December 2019 Update
April 2019 Update
[two_third]
Duncan Njuru
Age: 14
Form 3 (Grade 11) – January, 2019
School: Thome Boys’ High School – Boarder
PA-MOJA Scholarship started: Form 1 (Grade 9)
Sponsoring School: Carbonear Collegiate, Carbonear, Newfoundland, Canada.
Duncan lives with his parents in a small village called Mwakinya in Ngobit. He is the last born in a family of three. He has one brother and sister. The first born is a sister who is 27 years old and is married. She didn’t get the privilege to go to high school due to lack of school fees. His brother is in his final semester at Maseno University where he is pursuing a degree in Animal Sciences and Technology. His brother was lucky enough to be sponsored by a European company called Lalwa Safaris after emerging the top student in his grade 8 exams; he constantly performed well in his secondary school education and was admitted to university as a government sponsored student. This was a great relief for his parents because they didn’t have the money to pay his university school fees. Duncan confidently says, “Were it not for the sponsorship my brother received, he wouldn’t have gone to secondary school and would be at home doing farm jobs, or worse a criminal.”
Duncan’s parents own a small farm and his father makes a living transporting sheep to the slaughterhouse and tilling people’s land in the village. His mother is a house wife. He says . especially, life is so hard for the family because sheep are heavily affected by drought and end up dying and there is no work tilling the parched lands. During hard times the family often goes to sleep with empty stomachs and limits themselves to taking one meal a day.
Duncan is an ambitious young boy and is looking forward to studying medicine or aviation. His favourite subjects are History and Physics. If given a chance to change something about his school, he would vote for the construction of a dining hall.
In his spare time, Duncan likes to play soccer. He assists his parents with house chores during school holidays. Duncan has a big heart for community service. He attributes this to the fact that were it not for the community he wouldn’t be where he is. It is through the community that he learnt about the PA-MOJA scholarship and immediately applied. During school holidays, Duncan organizes meetings with pupils. The objective is to encourage them to work hard in school and tell them the challenges they are currently facing in their homes should not deter them from aiming higher in life. He looks forward to an empowered generation in his community.
Duncan 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, I could not have gone to a good school like Thome and I would be frequently missing classes because most of the times I would be sent home due to lack of school fees. Asante Sana. Thank you so very much.”
[/two_third]
[one_third_last] Christmas Greetings, August 2018 Update, Duncan’s comment June 2018 [/one_third_last]