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Meet Our Students
They love learning and deserve an education. You can help them stay in school.
By offering free tuition, food, medical care and schoolbooks, Bright Light Academy supports Rusinga families in seeing their children have an education. Each year, Bright Light enrolls its youngest students into the Early Child Development Program. Our recruitment process is designed to ensure we reach those who need assistance the most, but enrollment remains small due to our limited resources.
Nsnanzo Achieng
NSNANZO is 9 years old and will graduate from grade 3 this year. Her family lives on the beach and her mother fishes every day to support her children. Among the classes in the Bright Light curriculum Nsnanzo is particularly interested in is the one about protecting the environment and Kenya’s animals in the wildlife sanctuaries. She has an open mind and is very curious about the world outside of Rusinga, sometimes watching her teachers check the internet on their phones. She would like to learn more about growing food sustainably and helping her family learn how to grow food to feed themselves.
Merciful Gift
MERCIFUL is the oldest in a family of four children living with their mother. Their rental home is 4km from the school, so she needs to walk a long distance every day. Their father never declared himself, so the children do not know who he is and he does not support the family. Their mother works at the lake helping men with their daily fishing, repairing nets, scaling fish, and helping to sell them. Merciful is an excellent student in the second grade. Her favorite subjects are mathematics and English and she would like to be an accountant one day. This is her first year in the Bright Light Empowerment Class and she loves what she is learning about girls having the same rights as boys. Her mother named her Merciful because she was a gift from God.
Stacy Achieng
STACY is 9 years old and has lived with her grandmother, Magdalena since her mother passed away. Her father is a fisherman who moves around several locations on the lake, so he cannot live at home. The income he can provide for his family is small and to make ends meet, Staci's grandmother must do odd jobs like cutting firewood to sell or burning charcoal to sell as a fuel. If Stacy and her siblings carry water from the lake Magdalena makes a small garden to feed the family. She has a beautiful voice and sings in the school and church choirs. Her favorite subjects are English and Kiswahili and she hopes to continue her studies and become a teacher. She has difficulty with her eyesight, necessitating special glasses to be able to see and study and which Bright Light CBO has provided for her. Stacy is in grade 3 and graduated from Bright Light at the end of 2024.
We collaborate with Elders, Chiefs and local community leaders to identify families in need whose children are ready to begin an elementary school education. Many Rusinga children experience delays in beginning their education because of poverty or traditional cultural or social barriers and may then start school at an older age, or often not at all. Once potential families are identified, our School Director, Martin Otieno, conducts home visits to speak with the parents and meet the children. Parents are informed of what Bright Light expects from them as providers of positive emotional guidance and a stable home environment, allowing their young children to thrive when they begin to attend Bright Light.
Samuel Ochieng
SAMUEL is the second born in a family of five children. His father is a local laborer doing odd jobs such as cleaning and grazing animals and Samuel sometimes helps him. The family does not live close to the school, so Samuel walks the distance himself every day. He loves playing football in the compound and even acts as the team captain sometimes. He says he is learning leadership skills in the Empowerment Class. He is outgoing and makes friends easily. When Nurse Jackie visits, he watches her work with the students and has decided he would like to be a doctor and manage a health care facility when he grows up.
Kevin Omondi
KEVIN is 8 years old. He and his three brothers and sisters live with their mother. His mother must provide security for her children, so she works at home while the father moves from beach to beach around the lake looking for good fishing stock. The family has lived in Rusinga for over twenty-five years. The income the father can provide is small. Kevin has an affinity for languages and is already fluent in English, Luo and Kiswahili. He began his studies at Bright Light in the first Pre-primary class of 2019 when he was 3 years old. His favorite subject is arts and crafts, and he plans to be an artist one day. His drawings are displayed in all the classrooms.
Dizuza Bweru
DIZUZA is 8 and in the second grade. Her parents passed away with HIV/AiDs and she now lives with her grandmother, who works as household help for different families. Dizuza learned how to read very quickly and loves reading magazines and storybooks. Although she likes creative writing what she wants to study is the law so she can make positive changes in Kenya. She is cheerful and makes friends easily and loves what she is learning in the Empowerment class.