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.

在今天的肯尼亚，83%的女孩会接受小学教育，但在贫困地区，只有五分之一的女孩能上学。

肯尼亚48%的女孩会读高中，但贫困地区这一比例仅约11%。原因何在？首先，许多家庭无力承担学费；另外，一些女孩会辍学——她们在青少年时期就结婚了，有的甚至只有十四五岁。

卡肯雅·恩泰亚来自肯尼亚的一个小村庄，是家里八个孩子中的老大。她童年时家境贫寒，不得不去家里的农场干活，但仍坚持上学，而且成绩很好。

在卡肯雅的村子里，许多女孩会辍学并早早嫁人，她的家人也曾希望她这样做。但卡肯雅热爱学校，不愿离开，于是她和父亲沟通。幸运的是，父亲同意让她继续读书。

最终，卡肯雅完成了高中学业，后来前往美国读大学。毕业后，她回到家乡，为女孩们创办了一所学校。如今，这所学校已有超过一百名学生。未来，卡肯雅的学生们将成为教师、医生或律师，她们的人生将因此不同。