Ripple Effect Moves Positive Change Through Communities

On a recent visit to homes of two sponsored students in Migori County, neighbors began to gather at the homes, curious to know about the visitors. Conversations opened up as we introduced one another. A very young girl approached carrying a baby on her back and we asked who she belonged to.

"She's been abandoned," a women explained. "Her mother left years ago to marry someone else because her husband was lost to alcohol."

Our thoughts of how precious quickly turned to concern for the children's safety. A quick inquiry revealed the baby was not a sibling, but belonged to a family who fed the girl in exchange for child care. The villagers said the little girl regularly had the baby strapped to her back many hours a day. At her side was a younger boy we learned was her brother. There were two more siblings neighbors told us, another brother slightly older and the eldest brother, 14, their primary caretaker.

The group shared concern for the children, but hadn't known there were resources to contact to seek help. The school year had begun, but the children though school-aged were not enrolled. They took us to see where the children lived, a one-room home with no electricity, running water or furniture. The team reached out to the area chief, a trusted Kenya Works partner and community ally.

This semi-urban, agricultural area in western Kenya is gripped by extreme poverty, and female genital mutilation and early marriage are deeply entrenched norms. Most girls do not enter or complete secondary school.

To change this, Kenya Works launched The Transformative Power of Education (TPE), a pilot program combining education sponsorship with community social behavior change training.

Now in its second year, the Migori TPE program includes 50 girls, enrolled in area boarding schools. Outside of school, they participate in mentorship and group activities, while parents and community leaders engage in social behavior change workshops. By co-creating a supportive environment, we’re witnessing chain reactions that inspire large-scale social change.

The next day, the team gathered with the girls' parents, delighted that nearly all 50 girls had at least one parent or guardian attending. And despite the fact that there was a funeral many of the town leaders needed to travel to, they made sure to come as a show of support before departing for the service.

At the gathering, parents shared stories of the girls incredible transformation in the first year of the program. One mother gave a heart-wrenching description about her daughter's attempted suicide prior to joining the program when she believed there was no hope for a future. We have seen the changes too, as the girls are learning leadership, advocacy and training skills through mentorship and alternative rights of passage elements of the TPI effort.

After the parents meeting, the chief introduced us to the eldest brother of the young girl we had met the prior day. Shoulders slumped, head down, barely past childhood himself, he was ashamed that he had not enrolled his little siblings in school. The chief reassured him, explaining that he should never have been left with such a burden. The boy’s face brightened at these words, and radiated even more when the chief asked him to tell us his score on the national test following primary school. Despite his extreme circumstances, he had achieved high marks. Now, through the collaborative effort of Kenya Works, the chief and a supportive community, the children are all in school.

A few weeks later on a return trip to Migori, we met with the children, smiles beaming dressed for school in crisp uniforms and backpacks. Their father stood with them, protective hands cupping the heads of his youngest. He is now in recovery from alcohol abuse disorder and rebuilding his relationship with his children. These five lives are forever changed because of your support.

This is the Ripple Effect in action. Empowered parents, an engaged chief and Kenya Works community interventions powered by you create a force for change that moves outward far beyond the individual girls and families within the TPE program.

Trying to measure the Ripple Effect is complex, but its impact is clear in the faces of these five lives forever changed.

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa

Your support casts stones across waters, creating ripples of change seen and unseen. Thank you for being part of this powerful journey.