Well-wisher pays school fees for Evalyne Wairimu after Nation story
Evalyne Wairimu outside the Nation Centre Wednesday last week.
It’s a relief for a Form Three student who was sent home due to lack of fees after a well-wisher from Kisumu offered to pay her school fees.
Mr Davies Okombo was touched by the story of Evalyne Wairimu after it was highlighted in the Daily Nation on Monday.
According to the story, Evalyne was forced to stay at home for almost two weeks due to a fee balance of Sh22,000.
The lack of funds forced her mother Beatrice Wanjiku Mwangi to withdraw her daughter from Kihumbuini-ini Secondary School in Murang’a County as she planned to transfer her to a more affordable school in Rongai, Kajiado County.
Unfortunately, after paying only Sh1,000 out of the Sh9,440 meant for first term fee at Ereteti Mixed Day Secondary School, her daughter was sent home after spending only a day at the new institution.
Her attempt to move from door-to-door to ask for assistance from friends, family and well-wishers however, turned futile as the promises were not forthcoming.
“I kept knocking at every door and every office but failed to get something that could enable me to take my daughter to school,” she said on phone.
Mr Okombo, who is the director of Uhuru Community Development Programme (UCDP) that operates at the sprawling slums of Manyatta in Kisumu, said he was moved by the plight of the teenager.
While his organisation supports vulnerable children with similar cases, Mr Okombo said UCDP could not immediately come to the aid of Evalyne due to the long process involved in the selection of beneficiaries.
“The procedure of identifying a recipient takes between one to two months and it usually takes place immediately after the release of KCPE exams,” he said.
He decided to use his personal resources to support the case which he termed as “deserving” after reading the story on Nation.Africa.
Mr Okombo sought for the contact of the mother and immediately transferred Sh25,000 to the girl’s mother to cater for the fees balance.
The father of three, while calling on Kenyans of goodwill to consider supporting people, said the move could go a long way in assisting the needy and vulnerable people in the society.
“Like the previous initiative of Kenya for Kenyans, we should be encouraged to give the little that we have when called upon,” he said.
Evalyne’s elated mother said she had secured admission at Kithyoko Secondary School in Matuu where the girl is set to join on Monday 30, May after the mid-term break.
The single mother of two is a casual labourer who does laundry and tills land for as little as Sh200 a day.
She, however, says life has become unbearable for her family since the emergence of Covid-19 pandemic as she has found it difficult to secure clients.
Using a placard, the teenager was forced to take to the street to beg Nairobi residents to support her education.
This is after her plan to have the human resource department of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to compel her alleged estranged father to pay her school fees flopped.
Unfortunately, KRA officers required legal documents that proved that their employee was indeed her father – Evalyne’s birth certificate does not indicate her father’s name.
