Name : Yvonne Wangechi Waithaka
Age: 15 years
School: Loise Nanyuki Girls Secondary School
Form: 2 (Grade 10 – in 2020)
In the presence of her older brother, who is also the firstborn one would confuse Yvonne for being older. She is very confident, articulate, expressive, engaging and charming. Most of the qualities girls of her age are lacking.
Yvonne was born and raised in Marura, a community surrounding Ol Pejeta. She went to Irura primary school, a neighbouring school. Her primary school headteacher describes her as a very obedient and hardworking girl. He associates her good performance to this.
When she sat for her grade 8 exams she emerged the top student. But there was no hope of joining secondary school. Her father had just lost his job and joined her mother in casual work and her brother is in grade 12 at Wathituga Secondary school. The little earned was used to provide their basic needs and pay her brother’s school fees.
Yvonne says” I had a deep conviction I will join secondary school. I didn’t know how but in one way or the other I knew it is going to happen. I never entertained the thought of repeating grade 8 or going to a day school. And it is in the midst of all this that my former headteacher informed my mother of the Ol Pejeta scholarships. My mother got the application form from the community leader, applied and returned the form. All along I kept my fingers crossed. It was one of my longest months. To confirm my faith, one evening we received visitors from the education team bringing the good news that I had qualified for a scholarship. It will remain to be my memorable day. Optimism is very vital in life because of that what kept me going.”
Community
There are so many vices in her community that irks her. The high rate of unemployment for young people which has led to increased crime rate, rampant abuse of drugs and substance abuse, poor infrastructure, medical facilities not well equipped and people in her community do not value education. What troubles her is that there is money set aside by the government to develop facilities and empower young people but this never happens. She associates this to the high level of corruption.
In future, she hopes to join hands with other organizations to start youth empowerment programs. She believes youths are full of energy and have great ideas if they got a platform to share and explore them.
Achievements
Yvonne loves her new school because teachers are very friendly, there are students from different tribe and this gives her a chance to learn more about other cultures and there are Life skills lessons which helps them to deal with teenage hood crises.
In her first exam in secondary, she managed to clinch top position in her class this has motivated her to work harder to maintain her position.
She also joined drama club whereby they went for competitions up to regional level.
Who inspires Yvonne?
Son of her neighbour who was PA-MOJA scholarship beneficiary. He joined the university to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce and currently is working as an accountant in a local bank. He always challenges her to work hard.
Thank you message to donor
With her sharp looking eyes” I wish to thank you for your support. Your kindness and care is more than I thought. You have positively impacted my life and if it were not for you I would not be where I am. I promise to work hard and mentor other girls in my community.”