In Kenya today, eighty-three percent of all girls go to elementary school. But in poor areas, only one in five girlsgoes to school.

Forty-eight percent of Kenya's girls go to high school. In poor areas only about eleven percent do. Why is this? First, many families do not have money for school. Also, some girls leave school. They get married as teenagers — some at age fourteen or fifteen.

Kakenya Ntaiya is from a small village in Kenya. She is the oldest of eight children. As a child, her family was very poor. She had towork on the family farm, but she still went to school. She was a very goodstudent.

In Kakenya's village, many girls leave school and they get married as teenagers. Kakenya's family wanted this, too. But Kakenya loved school and she didn't want to leave. So she talked to her father. Luckily, he let her stay in school.

In time(最后）, Kakenya finished high school. Then she went to college in the United States. Later, she returned to her village and she started a school for girls. Today, the school has over one hundred students. In the future, Kakenya's students will be teachers, doctors, and lawyers. Their lives will be different.