Nakuru slum boy: I will go on hunger strike until I join Form One
15-year-old Ian Kibet holding his Form One admission letter to join Mama Ngina Secondary school at his home in Kaptembwa slums in Nakuru City
A 15-year-old boy in the slums of Kaptembwa in Nakuru has gone on a hunger strike after his mother failed to raise school fees for him to join Form One.
Ian Kibet says he is worried that his chances of joining Mama Ngina Secondary School in Rongai are diminishing by the day.
Kibet has been on hunger strike since Saturday to protest the lack of school fees.
"It's now exactly one month since my colleagues reported to Form One on May 4. I'm still at home. My mum keeps telling me she is praying hard. I have patiently waited for her prayers to be answered since I downloaded my admission letter," he said.
"I'm tired of staying at home doing nothing and being asked by my neighbours and my schoolmates why I have not reported to the school."
His mother Evalyne Chemutai, 31, told the Nation seated at the entrance to her mud house, opposite the Menengai Oil Refineries, that her firstborn son had refused to eat.
"He refuses to eat because he has not reported to Form One. He says he will not abandon the hunger strike protest until he joins Form One," she explained, adding that she was worried about his health.
"I've tried everything. I've applied for a bursary at the Nakuru West constituency office but I have not been successful.
“I applied for the Elimu and Wings to Fly scholarships but my son was not lucky for reasons I don't understand as the assessment committees came to my single room, did the interviews and saw our condition."
She continued, wiping tears from her eyes: "I wash clothes in the neighbouring Shabab Estate and I earn Sh200 per day. Sometimes I don't get any job and that means going hungry."
Kibet, who scored 275 marks in the KCPE exam at Muslim Primary School, said he would not give up his hunger strike until his dreams of joining Form One come true.
He planned to continue his hunger strike and said if his mother chases him away he would go elsewhere.
"My mum has worked hard to feed us but she is not able to raise school fees. She is not even able to raise the house rent of Sh2,000, which is in arrears,” he said.
“She is not able to raise the Sh40,000 school fees for the whole year in Form One and that is why I have decided to go on hunger strike."
He added: "I want to join secondary school and study hard and become a mechanical engineer. I was hoping to score over 350 marks but because of challenges at home, I could not manage it.
“I skipped classes to work in a welding workshop and earned Sh350, which I gave mum to buy food. I still have hope that I will achieve my dreams one day."
He said that "if a girl who scored 160 marks in KCPE four years ago can score a plain B in KCSE this year then I can also make it”.
“I believe I have the potential, my poor background notwithstanding," he said.
