The Form Four students are about to start their national exams, and so we recently had a weekend of special events. On Saturday 19th there was a gathering in the hall, at which every Form Four spoke about their experiences at Kisima and gave advice to those in the lower classes. Then on Sunday our service focused on encouraging and praying for the Form Fours. Many parents and guardians attended, along with visitors from a local church, and groups of students presented songs they had prepared.

Thanks to a very generous donation, we have been able to renovate the roof of the dining hall and kitchen. The faded, rusty and mismatched iron sheets have been replaced with new red ones, and we hope you agree it is a great improvement!

The Form 2 students have been learning about yeast in their Biology lessons. What better way to put theory into practice than to cook some mandazi (a kind of doughnut)?!

Last week we were extremely sad to hear of the death of one of our former students, RuthJane Nyaboke Misati. RuthJane joined Kisima in 2015 and always gave her best in her studies, despite experiencing a number of health issues that caused her to miss a lot of school time. In 2019 she transferred to another school as she had been advised to move to a warmer part of the country, and it is there that she took her KCSE exams and scored a B+. She visited Kisima in June 2021 and spent some hours speaking to the students – her determination and her ability to persevere through many challenges were an inspiration to them in their different situations.

RuthJane then proceeded to university, whilst still struggling with her health, and it was while there that she was suddenly taken ill and died. We pray for her family and friends in their great loss and are thankful for her faith in God – her hopes for this life have been cut short, but she had an eternal hope.

The week began with our flags flying at half-mast in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth. As well as Kenya’s national flag, we also have the Kisima school flag and the flag of the East African Community.

Now the week is coming to an end and so is the term. Today is the last day and it will be busy with cleaning, packing, final confirmation of exam results and a whole-school assembly. The students will head home tomorrow for a week’s holiday.

Kisima may be only 500m from the equator, but it is also about 2,360m above sea level and can get very cold. We have had a lot of rain recently and even a couple of showers of hail! There was definitely no going on the field for games yesterday, so indoor pursuits were the order of the day!

We recently enjoyed a visit from two of our sponsors from the UK. John Baldwin and Barbara Kolator have sponsored students since our first class in 2005 but this was their first time to visit Kisima. As always, the students welcomed them with singing and dancing and were happy to have them attend some of their lessons. John and Barbara donated many books for the library and Barbara shared her love of knitting with a crowd of interested students. Trips out and about included seeing the school farm and visiting a student’s home in the neighbourhood. Their two current sponsored students were especially happy to meet them, but we all enjoyed their time with us and thank them for all their support.

With international travel now becoming easier, visitors have been flocking back to Kisima! This term we have had friends flying in from Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the UAE, and the students welcomed them with traditional songs and dances from their various home communities. These were joyful occasions, especially when the visitors, teachers and other staff members were called up onto the stage to join in!

After two years of covid disruption, it was a joy to once again be able to hold our alumni weekend, which was attended by former students from nearly all our past classes. They spoke to the current students and ran group discussions, sharing their experiences at Kisima and beyond and giving advice about school life, university applications, career choices and more. They also brought gifts for the school, including rice, flour, sugar, cooking oil and novels for the library. Thanks everyone for all your input and support!

The K.C.S.E. results are out and our students have achieved another great performance. The school mean score was 8.9444, and the number of students with each grade was as follows:

A- 6

B+ 7

B 9

B- 9

C+ 3

C 2

Congratulations to them all and many thanks to our teachers, other staff and supporters who helped make this possible.