It was joy for four top performers from humble backgrounds after Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong offered them a full scholarship as reward for their outstanding performance in the KCPE results.
The future looked bleak for the four who defied all odds to emerge top in their respective primary schools, despite the status at their homes.
Ojaamong has offered to cater for their tuition fees, an average of about Sh60,000 per student per year, something that looked like a nightmare for the county cream in education.
Lameck Wandera Omondi who scored 413 marks at Nasira AC Primary School in the recently released KCPE to earn a place at the prestigious Maranda Boys for his secondary education has now a chance to achieve his dream of being a neurosurgeon.
He thanked the governor for coming to his rescue, assuring the County Chief of his resolve to pursue his education with a burning ambition of becoming a neurosurgeon and offer the services at the county referral in future.
“I am still in shock to see the Governor visit our home because of me. This was a pleasant surprise which will go into the annals of history,” Omondi said.
Omondi added:” Hard work pays. I burnt midnight oil in my studies and it paid off dividends. With the Governor’s full scholarship up to form four, I will strive to go full throttle in my studies to realize my future endeavours.”
The Governor who visited the boy’s guardian at their home in Buloma Village, Matayos Sub County said he was informed of the boy’s plight by a ward administrator, thus prompting his intervention.
“With such marvellous performance in the exams and considering his status as an orphan, I had to intervene to enable him complete his secondary education without any hitches,” said Ojaamong.
Martha Adionyi, the top student from Mandende Primary school with 406, also landed Ojaamong’s full scholarship to pursue her dreams at Pangani Girls high school.
Like Omondi, Adionyi dreams of being a doctor to save and rescue lives of less fortunate in society.
“I take this opportunity to thank the Governor for the sponsorship. My dreams of becoming a doctor would have been buried in the sand since my dad Augustine Ekesa Ongoma and Everline Anyango are vulnerable to afford my education,” she said.
To confirm her desire to climb the academic ladder, Martha scored 85 per cent in Maths, 81 in English, 80 in Kiswahili, 82 in Social Studies and 78 in science.
Edgar Murunga Okiring 15, who topped in the KCPE at Ojaamong Primary School with 388 marks, to secure a place at the Nairobi School is another beneficiary of the governor scholarship.
Murunga’s mother, Letisha Nyamwe thanked the governor for coming to their rescue, noting that they will always remember the Governor for the kind gesture.
“We had challenges through his primary education. With our inability to purchase textbooks for him, my son endured the challenge by borrowing books from friends, a feat that paid off dividends,” she said.
Letisha added, “Edgar always woke up at 4.00am to study up to 5.30 am before leaving for school. Teachers motivated him to read hard and above all God helped him get the marks he scored.”
Okiring scored 79 marks in Maths, 72 in English, 79 in Kiswahili, 79 in SST/CRE and 79 in Science to bring his dreams to a near reality of pursuing engineering as a career.
” God has opened ways in my pursuit for excellence, thanks to the generous heart of our beloved Governor, H.E Sospeter Odeke Ojaamong,” Okiring said, assuring the County Chief he will not let him down.
The governor promised to extend the kind gesture in the future to the needy and less fortunate in society even after his tenure in office as governor.
By Absalom Namwalo
