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Paul Githinji
Age: 17 years
Form 4 (Grade 12 – in 2019)
School: Endana Secondary School– Boarder
PA-MOJA Scholarship started: Form 1 (Grade 9)
Paul lives with his grandmother in a small village called Sweet waters in Laikipia East. He is the second born in a family of four. First, third and fourth born are in grade 12, grade 3 and nursery school respectively. Paul’s parents separated in 2014, by then he was in grade 7. After the separation, the mother had no alternative but to look for a job to bring up the children. She left with the first, third and last born. Paul was left under the care of his father. His first born brother and second born sister were taken to his grandmother’s place while the last born left with the mum. His mum got a job in a quarry in Nanyuki town where she is working to date.
Paul has no idea what led to his parents’ separations but he says those were the most difficult days of his life. The separation affected him psychologically and eventually his school performance. Despite this, he managed to sit for his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (K.C.P.E) in 2015. But despair was to befall him after the results were out.
He got the admission letter to grade 9 but his father was not ready to take responsibility of taking him to secondary school. He sent Paul away to go and stay with his mother or his grandmother. He joined his mother in Nanyuki town but the house was not big enough to accommodate him. His mother decided to take him to stay with the grandmother.
Paul by then was desperate and had no hope of joining secondary school. The mother could not afford to pay his school fees. The little she earned was used for her upkeep and paying school fees for Paul’s older brother. His grandmother tried approaching well-wishers with no success. Luckily, she met one of the community leaders who informed her of the PA-MOJA Scholarships and with his help she did the application and luckily Paul qualified for the scholarship.
He is an ambitious young boy and is looking forward to study Engineering at university. His favourite subjects are History, English and Mathematics and his favourite teachers are Mr.Kimenyi-English teacher and Mr.Michira-History teacher. He loves these teachers because they teach with passion and give real life examples in their delivery, which makes their subjects easier to understand.
If given a chance to change his school, he would be in the forefront to start school clubs which are not yet established. He strongly believes clubs are essential for collaboration, sharing ideas and exercising leadership skills.
Paul has a strong passion for politics. After his university education he hopes to be a county minister in the department of rural development. He is a great critic of the Kenyan constitution. He feels the 2010 Kenyan constitution has given judiciary more power than the executive and he cites an example of the nullified 2017 presidential elections. He feels there were better ways of dealing with that for example recounting of votes. According to Paul, repeating the elections had a negative impact to the country’s economy.
He also feels some positions like that of senator should be scrapped out because he doesn’t understand the work they do for the counties yet they are been paid through the tax payers money. There should also be a streamlined ways of selecting county ministers in the counties across the country because selection at county level is marred with corruption and governors choose their family members and friends. Paul comes from Kikuyu community and one thing he loves about them is their communal weddings. During wedding ceremonies, every member of the community is invited thus making it very interactive. “During school holidays, he assists his grandmother with house chores and tilling their small farm. In his spare time, Paul loves reading political articles and listening to music.
Paul has a message for his PA-MOJA donors: “I would like to thank PA-MOJA and all the donors for this scholarship. Without this support, my grandmother and mother couldn’t have afforded to pay my school fees. For a fact, I could have ended up in streets.”
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