At Barani Primary School in Kenya 24 girls, aged 7 to 9, have been singing and dancing their way through various levels of school music festival competitions and winning each to reach the National finals in August 2018. As part of their school music program they learn to perform tribal based songs which include dancing and acting out traditional stories. These girls, who have never travelled farther than they can walk from their simple mud homes near the city of Mombasa, now find themselves travelling 700 km with 2 teachers to compete in the country’s top educational music festival.
In a country where most families and schools do not have funds to pay for travel and costumes, these girls received financial assistance from generous individual Rotarians and Friends of Rotary which made going to Regional finals and National finals possible. These young girls, through their winning performances, are gaining confidence, self respect and self esteem which are foundations for future leaders in Kenya, one of the aims of Shuswap Rotary through its Kenyan projects.
Shuswap Rotary provides 550 lunches daily for needy students at Barani Primary School. It also sponsors 20 students to complete Grades 9 to 12 in a country where there is no government funding of secondary schools.
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