to reach this far in their education. We are so proud of each one! There have been many struggles and obstacles along the way, but God has seen them through.

Please pray for these students as they diligently prepare for their National Exam. Around 300,000 students around the country will be taking the same exam. It is done over the course of three weeks. They will usually do exams in 8 subjects. Some are mandatory such as English, Math, Kiswahili, Biology and Chemistry; and there are other electives they can choose between like Physics, History, Geography, Business, Religious Education, Computer and Agriculture. Some of the subjects require multiple exam papers so, on average, most of students will take around 15 exams within those three weeks. They feel a lot of pressure and stress during this time because their performance on this test will determine much of their future possibilities. Please be praying for their health, for peace in their hearts, confidence in what they have learned and how hard they have worked, and for their success.

Once they finish their exam, they will have to wait for about four months for their results. You can also be praying for them during that time. It is not easy for many young people after they finish school. There are many temptations out there, especially when they finally have a lot of free time after working so hard to prepare for exams. Pray that they would use their time well by volunteering, serving, helping and learning new skills.

It’s our goal at CGA, that each student has the chance to complete their education with a high school diploma. We are thankful to God for bringing them this far and for their sponsors and the school sponsors for their consistent and faithful support over the years to help make their dreams a reality!