Kenya Connect

Purity is the first-born in a family of two. She has been staying with her grandmother who is struggling to cater for her needs. Her mum and dad separated and her mum went to source a livelihood in town and has never returned for the past five years. Purity is however determined and she believes that education will set her at a better place to break the poverty cycle in her family. She believes in being hardworking, committed, patient, kind and focused. She would want to be a pilot when she grows up.

Mutheu is the fifth born child from a family of 6 children. Her parents rely on casual jobs to sustain the family. Despite being sent home due to school levies every now and then, she has remained resolved towards achieving her dream of becoming a teacher. Mutheu believes that knowledge is power and she wants to pass it to students to end illiteracy in the rural areas. She also wants to empower students to attain their dream careers and occupations so as to improve their livelihoods. During her free time, she likes to read novels.

Matata is a daring young boy who believes that success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable. He is the last born in a family of four. His parents are unemployed and largely depend on subsistence farming, which has been negatively affected by frequent severe droughts. Most of the rural roads in his village are very impassable and this has pushed him towards achieving his dream of becoming an engineer. Since Matata was a young boy, he has always liked playing football not only at home but also in school and he was the goalkeeper for his school team.

Emmaculate is the last born in a family of three; one sister and one brother. Her parents rely on subsistence farming for livelihood, which has been greatly affected by the changing climate. While in primary school, Emmaculate spent most of the time at home while the other students were at school. This was because of lack of finances to cater for some of the requirements at school. This did not stop her but instead propelled her towards achieving her dream of becoming a cardiologist in order to save lives. Her role model is Barack Obama and she likes his phrase of ‘Yes we can’. Moreover, she likes reading story books during her free time.

Kelvin is the last born in a family of four. He loves watching and playing football. Both his parents have no jobs and are really struggling to cater for their family. He wants to become a secondary school teacher when he grows up. He is inspired to be a teacher so that he can contribute to building society through knowledge sharing.

Anna is an uninhibited girl who believes that there is a price for working hard. She is the last born in a family of three; two sisters and one brother. She lives with her parents who are not employed. Anna has been working hard and has always remained focused towards achieving her goal of becoming a lecturer at the university. She wants to end poverty in Kenya by teaching and transferring skills to students at the university in different fields. She is a fan of reading novels about real life situations and how to overcome them.