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A young Maa girl has outshined stereotypes and pioneered a new path for young girls in her community after she returned home nine years later a graduate.
Josephine Sena returned home to a heroic welcome, a professional procession, songs and dance for returning home after nine years in exile for refusing to be married off at an early age.
After her class eight in 2008, she was offered as a bride to a 30 year-old local man despite having passed her KCPE, scoring 344 out of 500, deserving marks for high school.
She declined to the premature marriage. Her mother, Nalomala Rotiken, says, her love for education and boldness saw her pass the huddles and pursue her education.
A relative assisted her to leave home and took her to the Mission with a vision Girls Hope Centre where she stayed as she continued her education.
Sena would later graduate with Second Class Honours degree in Law from Kabarak University, with struggles to hold together a disintegrating relationship with her family.
Speaking to KTN, Sena admits her running away left her family broken because of her father’s defiance. Her relationship with her father remained strained even as she joined University.
During her first two years in campus, her father would not talk to her, he would instead abuse her whenever she called him over the phone.
However, this later changed when she got to her fourth year of campus and her father reformed and became positive towards her chosen path.
“When I joined the University, I knew that there was a point I wanted to prove, I wanted to prove my people wrong that even a girl can make it.” Striving Sena says as she mingles with her kin one more time.
Her story would turn her stubborn father into an ambassador for girl child education.
Her father gave her a goat and a lamp, what would pass for her bride price, on her party as he openly admitted his joy over his girl’s graduation.
Sena says she still looks forward to furthering her education as she wants to be a blessing not just to her community but to the entire nation.
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