Josphat is a 14 year old ordinary boy. His life revolves around working on a farm and tending to his father’s cattle in order to financially support his family. He is the youngest in the family and his older siblings have all started families of their own. They have attained secondary school education but most of them have not made it beyond that. In fact, his sister is the only one pursuing a certificate course in early childhood, while raising a family. It’s through his aunt that he learned of Asante Africa Foundation; his aunt is a teacher at St. Mary’s Primary Boarding School in Narok, Kenya.
He is grateful to Asante Africa Foundation for enabling him to go beyond primary school despite several factors: poverty, stress at home and lack of motivation. Moreover, his biggest fear was failing KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) because he had invested more years in primary school to pass the exam. KCPE is a national exam scored out of 500 marks that students in Standard 8 (equivalent to 8th grade) take to be admitted to high school. The cut off mark to get admission into any high school is 350 and if a student scores higher than that, then he/she will have better chances to be admitted to the high ranking elite high schools. Such was Josphat’s yearning to pass KCPE that he felt he had overstayed in primary school and did not want his hard work to be marked by a poor KCPE score.
In spite of these daunting challenges, Josphat’s hard work paid off. He scored 371/500 marks that secured him a position at an elite high school. An Asante Africa Foundation scholarship will finance his secondary school education and offer him guidance to motivate him to work harder. His family was happy with his performance, though his father could not openly show his joy since, “Men should not be emotional” says Josphat. He knows his father was pleased by his performance because he kept inquiring Gathii Kanyi (Program Manager, Kenya) if he knew the high school in which his son was admitted.
Having secured admission at the elite high school, Josphat has no doubt that he will score an ‘A’ grade in KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) and will pursue his dream of becoming an engineer. He may not be appearing at the top in his new school but he knows for certain the sky is not the limit.
