Jevia Akinyi Okoth

8th Grade Graduates of 2019 (Rodi)

Jevia lives with her father (51), mother (39), and siblings (ages 3 months to 21 years): Elvira, Britney, Maxwell, Marion, and Mike.  She originally enrolled in the preschool at Achungo in 2010 but after 3rd grade her family moved to Siaya County  (5 hours away by bus) to look for work and she attended Utoma Primary there for 4th and 5thgrades.   They then moved back to Rodi and Jevia returned for 6th grade.  Neither parent works.  The family survives off what they can grow on their subsistence plot and cannot afford to pay for schooling.

Jevia told us, “At my former school, Utoma Primary, we were sitting on the ground and there was no building.  Education is much better at Achungo.”   Jevia likes that at Achungo she will be able to go to High School after 8th grade [many in Kenya fail the high school entrance exam but no student at Achungo has ever failed it].   Her favorite subject is Science, because it is not abstract, but is about what can be seen.  She also enjoys arts and crafts, volleyball, and reading (especially about Science), singing hip-hop songs and playing hide-and-seek with her friends.  Jevia goes home on breaks to work with her mother in their garden.

Jevia wants to become a surgeon — “When I look at the human body it is not complicated”
“I would like to tell everyone that we love them and hard work pays.  We will remember you.”