Attending a Conference from Half a World Away

AFP-NJ’s annual Conference on Philanthropy is an extraordinary event with some of the most respected talents in fundraising speaking and attending. But the Chapter's 40th annual event, held in 2020, was even more remarkable. Conducted completely online, attendees from beyond New Jersey were able to attend – none from farther away than Emily, though, who tuned in from Kenya.

Ruotolo Associates, a long-time supporter of the Conference, was working with Emily and the nonprofit she founded, Rise To Shine Education Foundation (rtsef.org), to address the need among teens in her area of Kenya to attend school and avoid the common trap of joining gangs or getting pregnant. Ruotolo Associates told Emily about the quality of the speakers and the opportunity to meet – even if it was via Zoom – other executive directors and fundraisers at AFP-NJ’s Conference on Philanthropy, held every year around National Philanthropy Day. In spite of the seven hour time difference, Emily attended many of the sessions and chatted with other attendees, even late into the night, Kenya time.

The 2021 Conference, taking place on Thursday, November 18, will also be conducted online. That means, like Emily, you can attend from no matter where you are. For more information on the Conference, visit AFP-NJ’s website: afp-nj.org. But before you do, hear from Emily herself a little bit about her and the excellent work Rise To Shine Education Foundation is doing:

I am Emily Bakhita, and I was born in 1991, one of eight children, in very tough circumstances. But my mother was our pillar. How she struggled for us! Thanks to her, we enjoyed the luxury of three meals a day. Life got even tougher, though, when she passed on in 2000. My elder sister took on her role, and I helped raise our younger siblings. At some point we dropped out of school for we could not raise money to pay the small fees required. Having come from a community where women and young girls largely depended on ‘sex for fish’ to earn money, I dodged the bullet when my humble family caught attention of a local Catholic Church. A priest visited my home and offered to sponsor me to a primary boarding school called Mbaga Girls high school in Siaya county. This was an invaluable opportunity; it landed me a golden chance to concentrate on my studies and gave me a chance to leave my local village environment, hopefully for the better. I embraced this opportunity and emerged a winner not just at the school level, but also was ranked best pupil in Siaya District. Indeed, luck was smiling down on me; my sterling performance attracted a paternal uncle of mine who sponsored me, this time to a national school many counties away, Mary Hill Girls High School in Thika. I made sure I would not disappoint him. After earning my Certificate of Secondary Education, I was hoping to attend Strathmore University, a private university. Fortunately, my uncle Paul again stepped forward pay for my school fees at Strathmore. I then joined Strathmore as a Bachelor of commerce student, with CPA studies in the evenings. In 2014 I completed both and graduated.

Now, I am back to the same University, Strathmore Business School doing my master’s in public policy and Management, purely inspired by my quest of being a better servant to my community, country Kenya and the world as at large.

In March 2012, while looking for a job to give me some pocket money during my long campus holidays, I started talking to one of my university lecturers and shared with him my idea of giving back to my community, by assisting bright yet needy students like myself access education. Holding dear to my experience, I realized that education is the tool I can use to bring an end to chronic poverty people from my village suffer.

He encouraged me to form a group, register it legally, making it easier to manage it as well as fundraise. I did just that. Initially, I identified 12 members of various ages, some orphaned, others just very poor, but all of them united by a desire to succeed in education and exploit their potential and get out of a cycle of poverty. We now have over 1000 members eight years down the line. I have toiled very hard to fundraise locally as well as liaise with different organizations to offer my bright children scholarships through high school, which is my main focus. I am pleased to report that, so far, Rise To Shine Education Foundation has helped approximately 500 impoverished, but bright, children attain secondary education. With this initial success, I realize that indeed one can be an agent of change and make a difference in one’s sphere of influence.

To learn more or to make a donation to Rise To Shine Education Foundation, please visit rtsef.org.