NeLLy NaiTenGeL

16 years old
Resident of Sirata Oirobi, Samburu District
Form 1(sec. 2) student near Maralal town
When she grows up, she dreams of making a difference in her community
Total funding for 2007: US$800

Administrators:
Safari Akilimo +254-735-757-348 akisaf@yahoo.com
Anne-Marie Di Lullo +254-727-238-997 tabasamu.trust@gmail.com




Nelly is from the Samburu tribe, a pastoralist group similar to the Turkana and Masai people. She lives in Sirata Oirobi, on the outskirts of Maralal town, in far northern Kenya. She comes from a single parent family, with a poor background. Their livelihood is based on manual chores including cheap labour, charcoal burning and tending to livestock. Thus far, she has been forced to invest a considerable amount of her school time helping, instead, provide for her family’s needs. Nelly has continually depended on well-wishers to support her education. She is motivated and personally driven to pursue her academic dreams which she sees as a lasting solution to the perennial poverty that has bedeviled her family and her immediate neighbours. She sat her Standard 8 exams this past year, meaning that she has completed Primary School, and expects good grades. However, the struggle could be in vain if she doesn’t get sufficient support to further pursue her education and sustain her family back home. She could as well join a growing number of young girls who are married off at an early age, partly as a last resort and also to gain the family resources through sometimes hefty dowries. Nelly’s appeal is to get support for her education and a source of livelihood to sustain her mother and three siblings. This may seem far fetched, but it is a reality for Nelly: without enough livestock, her family will never be able to let her go to school. She is far too great a labour asset. In order to free Nelly of her duties, we will attempt to provide the family with a herd of 30 heads of cattle and 40 sheep/goats. Creating a favourable environment for Nelly is the best we can do to make her dreams come true and allow her ample time to concentrate on her studies as she seeks to influence her future and that of her loved ones