When education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha announced the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results on Thursday, Abiud Kipkirui was waiting for with bated breath.
What many people in Lessos ward, Nandi County did not expect is that this bright boy who has been living in squalor would emerge the 7th top pupil in the national exams scoring 430 marks out of the possible 500 marks.
According to Ndungu Nyoro, a philanthropist who runs ‘Affecto’ a charity that educates bright but needy students, Kipkirui “refused to let poverty define him.”
Kipkirui’s Okiek community was evicted from the forest where they lived and moved to Lessos as squatters.
Life was not easy for him because everything became harder and even the basics of life; food, clothing and shelter became a luxury to him.
At one point, he became malnourished and it took the hand of a well-wisher to rescue him.
“The boy’s health was not getting any better. He was malnourished. At standard six, a well-wisher decided to take him in, perhaps to check on his poor health. Good and timely decision it was. Perhaps because he is a P1 teacher he could understand food and education are twins. You focus on one and the other falls in place too,” Nyoro explained.
His father became depressed and all he did was drown his sorrows in alcohol when life became harder and securing menial jobs proved difficult.
With the little he earned, he frequented alcohol dens in Lessos and drunk his sorrows out.
All this time, Kipkirui knew that there was no shortcut out of poverty; education was the only thing he would use to get a better life.
He lived with the well-wisher and focused on his studies. The end result was him emerging top in Nandi County and making it to the top 10 best students nationwide.
Nandi Governor Stephen Sang has pledged to cater for his secondary school fees.
