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BRIGHT LIGHT ACADEMY
EDUCATION IS LIGHT
Empowering Kenyan Children Through Education. Together we will make a difference!
Bright Light Academy is unique. We are a non-profit, non-governmental, primary and elementary school in Rusinga Island, Kenya offering free tuition, medical care, food, uniforms and study materials to all our students. In Kenya many communities like ours start their own private schools. Without any help from the government we rely on generous donors like you. Our mission is to provide educational opportunities to young children from disadvantaged families who face significant hardship.
Beginning a Bright Light education journey is a first step into a future of untold possibilities
Our school began its journey in 2019 with only twenty primary age students and one dedicated teacher. No desks, no chairs, no school supplies and a simple classroom built by parents on land donated by Rusinga Tribal Chiefs and Church Elders. Since then, Bright Light has grown to serve eighty students and a team of seven educators.
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For three years Staci’s eyesight was so bad she stood for hours next to the blackboard so she could study the lessons she was unable to read in a book. With the help of a very small sum from a Bright Light supporter Staci was taken to a county hospital for tests. A simple diagnosis and a pair of prescription glasses now allow her to study at her desk. In addition to her schoolbooks, reading music is a favorite pastime since her voice soars when Staci sings in the school choir.
Nutrition and
Food Security
Food equals energy. Energy promotes motivation. Motivation excites aptitude. Aptitude fuels learning.
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Serious malnutrition and consequent health problems affects too many rural Kenyan children.
A critical component of the Bright Light mission is nutritional support. Many Rusinga parents cannot adequately feed their children, but Bright Light provides Sammy and Alissa with two free nutritious meals every day, allowing his siblings to share more of the minimal food they get at home.
"My favorite activity is painting. I want to
be an artist when I grow up."
- Imani, 5 years old
Education starts early at Bright Light. Our Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) program begins with Bright Light’s youngest students. Art, song and painting bring creativity to life. Words on the page begin to have meaning. Numbers begin to make sense. Imagination is ignited and comes alive in the classroom.
Tools for Learning are key to achieving goals
Every semester Bright Light distributes free school supplies, including books, pens, writing paper, and personal diaries to our students. Along with a comprehensive curriculum and dedicated teachers each student has the tools they need to succeed.
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Free Medical Care builds Strong Bodies and a Healthier Future
Rusinga has many medical challenges and a limited health care infrastructure that students’ families can’t afford or is too far to walk to. Jackline and her visiting nurse team support Bright Light’s students with monthly examinations, diagnoses, medications, keeping careful records and classes for parents in home hygiene and basic medical care.
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Building Kenya's Next Generation of Leaders
Bright Light doesn’t just invest in academic excellence. We invest in our students. Igniting self-confidence, curiosity and motivation is part of the curriculum. We encourage the development of life skills. They are also the building blocks of advancement. Excited young students already talk about being teachers, doctors, and engineers. Tanya, fascinated by the stars, even wants to be an astronaut.
Planting the Seeds of Female Empowerment
Starting in grades two and three, Rosie, Veena and all our Empowerment Class girls learn they have the same rights as boys and that their ambitions and dreams are achievable when they believe in themselves.
Bright Light Encourages Commitment to a
Sustainable Future
Kenya’s future environmentalists learn to appreciate and protect their country’s magnificent beauty, abundant wildlife, and natural resources.
Growing food at our school is serious fun!
Students learn to cultivate vegetables on smaller amounts of land, with high yield and using less
water. “Sustainable” as a way of life is an idea that
also grows at Bright Light Academy.
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Knowledge is Power and Education
is the Path to Get There
When Tonie and Ameen graduate third grade at Bright Light this year their parents may not be able to meet the costs of their daughters attending fourth grade somewhere else in the Kenyan public school system.
For some students, after leaving Bright Light their education then ends. At nine or ten years old they will start work at the lake helping their parents with fishing – the only source of income most families have. Our goal is to offer students a full primary and elementary school education through the fourth, fifth and sixth grade.
Make a Difference!
This is where our friends and donors come in. Bright Light Academy needs to expand through the sixth grade and stay free of cost to Rusinga’s impoverished families. Your generosity can give all our students a chance to build their futures on the foundation Bright Light provides for them.
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