Meet one of the newest HALI members, Elimisha Kakuma.
Elimisha Kakuma, which means “Educate Kakuma” in Swahili, is the first college-preparatory gap year program designed specifically for refugees from Kakuma Refugee Camp in Northwest Kenya seeking higher education. In Kakuma, students who finish secondary school are faced with few to no opportunities. Even if students have the grades that would qualify them for university in Kenya, as refugees, they do not qualify for financial aid, nor do they have the right to work in Kenya, to earn enough money to study. The few scholarship opportunities that are available are not sufficient to the number of students who finish secondary school each year in Kenya. Three former refugees from Kakuma Refugee Camp, Mary Maker, Diing Manyang, and Dudi Miabok, experienced this same dead end. That’s why, a few years into their respective degrees at St. Olaf University, George Washington University, and Harvard University, they, along with their former teacher, Deirdre Hand, decided to found Elimisha Kakuma in 2021.
Elimisha students go through a 15-month holistic academic program that prepares them for university-level content through academic classes, the college application process, mentorship, and community service. In its first two years, Elimisha students have received full scholarships to Dartmouth College, Macalester College, U.C. Berkeley, Elmhurst University, Trinity College, University of Tulsa, Simon Fraser University, University of Calgary, Western University, and the Czech University of Life Sciences.
As a refugee-led organization, Elimisha’s mission is that as more refugees receive higher education, they will give back and support their communities, as its co-founders have done.
Students from cohort 3 participate in community service projects, including this one where they volunteered at a clinic in Kakuma 1 by dismantling an old clinic tent, cleaning the compound, and offering emotional support to patients.
Below is an inspiring reflection from one of their founders, Deirdre Hand, in which she shares a story that captures the essence of the work they do and its incredible impact on students.
I have always said to students in class, that a really great writer is able to get the audience to understand and feel the most in the shortest number of words. In the Elimisha Kakuma program, over the summer we do a dozen writing prompts and assignments designed to work on intentionality and precision in writing. They are meant to collect scattered thoughts and ideas, tease them apart and fit them together once again, so that each informs the other in a rich portrait of the world. These exercises come to a head in the writing of the personal statement at the end of the summer.
Deirdre Hand
Co-founder, Elimisha Kakuma
Students from cohort 3 working on their classes in the Elimisha Kakuma center in Kakuma
To learn more about and connect with Elimisha Kakuma, please visit:
Website: www.elimishakakuma.org
Instagram: elimisha_kakuma
Facebook: Elimisha Kakuma
