Found by the locals in 2022, Magonya, a community-based organisation founded in Seme Sub County in Kisumu County wast was geared towards improving the livelihoods of the community and elevating education amongst the children coming from poor families.
With only two years in existence, Magonya CBO has managed to sponsor more than one hundred learners in high
schools and colleges with primary schools not exempted.
The support that the CBO gives to the children includes paying school fees for needy students and helping girls within the community with sanitary pads to help them have enough time for learning.
According to the patron of the CBO Mr Francis Oyucho, the funds they use to support the school-going children are from their own pockets the money that they collect as members of the CBO.
“We have plans to make sure that education within our community is uplifted through this CBO and we have made arrangements to reward students who will do better in their final exams to help motivate other students who are also the beneficiaries of the project”, said Oyucho.
He also says that they are walking in the villages looking for those children who have been sent back home for fees and they come to their aid by paying school fees for them.
While speaking at Engineer Owiti Abol girls in Seme while rewarding the students who did well in last year’s 2023 KCSE exams, Ms Rose Akinyi who is also a member of the CBO said that besides helping in improving education, they have also focused on improving Agriculture within the community to help in curbing food insecurity amongst the locals.
“While education is the backbone of society, Agriculture too cannot be left out because, with food on the table, learning will also go on smoothly in most day schools because the children will go back for lunch and get something to put on the stomach” ” says Rose.
Magonya CBO has so far sponsored 100 students and aided in distributing sanitary pads to both girls in primary and Secondary school the initiative they say does not have donor funding but gets its funding from the members of the CBO.
At Engineer Owiti Abol Girls secondary School, they donated sanitary pads and some assorted learning materials to the students to help improve learning amongst the students.
The students and the teachers from Engineer Owiti Abol Girls Secondary School thanked the CBO for always coming through to help the needy students in the school with learning materials and food for the day scholars.
polycarp ochieng 
KTMN Reporter