2008 Akili Dada scholars

It is only because of your ongoing support that Akili Dada is able to offer young women such as these the stability that a comprehensive scholarship provides in such moments of crisis.  Thank you.

"I am the last born of our family which consist of father, step-mother and eight children i.e. five girls and three boys. My mother passed away in the year 1998, when I was only four years old. Actually, I didn’t even understand what was going on because I was very young. After one year of difficulties, my father decided to marry a second wife, who could take care of me at that very age. At first, she treated me so kindly but afterwards. She gradually changed and till now, she was very negative attitude towards me. I have perceived such a tough life till now I used to walk about two kilometers to my former school.When my KCPE results were out, all my family members were proud of me, but most of the villagers and even including my step-mother felt so envious about it. Some of them started talking sarcastically because they knew that my dad couldn’t manage to educate me. All my sisters and brothers did not go through secondary education apart from only two who joined but were unable to complete due to lack of such school fees. None of them has a job. My elder brother had luckily got a house job in Eldoret but unfortunately, he was involved in a road accident where he was knocked by a car and broke his neck bone. It was replaced by a metal and therefore could not be able to continue working. My father has no permanent job. He only does a bit of iron roofing in which he is not even trained. He just does it for the sake of feeding the family. The work is just available once in a while. On the other hand, my step mother has no job at all, yet she came with her three children and my father has to care for all of us. When some of my father’s friends discovered that I had excelled in KCPE, they volunteered to donate some money for my school fees and equipment. However, that was only enough for first term. There is no other way my dad can get money to pay my school fee. Most of the things I came with in school were just donated by some of our kind neighbors. Some books which were required in school were just second handed to me by kind hearted people because my father couldn’t afford to buy me new ones. My father is really stressed about the increase in school fee because he has nowhere to get help.I sometimes feel so depressed and neglected when people talk and boast about their mothers because I don’t have one. This feeling of motherlessness keeps tinting my mind. I am sure that if ever I get a scholarship all these feelings and stresses will get out of my mind. I just pray that God may work in my life. I am trying the best I can to work harder in order to achieve my goals in life. I happen to get sponsorship; I will be so grateful and even my depended on to uplift the family. I promise that if I ever get a chance I will double my efforts in academics. My aspirations are to get educated, help my father in his old age together with my step mother and also uplift our entire family. I would like to have a good desirable job and live a better life in future".

"I live in Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Embakasi (Nairobi slum). I am writing to request for the scholar ship. My main problem is my school fees and academic needs. I am from a back ground that is not well off. My mum is a cook and my dad is a casual worker, therefore, it is very hard to cater for my school fees as well as the other children's need. In my primary school, the director happened to see good qualities in me and so he sponsored me in my standard as well as the registration. On top of this he promised to cater for all my school fees to even university. This really motivated to work harder because he needed four hundred marks and above. He was please with me when I got four hundred and sixteen marks being the top of all other schools around. That is how I managed to join this school which I really admired. All that my parents had to do is provide my shopping which they really had to strive to get. I joined this school although I felt out of place. This is because I happened to be the only one from a slum area. People used to pair up but only me form like another planet knew no one or fall under no one’s class. This made my grades to go down considering that the first term we were only to have continuous Assessment Tests. I started realizing that I was under-estimating myself for no food reason. I was capable of anything in-spite of my background. My teacher really helped me to realize my potential and I thank her for it. I was the head girl in my primary school. I participated in activities like athletics, netball and choir. It was hard, however, to discover your talent considering that it is a school in a slum and doesn’t have resources. I joined another sports club organized by the church for youths. We used to go out for sports and I mainly participated in athletics. If it is possible I would really want to be an athlete. I also joined the youth choir. We are a family of five kids. My big sister had to go for a tailoring course after her KCPE because my parents couldn’t cater for both of our secondary fees. She did not do well so they decided to do that. The other siblings are still in their lower primary. I do not know what will happen because one of them is in class six and in two years time he will need to be in a secondary school. What I fear most is that I will have a hard time may be next year because my sponsor wants to withdraw the sponsorship. It really hurts that he says that he is not in a position of sponsoring anymore. It is not that I didn’t pass in my first term exams. Despite all the challenges I managed to an average of 74%. I don’t know what will happen to me. That is why I am begging for this scholarship. I would like to help all the children who are facing challenges like mine. I really would not like to see a child suffering just because she/he is from a poor family some of those children have a big potential only that it goes unrealized. I believe that one day I will be successful and I will touch a child’s heart who would not have been helped. I usually go down to Amani to see those children because I know what it feels. That is how I grew u; the life I grew up in. not that I’m out of it yet. Not many people know much about me. They think that I’m quiet and less active but I find it rather hard to show out my characters as in my primary school because the people here respect those whom they consider famous. As for me I never came with anybody from my school. Leadership is what I like most. It is good to have people go the right way because you led them the right way. I am an order girl in my class and also a catholic hour representative. In both I try my best to be bold and have good leadership qualities. I am a music student and would like to pursue my career if I can get opportunity. I like singing and playing the piano. I am in choir choral and I enjoy them. I am always ready to do any community work even if it is in the hospitals. I always feel for the people who suffer because I know what it means to suffer. I have attended two community services organized by Ann and it feels good to help".