[two_third]NAME: Peter Mathenge
Age: 18
Graduated in Nov, 2018
School: St. Augustine Secondary – Boarder
PA-MOJA Scholarship started: Form 1 (Grade 9)
Tribe: Kikuyu
supported by: Stephen Girard Elementary, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Peter Mathenge has lived with his grandparents since he was three years old. When his mother, Martha, gave birth to Peter, she was unmarried and living with her father, after whom Peter was named. According to Kikuyu tradition, Martha would not be able to marry because the new husband would not take on another man’s child. Therefore, Peter was left to be raised by his grandparents. His mother remarried and now has 3 children. She and her husband live on a tiny plot of land and barely make enough to support their family. Peter sees her twice a year. Peter’s father passed away in 2016 when Peter was 16 years old.
Peter and his grandparents live in three tiny timber houses (one is for his grandparents, one is for him and one is used as a kitchen). They live in a small village called Lamuria. Peter is fully dependent to his grandparents who can barely raise enough money for food. His uncle, Thomas Theuri, occasionally gives him a bit of money to buy some basic items. Peter has learned the virtue of love and sharing from his family because even though they don’t have much they still find enough to provide for him.
Peter’s grandparents are farmers. They have four cows and grow enough maize, beans and cabbage to feed the family as long as there isn’t a drought.
Peter’s dream is to be an agricultural engineer. He realizes how hard his grandparents have struggled to support the family and wants to learn how to improve farming practices for his village. He wants to make sure all farmers produce enough food in order to raise the standard of living of the poor in his community. He would also like to do something to stop the constant food shortages in Kenya by making sure excess water is conserved during the rainy season for use during droughts. He doesn’t like the corruption in the Kenyan government and feels that many leaders are not concerned enough about the poor and are instead busy making themselves rich.
Peter likes reading novels whenever he has spare time. He is proud of his school because of the good teachers and good facilities. If he could change anything, he would improve the environment at his school by organizing a tree planting day during the rainy season so as to increase the number of the trees in their area.
His favorite childhood memory was making small toys to play with using leftover pieces of wood, wire, and plastic. His worst memory was when he took some of his grandmother’s sugar and received a good beating. He said he doesn’t have too many fears but isn’t fond of snakes because they can be deadly where he lives. His best recent memory is the day he received the news that he was awarded a PA-MOJA scholarship. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said, “My grandparents and I were overjoyed.”
Peter has a message for his PA-MOJA donors: “I am so thankful for the support I have received. Without this scholarship, my grandparents could not have sent me to a boarding school. I would be in a day school, which means I would have had very little hope of achieving the grades required for university.” (Day schools in Kenya are generally poor quality and rarely produce students who attend post-secondary.) “I thank all my PA-MOJA donors for changing my life. Asante Sana.”
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[one_third_last]August 2018 Update, Peter’s comment, June 2018 [/one_third_last]
