Nairobi — As pupils and students start streaming back to school on Monday for the third term, 13 girls from Kikambala Primary School in Kilifi District will have to remain with their parents at home.

The girls' education is at risk of coming to an end, thanks to teenage pregnancies. According to Miss Annie Kimani, the head teacher of the school, the girls have already been expelled. "One was in Standard Three. Boys from different schools are responsible for 12 of the pregnancies," she told the Nation.

Early pregnancy is just one of the many problems ailing education in Kilifi. For many of the area's residents, life is one bleak cycle of poverty, desperation and frustration. Literacy levels are low, as most children do not go past primary school. With schools opening this week, many pupils in the district do not have school uniforms and books.

Though education is free at primary level, many pupils come from poor families that are unable to afford the uniform and books. Parents also cannot afford fees charged for feeding programmes in public schools. Also, the "beach-boy" mentality as the children grow up in has contributed a lot in hindering the eradication of poverty in the district.

The beach boy mentality is where pupils prefer to do odd jobs, such us carrying luggage for tourists on the beach in return for survival cash. This love of the beach causes boys to drop out of school. As for the women, many are stuck in polygamous homes rearing children. There is also a perennial food problem.

It is this cycle of poverty that a charity programme, "Operation Give and Grow" (OGG) is tying to break. The programme benefits 150 children in the area, who are given school uniforms and books. The children are also given lunch everyday before going back to school.

Operation Give and Grow is run by Faith Evangelistic Ministry, a faith-based organisation. It aims at promoting education in order to avoid the culture of early marriages and beach boy mentality as the kids grow up. The beneficiaries also receive talent development, where they are encouraged to try their hand in the arts, music, acrobatics and other activities.

"Our aim is to nurture the children so that they grow into responsible and progressive citizens," said Reverend Teresia Wairimu, head and founder of Faith Evangelistic Ministry. According the reverend, many girls in the area are doomed to early marriages as the custom is to be married off at the first menstrual period, which is around 13 years of age.

There are many young mothers in the area, some as young as 14 or 15 years. And the locals don't find it odd. It is this apathy and indifference towards early marriages and education that Faith Evangelistic Ministry aims to overcome. Rev Wairimu told the Nation that it is important to create awareness in the community to discourage early marriages or going to the beach to potters or fishermen.

The feeding programme succeeded in keeping the children at school. During the feeding sessions, the beneficiaries are also given spiritual nourishment and exposed to the possibilities of life beyond Kikambala. "Many residents are born here and do not move beyond the area for the rest of their lives," says Rev Wairimu.

Operation Give and Grow was started by Faith Evangelistic Ministry in 2004. Rev Wairimu, her partners and Fem Church members donate food, clothing, shoes and other resources for the programme. For those beneficiaries who make it to high school, the organisation pays their school fees.

"Though the education is free at primary school, I need school uniform and books and this programme has helped me," says 14-year-old Mary Nzung Lazaro, a beneficiary. Mary comes from a family of eight children. Two of her siblings are also beneficiaries of the programme. Mary's brother, Joshua Lazaro, wants to get on with education and join the tourism profession.

It is such foresight and ambition that many locals lack and which Operation Give and Grow, Reverend Teresia Wairimu, District Education Office in Kilifi , the children's department, police and area leaders want to instils. "We thought it best to start with the children, so they can grow up in an enlightened environment," says Rev Wairimu.