Fredrick O.
Our Academic Efforts Are Driven By Our Desperate Situations
Fredrick O. is 19 years old. Both of his parents died of unknown illnesses in 1997 when Fredrick was 7 years old. He says he doesn’t know what illness they had because he was so young. His younger brother also died when he was 4 years old. He lived with his paternal grandmother until she died when he was in 7th grade. He continued to live alone in his grandmother’s small house while he attended 8th grade. He says that he “was often lacking food and clothes” living by himself. He occasionally worked in a local vegetable farm for “some food or small money.” He says he “was desperate, looking for a better situation.” “So I just left that house empty up country and came to Nairobi with another young friend from the village.”
When Fredrick first came to Kibera slum from his rural home, he says that he felt “desperate because I didn’t know what to do. I had already lost hope for education because I had no one who could support me in studies.” He was looking for work to survive here in Nairobi. He started selling ground nuts on the street. Eventually he heard about St Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School which is now helping him to fulfill his hopes for a secondary education.
He shares a one room shanty in Kibera with his St Al’s classmate Raphael. They both wake up at 4 am and study for two hours before walking to school. They support each other and serve as ‘family’ for one another. “We help one another with advice and support.” Their home is very close to the school so it becomes a gathering place for fellow students to study and chat after classes.
“The St Al’s students are a group of mostly orphans trying to have as good a life as those with parents. So our academic efforts are driven by our desperate situations.”
Fredrick hopes to become a medical doctor some day because he wants to, “improve the lives of others as my life has been improved by St Al’s.” “We experience problems in the slums due to untreated sickness. I might be able to help such people. He enjoys biology and is the chairperson of the science club.
“Teachers are really committed and enable us to achieve our ambitions. They deal with both our personal problems as well as our academic problems. They make us feel like someone cares for us.” He mentions Ms Jill Juma by name, “I admire her as a role model for her hard work, good example and she seems well read.” Ms Jill describes Fredrick as, “an aggressive and disciplined learner. Despite all his challenges in life, Fredrick doesn’t feel sorry for himself.”
Fredrick O. has obviously been a determined survivor all of his life. he is driven forward to escape his desperate situations. He says, “When I finally become helpful to others here in the community, then it will be showing the fruit of (St Al’s benefactors’) investment.” “I also give them thanks and pray for the them.”
~ by Jim Collins, SJ
To learn more about and support St. Al’s, please visit the website http://www.sagnairobi.org/ or call 1-800-922-5327 at the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus - http://www.jesuits-chi.org/
