Likoni Fund News, June 2008

The Likoni Scholarship Fund is a scholarship and mentoring program for secondary school students in Likoni, Kenya. In Kenya students must pay $500 per year to attend secondary school. We believe all students deserve education and therefore offer scholarships to students who are dedicated to learning and unable to afford the cost of school fees.
Donations to LSF are Now Tax Deductible!
The Likoni Scholarship Fund has been invited into the Incubator Program of the Fund for the City of New York, and now, through FCNY, is tax deductible.
The Incubator Program supports select nonprofit enterprises and government projects through the first stages of development by providing them with essential fiscal and administrative management services. FCNY has pledged to provide the LSF with a complete array of back-office functions, including fiscal support, accounting services, auditing, grants management and technology assistance, and have offered to do so for free throughout our first year of partnership.
To make a contribution make your check payable to Fund for the City of New York/ LSF and send it to 121 Avenue of the Americas, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10013.
Our Website is Coming Soon - LikoniFund.org
Web designers Jeff Hertzberg and Steve Loring have donated their time and expertise to creating a magnificent website for LSF. In doing so they will take us from a small project depended on friends, to a larger one, able to attract new interest and new donors online.
LikoniFund.org will also help us to keep you up to date on our programs and our students, particularly through their student blogs. As part of our mentoring program, student will keep journals, learn to use computers, and regularly update there very own blogs, connected to the Students page of our website.
LSF 2008 Scholars are Earning High Marks
All eight of our 2008 freshmen scholars have earned A's and B's during their first term. We are proud of their success, though not surprised!
One of our A students is Masika Ali. She was born June 30th, 1989 in Likoni, Mombasa and attended primary school through age 7. Unfortunately her family did not have the money to continue her education, so she stopped going to school after the fourth grade and stayed home until 2002, when the Kenyan Government made primary school free and she was able to re-enrolled.
Masika's father died before she was born, so she as been raised by her mother and 5 older siblings. Her Mother, Mwama Hamisi, sells fire wood and charcoal earning about $2 per day. Together with help from uncles and Masika's brother the family is sending Masika's older sister to secondary school, but this is challenging and there's no money left for Masika.
Meanwhile, she is a gifted student and should be in school. Masika loves studying math and Kiswaili. She plays volleyball and was on her primary school soccer team. She loves to joke with friends, to read, and hopes to someday be a doctor with a salary that allows her to help her family.