A Kijana Success Story: Lucy Ong’ayo

Written by Kijana Admin |

June 14, 2020

I am the last born in a family of 6. I grew up in Essaba village of Luanda Constituency in Western Kenya, Africa. My humble background while growing up, awakened my ambition of a becoming a better person in the future.

I went to Mulwakhi Primary School, in Essaba.  Mulwakhi is a local dialect that means a fiery place. The school, consequently, is known for the exemplary academic performance of the majority of its students who come from poverty stricken families. I graduated in 2009, as the school’s top girl with a remarkable performance of 324 out of 500 marks.  

I joined Essaba Secondary School in 2010, although my parents were not able to raise my school fees. I thought my dreams as an intelligent disciplined teenager were almost shuttered. Luckily, my life sparkled when I got a sponsorship opportunity with Kijana Educational Empowerment Initiative in 2011, that paid my high school fees for 2 years. The organization also gave me turkeys and tree seedlings that I reared and planted at my home respectively. It is during this period that the initiative was sponsoring so many school infrastructure projects in very many schools of our region in western Kenya in Africa. I don’t know of any Non-Governmental Organization in Kenya that has invested in so many of our region’s schools.

The sponsorship opportunity motivated me to work hard in school, so that I could further my education, and acquire a good career so that I too can help other needy bright students in Kenya. I am currently a final year student at the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, pursuing a Bachelor of Education Arts Degree, Mathematics and Business specialization.

Kijana Educational Empowerment Initiative has done a good job in supporting needy students in Kenya to acquire education that would change their lives and lives of others in the years to come. Indeed, Nelson Mandela was right in saying that “education is the most powerful tool that can change the world. May God bless everyone who has played a helping hand to ensure that the organization continues to provide the resources to turn many more needy children in Africa’s hopes into realized visions.

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