Benter Achieng is 14 years old and is a student at Humwend Secondary School.  Her favorite subject at school is Mathematics and when she grows up she wants to be a bank accountant. Benter works in her community to pass on the knowledge she learns in her Agriculture and Business classes at school and she teaches those who can’t go to school. She looks up to her aunt for all the hard work she does for Benter and her siblings and also she looks to the teachers at Humwend as role models.

About the School

Humwend Secondary School is a community-run school situated in Ukwala. Here, 57 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, and 24 per cent lives with the highly stigmatized human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Fifty students attend the school, 95 per cent of which are partial or complete orphans.

The cost of operating Humwend Secondary School for an entire year is approximately $21,000 USD. Unlike primary education in Kenya, the cost of tuition in secondary school is significantly higher and makes up the majority of school costs.