Ten years ago when Sango Association began providing scholarships to high school students in western Kenya, we had no idea our involvement with the students would be much more than just providing school fees.

Sango Association is a non-profit organization founded by Kenyans in the Chicago suburbs to provide scholarships to bright students who are orphaned or otherwise too poor to pay the fees required to attend high school. Our goal is to give these kids a chance to advance to university and become the next generation of leaders in their communities. However, there is more to educating a child than just paying school fees.

As we got to know our students through our visits to Kenya, we observed their difficult living conditions and other circumstances that affected their ability to perform at school. One example is the lack of electricity or other reliable sources to provide lighting for our students to study at night. Being on the equator, it gets dark around 6:30 in the evening. Most of our kids use small paraffin lamps made from tin cans to do their homework. Aside from giving off only a dim light, the paraffin emits a black smoke that irritates the eyes. As a result, many of the students complain of eye problems. On a trip to Kenya a few years ago, a friend of Sango provided ten solar lights to give to some of our students. Those who received the lights were delighted not only to have a reliable source of light, but one which did not cost anything to recharge. They faithfully used the lights to do their homework and maintained the grades to successfully graduate from high school and go on to university. It is our desire to provide all our current 62 students and future students with solar lights so they do not have to struggle with studying at night.
In addition, many of our students are orphaned and live with their grandparents, mostly widowed grandmothers who are raising more than one grandchild. It is our desire to provide solar lamps to these widows to provide lighting for all the children in the home to study, therefore having a greater impact by reaching more students with the gift of light.

Sango Association is partnering with One Million Lights to provide clean, bright and economical solar lights to marginalized children in western Kenya, therefore giving them an important tool to succeed in school and life. Our goal is raise the funds for 200 lights, which is estimated at $7,000.00. Please donate today!