Red Devils: Where Elizabeth Ongoro rode ‘Colgate’ bus

Elizabeth Ongoro attended St Mary’s Lwak

St Mary’s Lwak Girls High School is among the oldest girls’ high schools in Kenya. In their screaming red and white uniforms, nyi Lwak (Lwak girls) or ‘Red Devils’ as they are referred to, are always conspicuous in Kisumu City  during school opening and closing days. The school lies on 30-acres in Rarieda District, Siaya County, and was built by the Franciscan Sisters of St Anna from Oudenbosh, Holland in 1965 with the objective of empowering the ordinary village girl child through education.

At inception, the school had two classrooms, one lab, a small hall which served both as dormitory and dining hall. Back then, the school started with around 300 girls, and now has around 1,165 students with six class streams.