We wanted to let you know how your support changes lives forever. Stella Auma’s story is the first in a series of four. We will introduce you to Little Rock Scholars and let you know their stories of how the secondary school scholarship changed their lives.
Stella Auma
Stella Auma is 16 years old. She grew up in Kibera, Kenya’s largest slum, with her parents and 4 siblings. Her parents earn what they can as casual laborers but struggle to fund education for the children. School fees are a major hurdle to higher education in Kibera. As Stella says: “Here many people, especially boys, drop out of school due to a lack of school fees. And in my own family it would really break my heart to see my older sisters who were thirsty for education staying home due to lack of school fees.”
Stella is an outstanding student who completed her primary education (8th grade in Kenya) in 2017. She scored so well on the entrance exams to secondary school that she earned an EPN 4-year scholarship to attend one of Kenya’s national schools for the best and brightest students in the country.
“Being of national status, my school demands that I do my best in my studies. I get to meet students from all corners of Kenya and share ideas together. It gives me hope of a brighter tomorrow where there is no poverty.”
Stella has big plans. She dreams of attending London University to study medicine and become a cardiologist. “Becoming a cardiologist means a lot to me. It pains me to see rich people traveling abroad to get treatment while the poor languish in pain and poverty. A friend of mine in primary school died because she had two holes in her heart and her parents lacked money to get her treatment. Her condition is what inspires me to become a doctor.”
Stella is extremely grateful for her scholarship and the assurance that she can complete her secondary education without interruption. “You have lit my candle and thus I shall go on to light candles for others.”