Cost is the barrier to education in Africa. A scholarship removes it.

AOA pays school fees. Awards are made directly to pupils and students who would otherwise be sent home, at every level from primary school to university.

• 01Primary and secondary schoolFees for pupils whose families cannot meet them, so that a child is not sent home from school mid-term.
• 02High school and collegeSupport through the years where the cost of schooling most often forces a family to withdraw a capable student.
• 03UniversityFunding for students who have earned a place but cannot take it up, so that a place won is a place taken.
• 04Theological studyScholarships for Orthodox students and clergy reading theology, and for research in Eastern and Oriental Christianities in Africa.

Award letters are given to recipients in their own parish, in front of their families and their congregation.

The award letter is not the end of it. Fr Thiani sits down with each recipient, one at a time, and goes through the school report with them — what the term went well on, what it did not, and what the next one has to put right.

AOA identifies recipients through parishes and clergy who know the families and the need. If you or someone in your parish needs help with school fees, write to us.