April 2019 Updates
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John Wachira
Age: 16
Form 4 (Grade 12) – January, 2019
School: Lechungu Secondary School – Boarder
PA-MOJA Scholarship started: 2016 – Form 1 (Grade 9)
Sponsoring School: Spring Creek Primary School, Whistler, BC, Canada.
John is in his second year (gr. 10) of secondary school at Thome Boys school. He lives at the school when school is in session and returns home on school holidays.
John’s family lives in a tiny shack in an area called Kibubungi. He lives with his single mother, Susan Wambui, and 3 of his 4 sisters. John’s older sister was in Form 3 (grade 11) when she left school and is now married and working in a grocery store.
John also has three younger sisters. Two are in primary school – Standard 5 (grade 5) and Standard 8 (grade 8) and his youngest sister is not yet school age.
When he is on school breaks, John helps his mother around the house. The family gets their water from a community tank which is one kilometer from their home.
If he has time after studying and doing chores John likes to play football (soccer) with his friends.
His sisters attend primary school so his mom doesn’t have to pay school fees for them; however, she must still pay for school uniforms and school supplies. Susan tries to find work as a farm laborer but the work is sporadic so it is a constant struggle to earn enough money to pay for the necessities of life as well as take care of a pre-school aged child.
John attended his local primary school, Mitharo Primary. He knew early in his primary yeas that he would likely need financial support if he wanted to go to secondary school so he worked hard to get good marks. In his last year, he achieved a high score on his Kenya Certificate of Education Primary (KCEP) which earned him a PA-MOJA scholarship.
Catherine, John’s mother, says she talks to him regularly about the importance of maintaining his good marks. She encourages him to study when he is at home. When asked what would happen if he didn’t maintain his average and lost his bursary, they both looked as if they didn’t understand the question. There is no other choice for John. He must keep his bursary and go to university – this is their only option to improve their lives.
John has a message for his PA-MOJA donors: “I want to express my sincere gratitude to PA- MOJA and all the donors who have given me the opportunity to go to a good high school. Without this scholarship, my future would have been very limited. My dream is to go to university so that I can get a good job and take care of my mother and my siblings. I promise to work my hardest to make my donors glad they chose me. Asante sana.”
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[one_third_last]August 2018 Update, John’s comment – May 2018[/one_third_last]
