I have been at Achungo for five years. It is a very nice school. Before that I was at God Kado Primary school. Life there was very hard. I went to school very early in the morning and without any breakfast, walking on foot. By lunch break we were sent back home because at school we only had water. At Achungo we are given breakfast and lunch at school, and we get to play games and can even sleep at school. The meals at Achungo are very nice meals.
I live at Kochior Villiage with my aunt and my two brothers, Benedict Isaac (7), and Christopher Charles (10). Life is hard with my aunt and we had to work. My siblings and I were given two tracts of land to dig for five days and when we were not finished, we were beaten and sent away. Next, we were sent about 5 kilometers from home and had to carry home sacks of potatoes on our backs.
My mother died 3 years ago from HIV/AIDS. My father died in a road accident on his way to visit my mother in the hospital. They had both been working with a blacksmith where they would earn about 50 shillings (less than 50 cents) a day to buy food. They had a garden plot but my uncles took it over just three days after the burial of my mother. On breaks when I am home, I help my aunt with household chores and after finishing, I work on homework or read novels. But sometimes my aunt doesn’t want me and my siblings studying and she gives us work, like taking potatoes, tomatoes and onions to the market to sell.
My best friend is Tinah. She is honest and disciplined everywhere she goes. I like her because she is a God-fearing girl and always brings me clothes when I don’t have any. We like praying and playing and reading and even sitting together at school. On breaks we play soccer and netball, although sometimes I do homework during breaks.
I am studying very hard at school so that after my education I can become a lawyer and fight for justice for my fellow Kenyans, and to earn a living for the hard work I had done. I like social studies because I like politics and human rights. I like math because when I was still young my father would teach me and encourage me to continue practicing math. I like CRE [Christian Religious Education – a government course] because my father was a pastor and taught Bible stories and had us all going to church. We were also taught by the Sunday School teacher. That’s how I became good at CRE, putting what we were taught into practice.