How Believing in One Girl sparked a movement

Change often begins quietly and gently.

`` Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.’’-Harriet Beecher Stowe

In Busia County, most families don’t invest in girls’ education laying excuse of limited resources. This is not true as silence conversations reveal the stretching stereotype mindset to educate a boy and live a girl to look or given a counterpart. A few years ago in Sidende, I met a quiet girl named Achieng. She was bright, especially in mathematics, but she had started missing school frequently. When I gently asked her why, she hesitated before telling me the truth: her family believed educating her brother was more important. They felt investing in her education was a waste because she would “just get married.”

I saw a future being silenced and so decided to intervene.

I visited her parents several times. I keenly listened before I spoke and shared my own journey. I explained how educating a girl strengthens an entire family and community. I brought examples of women who now support their homes because they were educated. I reminded them that talent does not belong to one gender. After a while, her parents agreed to let her continue her education. This encouraged me after realizing that my time, my voice did not go in vain.

This paved way to another duty which I could not believe that one day it would create such an impact to Achien’g and other girls who were powerless and needed my assistance.

I began mentoring her regularly after school. We revised mathematics together. We set academic goals. We talked about confidence and leadership. Slowly, her performance improved.

When national exams were released, Achieng scored a B+, qualifying her for direct university entry.

That moment changed everything. Her parents, once doubtful, became proud advocates for girls’ education. Neighbors began asking, “How did she do it?” Girls in the school began saying, “If Achieng can, and we can too.”

That was the first ripple.

I realized her story was not isolated. Many girls in both Junior and Senior Schools were struggling silently, especially under Kenya’s Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), which demands stronger STEM exposure despite limited school resources. Having realized this, I expanded my support to overcome this plight.

I started a small mentorship and STEM encouragement circle for girls at the surrounding schools-Fr. Simon’s senior school, Sidende comprehensive school and Munami senior school. We began with five girls meeting under a tree after class. Within a year, the group grew to over 25 girls. The program gave girls power! Girls who previously avoided mathematics began participating actively in class. The number of girls selecting science-related subject combinations increased, three girls improved their mathematics grades by at least one full grade within two terms. Parents began attending school meetings asking how to support their daughters in STEM and Two teachers, one from Sidende comprehensive and another from Munami Senior School volunteered to assist in mentoring sessions after seeing the confidence shift.

We used simple, locally available materials for experiments. We talked about careers in engineering, medicine, technology, and research. Indeed one parent told me, “We did not know our daughters could think this big.”

That is the ripple of #GiveToGain.

Supporting Achieng did not just change her life. It changed mine. I became a mentor, a leader. It reminded me that leadership is not about titles — it is about responsibility. It showed other parents that educating girls matters. It encouraged other women in Sidende to mentor younger girls. It planted seeds that continue to grow and yield.

I share this story not as a celebration of one success, but as proof that grassroots support changes systems. When one woman chooses to stand beside one girl, families shift. Classrooms shift. Communities shift.

Women, we do not need large budgets to create transformation. We need to belief in ourselves. We need to face challenges with courage. We need each other.

You gain when you give. Look! By Giving encouragement to one girl-Achien’g, I gained a movement of girls believing in themselves and more so, a global sisterhood.