A South Sudanese refugee girl Ayak Bior on Wednesday, May 9, joined Njonjo Girls High School in Nyahururu, Laikipia County, after well-wishers contributed Ksh200,000 for her school fees.
This was after Ndungu Nyoro, a team leader of Affecto Watoto Wasome Program, spearheaded for a fundsraising drive on social media and provided a paybill number.
The girl who had scored 389 marks in the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams was unable to join the school at the beginning of the year due to a lack of school fees.
Ayak was taken to school by her former primary school CRE teacher, Madam Rachel.
“Soon after being cleared to start off Njonjo Girls, she was received by our other Affecto Star Sylvia who also joined the school a bit late but has since settled,” stated Ngungu Nyoro.
Nyoro also revealed that another well-wisher who sought anonymity pledged to pay school fees for Ayak from form 1 to form 4.
“Now, the girl will be in class uninterrupted for all her high school life. My friend has requested to remain anonymous,” Nyoro posted on his Facebook page.
He confirmed that Kenyans including those in Diaspora showed solidarity in supporting the young refugee girl to pursue her studies in Kenya.
Nyoro narrated that the initiative to help Ayak started about three weeks ago after he received a text mentioning a 15-year-old girl, a refugee, who failed to join form one even after topping her primary school in KCPE with 389 marks.
He then made inquiries with people he knew in Nakuru to locate where the girl was living. That was when he discovered she did her KCPE at a Langalanga primary school in Nakuru.
Upon visiting Langalanga primary school, he discussed with teachers the background of Ayak who was summoned to school. That was when Ayak told him in the presence of the teachers that she lived with her aunt who was not in a position to pay her school fees.
Her former primary school teachers explained that they had earlier tried reaching out for various scholarship opportunities for Ayak without success.
Records at her former primary school indicated she last saw her parents in the year 2015 when in South Sudan just before she moved to Kenya.
“She requested a chance at our Watoto Wasome program and promised to make us proud,” he narrated.
When the girl, her aunt, and her primary school CRE teacher were invited for an interview at the Affecto Watoto Wasome office, she acted as the interpreter for her aunt who could only communicate in Dinka.
Nyoro was impressed by the girl’s confidence and determination to pursue her studies and that was when the idea of raising funds for her school fees was launched online with a paybill number.
