Driven by passion, Prof Michael Muiga ensures girls remain in school

NAIROBI: When US President Barack Obama in his recent visit to the country mentioned the Let the Girls Learn initiative, which is championed by Michelle Obama, it did not appear to resonate with many.

The initiative driven by the United States Agency for International Development seeks to ensure that girls from poor backgrounds access education and help vanquish the roots of poverty in society.

Sadly, the noble mention by President Obama was lost in his well-put -together speech and with it a possible opportunity to give girls from poor families a shot at education.

However, all is not lost because there are still some local initiatives, receiving international recognition, which are also playing their part in ensuring girls from disadvantaged backgrounds proceed with their education.

One such initiative is the brain child of 68-year-old Prof Michael Muiga who is founder of Muiga Academy, which is a girl’s boarding school located in Kiambu.

The Prof, who is close to the US first family, offers full scholarships to bright, but needy girls and he has been feted for his efforts with his most memorable being by Michelle Obama when she visited Kenya in 2006.

A chat with two of these scholarship beneficiaries, Monica Achieng’, 15, and Lydia Aluoch, 14, gives one an understanding of young Kenyans who despite their backgrounds are willing to learn to make their dreams a reality and help lift their families from the abyss of abject poverty.

“My parents died when I was very young and together with my siblings, we were left in the care of my aging grandmother who worked as a farmhand. She made no more than one hundred shillings a day and sometimes she came home empty-handed. My grandmother really struggled for us,” Achieng’ says as she struggles to hold back her tears.

Even thought she was enrolled at Agoro Sare Primary School in Homa Bay County, she often had to skip classes in order to help her grandmother put food on the table.

“I would join other girls in harvesting sand in rivers. I used the money to supplement what my grandmother brought but also made sure to pay for my school levies and those of my siblings. I knew the only way to walk out of my situation was if I studied hard at school,” she says.

Despite her efforts, Achieng’ was forced, in 2013, to stop schooling and it appeared that her dream to pursue education would not be realised.

Aluoch’s story, told through eyes beaming with determination, captures the essence of what poverty can do to an aspiring young Kenyan.

“I lost my father when I was in Standard Three and a few years later my mother also died. My grandmother assumed responsibility of the three of us and it was painful seeing her go out each day to work as a casual labourer in order to feed us,” she says.

From an early age, Aluoch knew education was the only way to cut the cycle of poverty and she would often encourage her grandmother and siblings.

“Despite our challenges, I told my grandmother that one day her suffering would stop. I was the first born and I was determined to show my siblings the way out of our misery,” she says.

Like Achieng’, she too was also forced to stop schooling at Kilusi Primary School in Homa Bay County and was at some point unsure what would become of her education.

The girl’s hope came last year through an advertisement placed in the dailies calling for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply for full scholarships at Muiga Academy.

When they were chosen, Achieng’ and Aluoch inched closer to their dream of pursuing secondary and then tertiary education.

“I know I may not get money to take me through high school and so I work hard to ensure I get good grades that would enable me qualify for another scholarship,” Achieng’ says, adding that her schools of choice are State House Girls and Alliance Girls’ High School.

She has her heart set on becoming a “leading nurse in the country” and says she wants to prove that young people only need to be given a chance to pursue education so they can determine the course their lives will take.

Aluoch, who sits in the school’s jury chamber, aspires to become a lawyer.

“I know my family cannot afford to pay my high school fees but I also believe I will get a sponsor if I score more than four hundred marks. I want to study hard so that I can help my siblings escape poverty by taking them to school.

I also want to inspire young girls from my village who may be held back because of their backgrounds,” she says, adding that her dream schools are Alliance Girls’ High School and Limuru Girls School.

Professor Muiga echoes the girls’ sentiments that the only way to beat poverty is through education.

“I have lived in the US for many years and have seen the wonders that an opportunity for education can do.

The girls at the school do not pay any fees. When you listen to their stories, you get the scope of the journey ahead of us as a nation in getting talented Kenyans out of the yoke of poverty,” he says.

Noting that majority of the girls at the centre come from Nyanza, Muiga says education is also key in breaking tribal barriers.

“Poverty goes beyond tribe and I celebrate when girls from Nyanza apply for these vacancies,” he says.