Abdikhafar’s Success Story

Many of us may agree with me that the best day in high school is the first day of admission, it’s when everyone is enthusiastic and proud of his/her achievement. We all look forward to having a good future with accredited certificate that reflects our best days in high school. But that was not the case for me, that day and even my first 2 years in high school were in limbo. It was uncertain whether we will actually complete high school and get a well recognized certificate at the end of our studies. This is because our school was entirely created by the community for the next best students of around 250 who couldn’t make to the regular high schools in the camps because of the limited opportunities that were available. Our new schools had therefore no recognition from either the Gov Of Kenya or UN, although our parents were hopeful that it will be recognized before we do the KCSE exam. In order to avoid others seeing me with the community school uniform, i used to put the white shirt in my back pocket until I reach the school gate where I usually use to put on. I did this because i didn’t  want to be associated with the community schools that most people regarded as “leftovers’. Every morning there were negative rumours in the school that quickly disseminate and turn most of us hopeless. Some of those rumours included; “UN will not recognize our school”, “we will complete our 4 years of high school within the hosting primary school” or “our exams were cancelled due to lack of budget.” Even sometimes some of my classmates will call me late at night while studying to share with me ‘new rumours’ thus forcing me to put aside whatever i was studying and head to the bed. However, there is actually one thing that kept me motivated to study hard and perform well despite the so many hurdles I encountered on my way. I realized that form 1 (grade 9) is the right place to have a fresh start and can be the best opportunity for me to be the person I was looking forward into and be different from the guy I was in primary school. Therefore, I convinced myself that even if I didn’t complete my 4 years in high school, for whatever reason, what I have gained will not be wasted and more importantly it will be useful some time in the future.

 

As a result,  I now strongly believe that turning deaf ears to those rumours was the best decision I have ever made. It helped me achieve my dreams of securing a scholarship from WUSC to study one of the best universities in the world (University of British Columbia). To sum up, what so ever person you were during your primary days does not dictate the person you will be in the future and there is always a room for improvement.