Generous stranger enables girl pursue her dream course

Asunta Muthoni with the director of Rock Bridge Ministries, Zablon Kuria. [Photo: Michael Njuguna/Standard]

Hope was the only thing Asunta Muthoni held on to as she woke up each morning to head to the market where she sold second-hand clothes in Nakuru town. Although she scored an A-minus in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), the future seemed bleak, as she didn’t know where her college fees would come from to enable her pursue her dream career: Civil engineering.

She felt lonely and out of place at the busy and noisy market, but she patiently waited for her Sh4,000 salary at the end of the month.

Muthoni was, however, grateful that her employer had given her an opportunity to keep busy daily, and at least ensure that she had some pocket money. After sitting her KCSE exams at  Ndururumo High School in Laikipia County in 2010, she did not have much to do the following year, and that is when she got the job as a mitumba seller, which she did the whole of 2011.

“I was praying to God every day that my hard work in secondary school and the subsequent good results would not amount to nothing,” says Muthoni.

Her prayers were miraculously answered when the executive director of Rock Bridge Ministries, Zablon Kuria, who is a philanthropist, learnt about her plight and took immediate action.

Kuria secured Muthoni a scholarship in 2012, which will see her complete her university education.

She is now a Third Year student at the Technical University of Mombasa where she is pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering.

“I can’t find words to thank Zablon and the sponsor he secured for me. My school fees is promptly paid and I always have some pocket money from the sponsorship. Some of my classmates think I come from a very rich family,” says Muthoni shyly.

Muthoni says her single mother, who ekes out a living in Nanyuki, could not afford her college fees. “She did her best to ensure I completed my secondary education. That was the much she could do for me because she has four other children who depend on her.”

Kuria heard about Muthoni’s plight from her neighbour. He got in touch with a foreign sponsor, Charlie Evans, who was touched by the bright girl’s desperate situation. After being given the cost of Muthoni’s school fees, upkeep and living expenses, Evans gave a five-year scholarship that will see Muthoni comfortably complete her degree course.

“I am sure that there are hundreds or even thousands of young girls and boys in this country who score good grades in KCSE but lack money to enable them pursue their education. My appeal to Kenyans is that those who have the financial ability to help the poor among us should do so,” says Kuria.

Kuria adds: “I hope Evans will have a chance to come to Kenya and meet this young girl whose life he has helped change for the better.”

She is one of the five girls in her class of 67 students. “Civil engineering is a difficult course but I am working very hard. I have no doubt I will do well,” says Muthoni who wishes to help other needy students in future.