School-going children and members of the community in Pap Onditi, Nyakach, in Kisumu County have been left not knowing the way forward after an NGO they relied on for school fees among other community services threatened to withdraw their services.
This decision by the NGO came as a result of an incident that happened on January 6, 2024, where their offices were raided and property stolen by unknown people, with the circumstances surrounding the robbery still shrouded in mystery to date.
Members of the community affected including school-going children whose future is now in limbo are calling for help to help address the situation.
“We are expected to join secondary schools by tomorrow and our school fees are not yet ready. As I see, our education may collapse, this does not bode well for us,” one pupil stated while speaking to journalists on Sunday.
Those affected further stated that the incident was reported to the police and so far no arrests have been made to bring to book those that might have been involved in the robbery.
School-going children were seen with posters urging the perpetrators to return the stolen property so that they could continue enjoying the support of the NGO.
“We would like the police to go on with their work and let us know, they have to get to the bottom of this matter. The community is in shock,” One parent stated.
They also called upon the NGO to reconsider their stance as they had no other alternative, especially for the school children.
“We are saddened by the theft that was conducted at this office, we have heard that our support might be cut short,” another member of the community stated.
The said NGO has been running a scholarship program that has been providing tuition support to students enrolled in both the local community high schools as well as regional high schools.
Other than scholarships, the NGO has also been supporting the community in Pap Onditi in several aspects of their livelihoods including creating and supporting Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres', school lunch programs, and provision of clean water among other programs.
This comes at a time when students are struggling to report back or join new schools due to high cost of living and the delay in disbursement of NG-CDF bursaries.
