“I’m happy all the time, ” Maurine says, whenever you ask how she’s doing. She was happy living with her grandmother, Magdalena, in nearby Ndiwa before coming to Achungo in 2012. She doesn’t remember her mother or father at all.
She appreciates Achungo “I’m learning more here because the teachers are highly trained,” says Maurine. “In public school some teachers were not as well-trained and did not like teaching.” And Achungo doesn’t charge her grandmother school fees that she would struggle to pay. She likes Mr. Mwai, her science teacher, “He will explain for you until you understand.” And she likes working on problems in the classroom with her friends.
She sings, dances, plays drums and cooks—she knows how to kill, feather, clean, season and fry a chicken, her favorite food. She’d like to be a pilot someday. And she definitely wants to be a mother.
Maurine attends Nyabisawa Secondary School.