Giving Tuesday has become an annual global day of generosity. As we wait to learn what will transpire in January 2021 (when we hope that all JAMS students can return to campus), we ask you to consider including Friends of JAMS in your end-of-year giving. Drs. Wasonga and Otieno, the founder-directors of JAMS, have identified the two highest priorities for JAMS now: educational software and preparation for the next new class of first-year students when they are able to begin high school—perhaps sometime in 2021. News outlets in Kenya report that a new school calendar may be released by the Ministry of Education by early December.

Gifts to the General Fund in the next two months will be earmarked for the purchase of educational software designed for use in the Kenyan context—a need that has come into sharp focus in the last several months during the pandemic school closure.

Gifts to the Scholarship Fund (other than renewals of scholarships for continuing students) will be earmarked for new first-year (Form One) students. Exactly when a new class will enter JAMS remains to be seen because the Kenyan Ministry of Education has not yet released a plan for how the lost months of the 2020 school year will be made up. However, we want to be ready for when the current Standard 8 students (8th graders) will be able to advance to high school. Our goal is 20 new scholarships for the new incoming class.

Most of all, we want to be sure that you know how much we appreciate you, our donors and supporters. This is a year of financial and emotional hardship for many, but your generosity has inspired hope in us and in the students, teachers, and campus staff at JAMS. We have been bowled over by your generosity in response to the pandemic-induced emergencies at JAMS.

THANK YOU!