What was life like before Lenana?

I was born on 29th November 1999 to Wafula’s family. I am the first born in a family of six and I grew up in a village where many girls try hard to make a better life for themselves. When I was five years old, my parents separated and my life changed greatly after the divorce…… I think it was because too much drinking of the local alcohol on the part of my father.

After my mother left life became miserable and unbearable without hope of going to school. We had to move to our grand parents’ home. Life at grandpas was very hard as we all depended on the little that was raised on their farm. My father became a bad alcoholic addict and he was always drunk and abusive. Knowing this, I continued to appreciate myself despite knowing that I have no parents who could send me to school. Time went by, I admired other girls going to school and coming back carrying their books and I wished I were like them. Two years later, I gained courage and I told my grandparents that I was meant to go to school.

Three years passed since I started nursery school. What a hard life that was! I kept on coping with my situation believing that one day I will make life better than this. Obstacles succumbed; sometimes I was harassed by many that I was a poor child, that I didn’t deserve anything in life. I was not alone being poor and desperate. Other girls in our villages who were the same as me ended up working as maids before ever being able to achieve their dreams and goals. Life was a struggle. Going to a public school, teachers were often sending me home to bring the school fees. Failing to get them, I ended up staying at home. It was an unimaginable and unbelievable hardship that I will always remember.

The most devastating thing was that I was being mistreated by my drunkard father. I would wake up at dawn to work before going to school. I walked about six kilometers barefoot to school and sometimes went without food. I was only barely surviving, being emaciated for lack of food.

Five years went by and I was in standard five. Life got more difficult because sometimes my drunkard father would abuse me saying I needed to marry a rich man near our home, but the words hurt me very much. I prayed God to give me strength to face this. Making a decision was not an easy thing, and I struggled very much. I tried to figure out the right way to get through it. I was lucky that my grandfather stood by me all the times.

As a desperate girl, my thoughts of lacking parental care flooded my innocent mind vividly. Life continued being hard, but I did not give up. Years went by and I was in class eight in 2013. I did my first exam of Kenya Certificate of Primary School (K.C.P.E.). After a few months, the results were out and I was as eager as a bride and groom to see the results.

Looking at it, my happiness overwhelmed me. I had passed very well getting 367 and it was an unbelievable thing. With a mean grade of B+, I started forgetting the problems that I was going through. I received an admission letter from Butere Girls High School and again school fees became a problem. I was again about to go to a day secondary, when a church member told my grandfather about Lenana Girl’s High School.

My heart pumped very hard and I was told me I was supposed to go for an interview.

Now here at Lenana Girls High School is where my life has changed. I have hope for an education. It has influenced my life and it will continue until I complete my studies. What will my life be like after ten years? I hope to have a precious and prosperous life. I look forward to when this dream becomes a reality. My fear is not that I am inadequate, but that I am powerful beyond measure.
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I will live to be remembered.

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