The Road Less Travelled

“There is a road in Eldoret, next to Tuskys, which takes you to Moi University”, said Daniel, the newly enrolled freshman student and one of two boys, along with Collins, at University in Kakamega, we planned to  visit today.

And so, with those detailed directions fixed in our minds, we set off from Kisumu in the cool of the early morning. We drove North East from Kisumu, through the steep and winding roads of the Nandi Hills. As we left Nyanza and entered Rift Valley Province the green hillsides were dotted with homesteads. Each one had a small plot of maize, which provided food for the families, but the main land was given over to tea. The tightly manicured bushes, their tender shoots regularly picked by expert hands, spread over all of the hillsides, with the harvests sold to the tea producers and co-operatives along the route.

Beside the plantations, tall eucalyptus trees grow, their trunks pruned of branches to ensure they grow straight and tall. The wood is prized for its straightness and strength and is used for building the ubiquitous houses that dot the valleys and for the telegraph poles that carry electricity to the rural communities.

We crossed the equator not far out of Kisumu, from southern hemisphere summer to northern hemisphere winter. But the temperature remained a dogged 32 degrees.

After a couple of hours, we reached the outskirts of Eldoret, a large town, the equivalent of Nakuru, and electoral seat of Kenya’s vice president, William Ruto. We continued into town, looking for Tuskys, and the road that would lead us to the University.

After battling through long queues of cars, lorries and matatus we reached the other side of town, having not spotted the Tuskys supermarket. We decided to ask for help. Pulling over, in a dusty, noisy stream of impatient traffic wasn’t easy, but we managed to do so, and Paul James jumped out to ask one of the many passers by for help.

“Which campus are you looking for?” he asked, “West or Main”.

We didn’t know, so Moses agreed to call Daniel.

“Main” he said, confidently.

“Oh, well in that case you need to go back through town and follow the road to Kapsabet” (where we had just come from, half an hour earlier). “It is off there, to the left”

Moses boldly performed a u-turn on a busy highway and we set off back through town as my knuckles slowly went from white back to sunburnt red.

The traffic was heavy, so we turned down a side street, looking for a short cut.

Half an hour later, after touring the town rubbish dump, going the wrong way down a one way street and being tooted at frequently by impatient matatu’s, we passed Tuskys, a small supermarket on the corner of the main street. There was no sign of a road to the university.

Sometime later (I’m not sure how long, I had my eyes shut for at least some of it) we found ourselves on the road back to Kapsabet.

Some five hours after we left Kisumu, we drove into the imposing gates of Moi University, a beautiful building set in its own large and impressive grounds. We met Daniel by the administration block and he hugged me, beaming with delight.

It’s a long time since I have seen someone so happy to be somewhere. I am convinced that his dreams have come true.

Daniel's history is chequered. We met him when he came to our outreach programs in Kachok, by the rubbish dump. Daniel lived with his sick mother in Nyalenda slum and she struggled with his school fees. The Trust began supporting him in Class 8, as he completed primary school and continued as he began secondary. But in Form 2 his performance really began to fall. A promising student, he was achieving D- or lower.

We spoke to him a number of times, but ultimately told him that either he improved or we would have to look for alternatives. It is unfair to keep pressing someone who cannot get through to the end of secondary school and we have often referred students to training or apprenticeships instead.

Daniel says this was a real wake up call. He got serious about his studies, finding small bits of work to raise funds to pay for himself to finish secondary, determined to improve himself. He transformed his grade from D- to B+. He continued to meet with us at the fellowship and when he told Moses about his grades Moses was quick to encourage him to apply to University. 

Against all odds, he was accepted for a course in Biochemistry at the prestigious Moi University.

We are again supporting him, in his first semester, as he applies for a government loan for the remainder of his tuition, though he will continue to need help for living costs.

Daniel is thrilled to be there and appreciative of the help and the fellowship that supported him through difficult times.

“So”, said Moses, “Are you sure this is the route that you followed when you came?”

“Well”, Daniel replied, “All I know is that when I came, they told the students  to meet by Tusksys in Eldoret, then a bus came and brought us to here”.