Roline’s parents passed away when she was very young. “My father died in a road accident and my mother was robbed on her way from the market. That’s how I became an orphan.” She lives in Ndhiwa (about 10 miles away) with her paternal grandparents (Mr. and Mrs. Nyambura) and her 11-year-old brother, Kenneth Otieno. She also has a sister (married) and two brothers. But when I asked Roline about her home, she told me, “My home is here at Achungo.”
She joined Achungo’s 5th grade in 2016. “Before I was in public school at Buche Primary and life was difficult. We struggled to pay the school fees and were treated poorly. Here at Achungo life is good; I’m being supported here. It was the best day of my life when I was brought here to Achungo. Nothing is difficult since living here and I have friends here.”
Her favorite subjects are Science and Math because you can calculate everything by mathematics, “for example if you are living in a house, you can know how many floor tiles would be required.” And she likes learning about the parts of our body. “I would like to go to university and become an accountant, so I can earn money to help orphans and other people who are poor in the same way that I am being helped.”
She likes playing soccer and putting on plays with friends. When she is at home during holidays, “I play with my little brother after helping my grandmother with household chores and digging in the garden. She is old and can only do light jobs. I don’t interact with the local peer group. They may involve me in bad company and I want my future to be good. So that is why I just help my grandmother.”
“I want to tell my friends in America to work hard just as we also are working hard. Let them pray for us as we are also praying for them until one day we will meet. Tell them we love them. Thank you.”