Rhino Scholarships: Education is Conservation

Your generous support has changed the lives of thirty students living in the communities surrounding Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Since this project began, your heartfelt acts of generosity have enabled us to award:

• Seven students a two-year scholarship
• Twelve students a one-year scholarship
• Four students an equipment scholarship
• Seven students a uniform scholarship  

We estimate that almost 15,000 of the 35,000 community members surrounding the Conservancy are students (or student aged). Many parents living in these communities struggle to pay school fees and as a result, their children are unable to receive a secondary school education.

Your support means these students can continue studying - opening up a world of opportunity.

On Friday 26^th November we visited Tigithi Secondary School, an all-boys boarding school to the south of the Conservancy. The school is home to almost 500 students and has a thriving farm project. The students learn about sustainable agriculture whilst growing cabbages, tomatoes, passionfruit and much more. Here we met Jackson before he headed into a Geography lesson, one of his favourite subjects. Jackson was awarded a two-year scholarship. Without this, he would not be able to continue studying. He shared that he loves mathematics and physics and that he dreams of working as an engineer.

This scholarship is life-changing for Jackson and his family. We could not be more grateful for your support in making this happen, a HUGE thank you from all of us here at Ol Pejeta!

All our scholarship students receive mentorship and support from our dedicated scholarship team. This includes 121 sessions, career coaching and life skills coaching. 

As always, we aspire to help more students in the surrounding communities and ask that you continue this journey with us. We are blessed to have your support and we look forward to sharing more updates on the impact of your giving! 

Thanks to your tremendous support, the funding we have received so far will be used to provide life changing scholarships to 8 students for 2 years. We decided to offer scholarships over the 2-year period so that students can complete their studies as opposed to 1-year scholarships which would only take them halfway. Whilst we did not achieve our target of 40 scholarships, your donations have given us some much-needed hope, after a devastating year of school closures due to the spread of coronavirus. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Scholarship Application Process

The scholarship application process is complete, and we have received almost 200 applications! The application form included information about the student, their grades, and their parents or guardians.

Shortlisting Applicants

Whilst we would like to provide scholarships to all, we will have to shortlist potential candidates and select finalists. This is done through a transparent community-based mechanism. The community team, alongside teachers, community representatives and elders will be making the final decision on the most qualified and disadvantaged students who will be supported by this scholarship project. The selection process will finish on Tuesday 27^th of July and then the selected students will be informed.

Scholarship Impact

You should be proud knowing that your gift will help the chosen students, their families, their communities, and the wildlife that surrounds them for years to come. This project will help build the next generation of wildlife ambassadors. This is only possible because of your extraordinary support, so thank you so much for joining this journey with us.

We look forward to sharing the next update with you in due course!