Volunteer Sarah Montgomery held a writing workshop with the students this summer. She explained that they could write about anything and that their writing would be shared with people around the world. Many chose to share their personal stories.

 The entry below is by a current Form 1 student and has been edited for clarity. This young student initially faced difficulty overcoming a language barrier as she had always been used to speaking in her mother tongue. She is already showing vast improvement and is feeling more comfortable speaking out. Below is an entry written about her life before attending the academy.

“I am fourteen years old. I grew up in Kenya in a village where many girls try hard to make a better life for themselves. When I was five years old, my family moved to an urban area where I met different children and people. My life changed greatly when my parents passed away…

My life continued with no hope of going to school. Knowing this, I continued to appreciate myself despite knowing that I have no parents of my own. Time went by, I admired other girls going to school and coming back carrying their books and I wished I were like them. Two years later, I gained courage and I told my guardians that I was meant to go to school.

Three years passed since I started nursery school. What a hard life that was! I kept on coping with my situation believing that one day I will make life better than this. Obstacles succumbed; sometimes I was harassed by many that I was a poor child, that I didn’t deserve anything in life. I was not alone being an orphan. Other girls in our villages who were the same as me ended up working as maids before ever being able to achieve their dreams and goals. Life was a struggle. Going to a public school, teachers were often sending me home to bring the school fees. Failing to get them, I ended up staying home. It was an unimaginable and unbelievable hardship that I will always remember.

The most devastating thing was that I was being mistreated by my guardian. I would wake up at dawn to work on the garden before going to school. I walked about twenty kilometers (12 miles) barefoot to school and sometimes went without food. I was only barely surviving, being emaciated for lack of food.

Five years went by and I was in standard five. Life got more difficult because sometimes my guardians would abuse me saying I needed to marry a rich man near our home, but the words hurt me very much. I prayed god to give me strength to face this. Making a decision was not an easy thing, and I struggled very much. I tried to figure out the right way to get through it. I ran away from home to my friend’s home far away; I left school for about five months. They searched for me, but they found it was all in vain. Afterwards, I came back hoping that their minds and the decision had changed. I went to school again but my teacher sent me back to bring my parents to come and explain why I had run away from home and school.

As an orphan, my thoughts of lacking parental care flooded my innocent mind vividly. Life continued being hard, but I did not give up. Years went by and I was in class eight in 2007. I did my first exam of Kenya Certificate of Primary School (K.C.P.E.). After a few months, the results were out and I was as eager as a bride and groom to see the results.

Looking at it, my happiness overwhelmed me. I had passed very well getting 356 and it was an unbelievable thing. With a mean grade of B+, I started forgetting the problems that I was going through. Changing their minds, my guardians promised me that I would join Alliance Girls High School in Nairobi.

A promised debt I told my guardians, but things turned very bad again. My guardians began pouring abusive words, claiming that I was not their child and they were not supposed to pay the school fees. Being of less fortune, I stayed home the entire year (2008) without going to school. Remaining at home was not an easy thing for me, but I coped with the situation because I had no other alternative. My cries fled on defeat and no one heard my cries. I lacked the freedom of expression because I was never allowed to say anything.

The following year (2009), I went back to school to repeat the same year. What a hard experience! But my instincts were telling me that fortune was ahead of me. I worked very hard and I finally sat for my second KCPE exam. A few months went by and the results were announced and I had passed. The results this time were not as pleasing, but I understood the cause of it. By this time, my guardians were still saying that it was time to get married by the same rich man. It was not pleasing at all.

In the beginning of 2010, I stayed home, planning to run away again to escape my innocent life from the brutality. By good luck, I heard on the radio that there is a school that supports orphans. My heart pumped very hard. The manager of World Vision in our village approached me and told me I was supposed to go for an interview.

Now here at Daraja is where my life has changed. I have hope for an education. It has influenced my life and it will continue until I complete my studies. What will my life be like after ten years? I hope to have a precious and prosperous life. I look forward to when this dream becomes a reality. My fear is not that I am inadequate, but that I am powerful beyond measure.

I will live to be remembered.”