Faith Nyaboke was born in 1996. She started life in Shanzu village close to where Mikoroshoni Primary School now stands. Her parents lived in one room made of iron sheets. The room was rented but the iron sheets were old and rusty. During the rainy season the roof leaked very badly and the whole room became soaking wet, including the bed that she had to share with her parents. Faith is the eldest child of three, she has a younger brother and sister.
During Faith’s early childhood her father did not have a permanent job, but went around the community looking for any casual work he could find. When there was no work there was no money for food. The family collected unripe mangoes from a tree near Mikoroshoni, and boiled them. This was their only food! The family were evicted from this house when they could no longer pay the rent. They had nowhere to go so they slept in the open for 3 nights. They slept under a stall that was used for selling vegetables during the day.
Faith’s Mum begged a friend to let the family take shelter in her house but the friend would only agree to take Faith, who was then 6 years old. It was while Faith was living with this other family that she started at Mikoroshoni, in Kindergarten 1. Eventually the family raised enough money to rent another room made from mud. The roof was made from palm tiles and thankfully did not leak. The family lived there for the next four years.
Food was very scarce and on numerous occasions, on her way home from school, Faith and her friends would collect the unripe mangoes and even bad mangoes with insects inside them. They were hungry and this was food! It was when Faith reached Standard 8 that the Feeding Programme was extended to include the older children (thanks to The Saga Charitable Trust). The younger classes were already having a porridge breakfast. Faith and her friends were delighted with their daily meal of maize and beans.
During her time at Mikoroshoni Faith was linked to a family in Cheshire and when Faith finished Standard 8, the family and some friends decided to sponsor Faith to go through Secondary School.
At this time Faith’s father managed to get a job as a storekeeper at a local hotel. He then had a small amount of money for essentials. He was also allowed to take surplus food home for his family.
Unfortunately the hotel was not a good one and was closed down by the courts. Faith’s father became depressed and was also involved in a very serious road accident. He has never fully recovered and now has difficulty walking.
Through all of this Faith continued to work hard to make her family and her sponsors proud of her achievements. Because of her excellent grades at the end of Secondary School John Brooker was able to find her a sponsor to take her further. Thanks to Janice Lee and The Peter Carr Charitable Trust Faith is now partway through a 3 year Degree Course in Commerce.
Faith has helped her Mum to set up a little business selling clothes. She buys a few second hand clothes from the market. Then she takes them from door to door in the village to try to sell them.
Faith is really making the most of the opportunities that have been given to her. Without Mikoroshoni offering her a free education Faith would probably never have gone to Primary School and certainly would not have been able to go to Secondary School and University.
Update March 2019
Faith graduated from Nairobi University in December 2018 with an Upper Second Class Degree as a Bachelor of Commerce.
As part of Faith’s degree course she was required to undertake a 3 month Internship at the end of her studies with and Import/Export company in Mombasa Port.
Faith worked so hard and showed so much potential that the CEO of the company called Faith into his office one day and said that he had a present for her. The present was a full time, permanent job with the company.
Faith continued to impress and in February 2019, the company paid for Faith to attend a part time evening course – East African Customs and Freight Forwarding Certificate – to increase her knowledge and skills in the business.
Faith has obviously proved herself an asset to the company and has a very bright future in front of her.