Educational equity, everywhere

Children are
catalysts of change.

Scholarships, healthcare learning and school buildings — so every child has the access their ambition already deserves.

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Soma

Swahili for read — and for learn.

Where we are today

0: Students with scholarships
0: Countries where we work
0: Programs: scholarships, healthcare education, libraries

The same money goes much further.

Educating one student for a year costs about $16,540 in the United States and about $900 in Western Kenya — roughly 18× further.

US public school, public spending per student: Source: NCES (2025–26 projection)
US private school, average tuition paid by families: Source: Private School Review (2026–27)
Kenya national secondary school (C1), real cost per year: Source: Soma partner schools in Kenya (KSh70,000 per student, per year)
Kenya extra-county secondary school (C2), real cost per year: Source: Soma partner schools in Kenya (KSh63,000 per student, per year)
Full secondary cycle (8-4-4: 4 years / CBE: 3 years): Source: Soma partner schools (KSh280,000 and KSh210,000)
One full year with a Soma scholarship: Source: Soma scholarship program

Kenyan shillings converted at KSh129.43 to US$1, Central Bank of Kenya. Official tuition in Kenyan public schools is free, but families still meet the real costs of school: boarding, meals, uniforms, transport and materials. Figures are averages shared by our partner schools and change as Kenya moves from the 8-4-4 system to CBE next year. There is no reliable national average for private school fees in Kenya, so we do not publish one.

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Other amount

In the United States

2 weeks

of one student's school year ($16,540) · Source: NCES

In Western Kenya

1 year

of secondary school with a Soma scholarship ($900 a year) · Source: Soma scholarships

An illustration based on the reference costs above — actual needs vary by student and school.

A Soma Initiative student smiling alongside a programme lead outside her family's shop

The Soma idea

Education isn't charity. It's momentum.

Every child already carries the ambition. What's often missing is the tuition, the textbook, the roof, the nurse — the ordinary infrastructure of possibility.

We work at that gap. Our programs are designed with local schools and families so the support fits the community, lasts beyond a single year, and belongs to the people using it.

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Our work

Three ways we open the door.

A group of Soma Initiative students with their programme coordinator outside their school

Academic Scholarships

Full tuition, uniforms, books and boarding so a place at school is never decided by a family's income.

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A facilitator addressing students and parents during a Soma Initiative session in a classroom

Healthcare Education

Practical health and hygiene learning delivered inside schools, so children carry knowledge home to their families.

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Parents, students and teachers gathered in a classroom for a Soma Initiative community meeting

Libraries & Buildings

Classrooms, libraries and the shelves that fill them — durable spaces a whole community keeps using.

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Where we work

Four countries.
One shared classroom.

From our home base in Atlanta, we partner with schools and families in Kenya, Cameroon and Jamaica — and we grow where the invitation comes from the community itself.