Jambo!

I am raising money for a fantastic charity called Kenya Education Partnerships: www.kep.org.uk and would much rather you donate some money than buy me Christmas presents!

Next summer, along with 23 other students selected from Oxford, Cambridge and UCL, I will be off to Kenya. KEP is a volunteer run charity that works with rural schools that are in difficulties primarily because they receive insufficient funding from the Government. By investing time and resources in the schools rather than teaching, we hope to initiate or develop a positive cycle of growth - sustainability is the main focus of all the work done.

KEP creates a strong link with each school it works with and will send out money and students each summer, which has a massive effect on the school's improvement, until the school can support itself. This point can sometimes be reached in merely a couple of years; once a school has better resources and therefore more motivated teachers, exam results will improve and which means more students are attracted to the school. This brings in more school fees, which then provides the school with money to invest in itself, and so the cycle of improvement continues. You can be assured that your money is making a difference.

The Kenyan students apparently are so keen to learn and wonderfully endearing - a previous KEP project worker was asked by one Kenyan student 'to say hello to Barack Obama' for him, presuming all Westerners had contact with him!

Donating through JustGiving is very simple, you won't be bombarded by unwanted emails and the money is sent directly to KEP.

If you have any questions, please email me: esmenichols@googlemail.com