Joy as needy Kitengela girl joins Form One after ‘Nation’ story

Kitengela girl washing clothes for fees

Nancy Aluoch with her mother Esther Awour washing clothes for a client in Kitengela town on 6th May 2022.

Photo credit: Stanley Ngotho | Nation Media Group

A needy girl from Kitengela whose plight was highlighted on Nation.Africa on Monday has a reason to smile after a Good Samaritan offered to sponsor her education.

Nancy Aluoch Okoth, 14, had scored 367 marks in the 2021 KCPE exams, earning a slot at Moi Girls, Nairobi.

But her dreams of becoming an accountant had been threatened because her family is poor.

Family members had been walking through their neighbourhood offering to wash other people’s clothes to raise school fees for the girl.

In two weeks the mother and her daughter had earned just Sh2,000. The family of six lives in a single room in Kitengela.

When Nation.Africa caught up with the girl and her mother in Kitengela on Wednesday morning on their way to Moi Girls, the duo could not hide their joy. They hugged and rejoiced.

Photo credit: Stanley Ngotho | Nation Media Group

However, after Nation.Africa highlighted her plight on Monday, help from charitable Kenyans has been streaming in.

A Kenyan residing in the United States stepped in to pay the girl's school fees.

"The story was tearful. I will be catering for the girl's school fees. My only condition is for the girl to post good grades in her studies," said the Good Samaritan, who wished to remain anonymous.

A WhatsApp group called Kitengela Security also raised Sh50,000 and textbooks in two days.

Representative of the group

“We appreciate Nation.Africa for highlighting the story. As the community we decided to chip in to transform the life of the girl positively no matter how little,” said Longton Jamil, a representative of the group.

When Nation.Africa caught up with the girl and her mother in Kitengela on Wednesday morning on their way to Moi Girls, the duo could not hide their joy. They hugged and rejoiced.

"This is the best thing that has ever happened in my life. I thank the Nation Media Group and well-wishers for restoring hope that had already waned. I will work extremely hard in school," said Nancy, with tears running down her cheeks.

Her mother Esther Awuor, who lost her househelp job due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, thanked the Kenyans who sponsored her daughter's education.

"I was worried about my daughter's welfare. She would cry the whole night in despair. May God bless the well-wishers and the Nation for highlighting my daughter's plight.”