Our Philanthropic Endeavor

Empowering the children with education

Let me tell you a short story about a Kenyan lady.

Miriam Sei was a single mother to four kids, working hard in the city of Nairobi, raising her children and providing them with a good education. As they grew up and found their careers, some of them even moved to the US, she moved back to her farm in the mountains to enjoy her retired life, right where she belonged.

While at her farm, she observed that the children who came to buy her produce from the farm always brought exact change with them. Soon she realized that they had no idea of numbers and couldn't do any math. Being a teacher that she always was, it pained her to see the lack of education in the life of these little farm kids. That is when she started teaching a group of children under a tin shed.

When Miriam Sei passed away, a few years ago, her children decided to carry on her legacy of a teacher who made a difference in the life of the underprivileged children, incorporated a 501 (c) in the US - called as Miriam Sei Education, Inc. - and began transforming their mother's little tin-shed school into a full-fledged school with multiple classes and professional teachers in each class. It's a primary school called as SunSei Educational Center. They are building and expanding the brick and mortar school and providing formal education to the local children. And they have their mother's blue-print to refer to for every details about the school.

Currently at the helm is a lady of equal passion as her mother. Her passion drives mine! I hope I can continue to bring a smile on the faces of children whose childhood have been snatched from them for no fault of theirs. With each Freshwater Pearl necklace I design, I wish to sponsor one year of education of one child. Take small steps and build as you go! Last year my son (5yo then) sent his previous year's Winter clothes and boots to the children in this school so they could be warm and cozy in the cold. I was a proud mother that day!

Every year the school selects a group of students based on their academic performance and sponsors their education - one year at a time. And they depend on the goodwill of donors like us to help them continue with their endeavor, hoping to be able to sponsor every child in the school. In 2017 they raised about $900 to sponsor the selected children for the next academic year. This was over and above the money they raised to continue building the school.

This year, Nimisha Rikhi Designs has pledged to sponsor the education of two students - Weldon and Salome - every year as they go ahead in their life. Weldon K. is a Kindergartner who loves drawing and coloring, very much like my own Kindergartner. Salome J. is a 2nd grader who loves reading story books. How cute is that! I am looking forward to get to know Salome and Weldon more closely as each year passes by.

With the help of you, my beautiful supporters and clients, I would like to sponsor more and more children in the coming years, not just at the SunSei Educational Center but also in other schools in other parts of the world, which are working tirelessly to provide the children with education, so they can grow up with the power to choose what they want to do in their lives and embark upon a path of success for themselves.

I hope people like us can come forward and pledge to sponsor the complete education of all children underprivileged because of their parents' economic status or their homeland's political crisis.

Nimisha