Starehe Girls' Centre marks 20th anniversary with charity walk

The chilly weather and muddy pathways didn’t deter participants, who kept streaming into the forest for the annual charity walk.

The event, aimed at raising funds for the education of the girl child in Starehe Girls Centre, saw parents, students, teachers, partners, friends and the entire community of Starehe Girls turn out in numbers.

Eunice Mathu, founding member of the Starehe Girls Centre took Citizen Digital down memory lane with a brief history of the institution and the annual charity walk and how essential the walk is to the education of the girls.

“I am here as the founder member walking, but some of our founder members like Dr. Chandaria and Prof. Eddah Gachukia are walking at home. They walk forever in support”, said Mrs. Mathu on why the founder members support the run.

Mrs. Mathu mentioned that the institution expects to raise Ksh. 7 million, which would go towards covering the school fees for more than 70% of girls in Starehe.

“The majority of those girls (70% of them) have their fees paid as charity, and therefore, we have many charity events to assist the girls, and the walk is one of them,” she shared.

The Ministry of Education supports them through the provision of infrastructure, capitation and teaching staff.

After the trials, Citizen Digital spoke to some of the event’s participants and stakeholders, who expressed sheer delight and fulfilment in taking part in the walk.

Jacinta Nzimbi, an alumnus of Starehe Girls who took part in the run, expressed her excitement about taking part in the event, thanking all the stakeholders who made the event possible.

“Even beyond high school, Starehe still continues to take care of me. There’s the alumni group, the Old Starehian Society and then even the school by itself, it follows up on its girls”, said Nzimbi, expressing her delight in making a return to the institution to mentor the current students and instil hope in the future of the young girls at the institution.

“What Starehe has done to me is a lot, especially that it has mentored me emotionally, physically, intellectually and mentally”, said Daisy Chepkorir, a Form Four student.

The walk, she said, is going to help raise funds for special activities in school.

Betty Oyonzo, a parent whose daughter is in Form Three, joined students and alumni in expressing her gratitude to the institution for their all-around support, noting that the girls are disciplined and well-behaved.

“It’s been very good, health-wise. The work is very encouraging, and we hope next year we will do the same, and we can extend it to 15km. We managed to do the 10km trail," said Oyonzo.

Another alumnus, Magdaline Mwita, also joined in, expressing her gratitude to the institution for their support, which has enabled her to pursue journalism at the Technical University of Kenya.

The walk was segmented into three tiers: a 5km family trail, then 10 km trail, which was the most popular trail for the day, 12 km and ultimately the 21km trail.