School fees are the only thing standing between these students and their future.

In 1998, we helped build the first two classrooms at what became Esibila Secondary School, in a rural, agricultural region of Western Kenya near Maseno. It opened with eight students.

Esibila now educates more than 650 students a year, and ranks second in its region — closing in on schools that have been open for generations.

That growth happened because of the community around it: a board of elders, teachers, the PTA chairman, and the school principal work together each year to find the students with the greatest need — many of whom have lost one or both parents, or whose families farm just enough land to survive, let alone pay school fees.

We sponsor both girls and boys. WKEO began by helping girls stay in school, and we still make sure at least half of our students are girls, since they are usually the first to be pulled from school after 8th grade when a family can't afford to keep every child enrolled. For any of our students, a sponsorship is often the only thing that keeps that door open.

Twice a year, our students gather for a retreat with WKEO alumni, program leaders, and volunteer teachers and counselors — days of mentoring, workshops on staying on track toward their goals, and the kind of peer community many of these kids have never had elsewhere. Between retreats, students stay connected with each other and with adult mentors, so no one is carrying their circumstances alone.

WKEO is run by a small U.S. board and a handful of long-time volunteer leaders in Kenya, including Susan and Pharies Emitundo, who have led the on-the-ground program for over two decades. It is, and has always been, a small operation — which is exactly why every dollar you give still finds its way to a specific student.