My education is sponsored by a US NGO called Climb for a Child. In 2017 they took me out of the standard Kenyan educational system and enrolled me in a private English Medium boarding school that uses the Cambridge curriculum. They did a lot of work with me outside of the normal schooling that I was used to. I started reading a lot of storybooks. It was boring. Mainly because I was asked to read them. After a couple of months, I tasted the sweetness of reading books. I quickly became a good reader. I couldn’t stop reading. I remember the day the program director was so proud of me because I read something that made me laugh out loud. That is the day he told me I had truly learned to read.
I found some great story books that were written by people from my tribe (Maasai). These books gave me extra motivation to love books and read more. I was so surprised to find books written by my people. We are pastoralists. Most of my people cannot read or write. My family lives in a small hut made of cow dung and sticks.
Reading for me became a passion. I couldn’t stop reading. At the new school Climb for a Child enrolled me in, my My English teacher told me I would not get a good grade on my English test. I am still not sure what he was thinking. He might have judged me because of my reading and writing ability. This comment made me go the extra mile with my reading of books. The teacher moved away from our school before we could do our exam and I felt bad because I wanted to prove him wrong.
During the pandemic I wasn’t able to attend many of my classes. The pandemic had badly affected the schools. This was never an excuse for me and my exams. The program taught me about being a private student. This is a student that learns on their own without going to a formal school. This concept did not exist among us. We all believed everything had to be done through school. Climb for a Child supported and taught us how we could do things on our own. I had internet access, computers and tutoring support over zoom. I studied for 2 years without a teacher or formal schooling. I did all the work myself. Climb for a Child taught us how doing things for ourselves is the best way.
In 2021, I did my Cambridge (IGCSE) exams as a private student. I did very well. I got a B on my English exams. Though I wanted an A. I will soon be attending Strathmore University as a business and economics major.
Climb for a Child has been a life-changing program for African children. Apart from paying school fees for vulnerable children, you are taught things that no school teaches. Lifetime skills that can be applied in every part of the world.
Independence is a tool we all need in life.
People like myself had our future in the dark. Climb for a Child teaches people to be adults. It helps children like me discover the real people that we are. It helps us to discover the world. It has helped me tour the world. I have already visited a bunch of places that I never dreamt of. I have climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and Mt. Meru. I have learned to swim and swam in the ocean on the beaches of Zanzibar. I have ridden in an airplane. I have learned to ride a bicycle.
I have my own bicycle now. I have a passport. I have a bank account. I have voted in the Kenyan elections.
I am looking forward to many more visits around the globe. I am just some ordinary kid from the deepest of Maasai Mara in Kenya. I am happy I got the chance and I will never take it for granted.
I am not stopping anytime soon, The journey continues. I want to be a better version of myself. I want to be a good role model to young kids. I want to show them that nothing is impossible if you don’t stop pushing. Nothing is impossible if you keep practising every single day. We all know that practice makes permanent.
