Students in rural Kenya received scholarships with the help of Vashon and Mercer Island students.
Delinah Wughanga hopes to be a lawyer and help prevent child abuse.
Holiness Mwake wants to be a neurosurgeon and open a clinic to help her community.
Other scholars aspire to become engineers, teachers, and provide cleaner water.
Those are just some of the goals of students of Taita-Taveta County in rural Kenya who recently received scholarships from the SeaVuria Scholarship Program to attend high school this year, with the help of students from Mercer Island High School (MIHS) and Vashon Island High School (VHS).
Scholarships are crucial for some scholars, especially girls, to continue their education as many families cannot afford the yearly school fees to attend high school in Taita-Taveta. It costs about $300 a year for a day scholar and $600 for a boarding school scholar in Taita-Taveta to attend high school.
In December, 66 students from MIHS and VHS joined together for an all-day meeting at MIHS to carefully review more than 200 scholarship applications, and selected 125 Kenyan students from 10 schools to receive scholarships for the upcoming school year, which started in January in Taita-Taveta.
The $46,000 in scholarship funds were made possible by the fundraising of the MIHS PETRI (Philanthropy, Education, Teaching, Research, Involvement) Club and VHS G2G (Girls to Girls) Club.
Both clubs seek to empower young women in Kenya and the U.S. through education, scholarships and friendship. SeaVuria is the fiscal sponsor of PETRI and G2G clubs.
In early January, scholarship recipients in Taita-Taveta received SeaVuria scholarship letters of acceptance, noting that 90% of their school fees for the 2025 academic year would be covered.
“It’s really a privilege to be able to work with youth who see themselves as global citizens, putting those who are less fortunate as priorities in their lives,” said MaryMargaret Welch, PETRI and G2G adviser and co-founder/executive director of SeaVuria. “We’ve been working hard to move relationships between Kenya and the U.S. youth from the donor/recipient to the friendship relationship.”
The primary focus of the scholarship is to foster meaningful relationships between girls in Kenya and Seattle, creating opportunities for mutual learning and friendship. PETRI and G2G students will have Kenyan pen pals with regular correspondence through the school year, including monthly Zoom calls and frequent Google chats and emails.
Though most of the scholarship recipients are girls, an all-boys school, St. Mary’s, was included for scholarships six years ago and there are currently 14 boys who have received scholarships this year.
Welch said the decision to include boys for scholarships “boiled down to the decision that if boys in a patriarchal society can see the power and good will of women, it would influence the way they approach gender issues in their daily lives.”
MIHS and VHS students looked at applicants’ grades and read through personal statements. Applications also included letters of support from their principals.
Tekla Machaki, a student at Mwakitau Secondary School, had to walk a long distance to and from school and was “afraid of meeting elephants during that walk.” After receiving the scholarship that pays for her boarding fees, she has more time to study, participate in school activities, and is now a leader in her school. She wants to pursue a career in nursing after she graduates.
By reading through the applications, VHS senior Eva Nelson, G2G social media manager vice president, learned that there is a lack of hospitals in Kenya and access to healthcare. Some of the applicants want to go into the medical field to solve those issues and make hospitals more accessible.
“They were very thoughtful in their decision-making about what they want to do with their future,” she said.
During their visit to Kenya, club members learned more about the problems their pen pals had identified in their own community which they could use science to solve. Access to clean water was one of the projects, as residents in Taita-Taveta must collect water every day. Students discussed ways to clean the water so pathogens wouldn’t be an issue in their community.
Every other year, several PETRI and G2G club members take a trip to Kenya to visit scholarship recipients and pen pals to deepen friendships that will last a lifetime.
PETRI club was founded in 2014 when MIHS students partnered with students in Kenya on a collaborative science project and discovered that some of the Kenyan students could not stay in school because they could not pay for school fees. MIHS students held a fundraiser to help, leading to the formation of the PETRI club, with sister club G2G from Vashon Island later joining the group.
Zawadi Hamadi, who is earning her bachelor’s in chemical engineering at Moi University, wrote that the WEE Scholarship “has been truly life-changing” and provided her an opportunity to continue her education and have a meaningful friendship with her pen pal.
As part of the scholarship program this year, SeaVuria is supporting students with wrap-around funds, which may include hiring another mentor in Kenya, setting up an emergency fund, and purchasing more Chromebooks. Scholars currently share Chromebooks, which are used for homework and research and are a main communication source for them.
Stellah Kidongi, a former SeaVuria scholarship recipient, is now a SeaVuria program coordinator and mentor. She coordinates correspondence and provides mentorship for scholars from the 10 schools.
Kidongi stated the importance of the SeaVuria mentorship program: “The girls in my community are intelligent and ambitious, but they face significant challenges that hinder their progress, including limited access to role models, sexual and reproductive health concerns, mental health struggles, and persistent gender stereotypes, such as the belief that STEM is not for girls. … Through mentorship and support, I have witnessed firsthand how they gain the confidence to seek help and take charge of their futures.”
To learn more about SeaVuria, go to seavuria.org or on Instagram at @seavuria.petri.
Soyun Chow is a freelance writer. This story first appeared in the Mercer Island Reporter.
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