Georgina Gor Awino is 19 years old and has recently started studying Education with Science at Moi University in Eldoret. Georgina hopes that studying her diploma will help her to become a biology and chemistry teacher in the future. Georgina was born in Yiembe village and is the second last born of six children in her family.
Georgina attended Koduogo Primary School, which is one of Team Kenya’s partner schools in Ndhiwa. At the school, she was selected to join the Girls’ Support Group, which she was a part of from 2011 to 2014.
The Girls’ Support Group was very beneficial to Georgina’s education at primary school; “Through the Girls’ Support Group, I was able to gather some different information from the different mentors that were brought to our school. First, how to take care of yourself as a girl. Second, on how to relate to other people in different environments, this helped me to be a good girl and to be appreciated even by my teachers. I could relate well with my fellow girls at school, even the other guys outside the school and the neighbours.”
As part of the Girls’ Support Group, Georgina received items to help her in her studies; “I received uniform and stationery to help me with my studies. If you don’t have school uniform then you can’t carry yourself with confidence.”
Georgina sat her KCPE Exams when she completed primary school. Members of the Girls’ Support Group had been encouraged to take part in holiday homework clubs, supported by The Rozelle Trust. In the holiday clubs, past exam papers were used as practice and this opportunity for revision meant that Georgina was able to achieve a good mark of 344. This was sufficient to enable Georgina to continue into secondary education at St Mary’s Nyamogo Girls’ Secondary School. In light of her good performance, Georgina received an Aspire Scholarship from Team Kenya to enable her to finance her secondary education.
The knowledge and skills that Georgina had acquired from the Girls’ Support Group continued to benefit her in secondary school; “When I started secondary school I knew how to relate to other girls so was able to have positive relationships and avoid fighting or quarrelling with them.”
Georgina describes St Mary’s Nyamogo as a good school, but says there were some simple challenges which impacted on her studies; “The school suffered from a lack of water, so we had to go out of school to search for water.”
Georgina achieved a grade of B- in her KCSE Exams at the end of her secondary school studies. This was sufficient to enable her to qualify for University. Georgina explains that she is happy with the support that she has been given to date; “Right now, I’m very happy through the support that I was offered. Even my parents are happy with me, together with my brothers and sisters because at least now I am seeing that my life is enlightened, at least my dreams are valid, I can now have a brighter future ahead of me. This was just due to the support that was offered to me through my primary education, secondary education and now I’m hoping for the University education too. My life has changed a lot; I am unlike other girls who never got the support.”