News and Media
News and Media
Professional Mourners
May 5, 2020
We have professional mourners in Kenya who depend on deaths in families to earn an income. Bizarre as this sounds, the mourners are not ashamed of their profession; rather, they have come out publicly to complain about their work being affected by Covid 19. The professional mourners are based in Migori County where burials are a big deal. Mourning can go on for weeks combined with ceremonial eating and dancing. The professional mourners make a living from the dead, literally.
read moreRisk of Early Marriages
April 27, 2020
The Kenyan government today announced the extension of the travel ban for another 21 days. This means that schools will not resume in May as most parents expected, but again, better safe than sorry. As parents agonize over the fate of their children, talking to the Valvisions Foundation girls in Pokot brought things to another perspective. The real danger now for the young girls in Pokot is early marriages. The economy has been greatly harmed, and in an environment where drought and floods are suffered, Pokot is once again, being hit hard. God, in His grace has, however, spared the District from the scourge of the coronavirus. Pokot has endured very few infections as compared to other towns in Kenya.
read moreWorking from Home
April 21, 2020
This past week we began to work on the career charts for the different schools where we offer the Choice Club program. Shiners school was the first to receive the charts. Since schools are still closed, we are taking this time to work because we will not be interrupting the students, and neither will they interrupt us. At Shiners school, the Director of the school was very grateful to see that we are thinking of the welfare of the children even as they await the opening of the school. All schools were to have resumed today, but that has not happened due to the corona crisis. International schools resumed online classes yesterday, though the students are still very worried about the exams they were due to sit in May.
read moreFight FGM
April 14, 2020
The eradication of Female Genital Mutilation is very close to our hearts as an organization. The risks associated with FGM are horrific for young women and girls. There is nothing good that comes from the practice; all it contributes is to endanger the lives of those that undergo the cut.
read moreMy Thoughts ~ Grace Wandia
April 6, 2020
There is so much evil in the world, maybe that is one of the reasons God has put the world on ‘pause.’ We need to re-think our ways. As I sit here, I am reminded of the many times I have watched injustice being dished out to people who did not deserve it, helpless situations that bring one to tears, yet there is only so much one can do. When a man beats his wife countless times, inflicting pain on her time and again, only to eventually kill her, cutting her life short so brutally-what can I personally do?
read moreCorona Virus
March 23, 2020
All schools have been shut down, offices shut down, places of worship shut down, markets shut down; there are a countable number of people on the streets, supermarkets are bare. We have never seen anything like this. When we learned of the epidemic, many people downplayed the seriousness of it and continued with their usual lifestyle. There were even rumors that Africans are immune to the disease, until one person tested positive, then 3 then 9; now we are at 16.
read moreSitting It Out
March 20, 2020
As we sit indoors to minimize social contact with the outside world, we have a lot of time to read and to catch up with family members and friends that we have not been in contact with for a while. We have also made it a point to check on our Valvisions’ girls, talking with them on the phone releases some of the tension that we are all going through. Life teaches us a lot of lessons, being immobile has taught us to appreciate the little things that we often take for granted. We now greet our neighbors through the windows.
read moreCareer Guidance
March 16, 2020
Studying is one of life’s most important tasks, but it can still seem impossible sometimes. This is especially true if you are trying to study something that you must learn but find little interest in the subject matter.
Many students are eager to finish school, get a college education, and ultimately achieve the dream job they have been desiring. When the students are asked what they would like to be after school, we generally receive a wide range of responses, but the big question is, what subjects must one excel in, in order to qualify for a certain profession.
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