Joseph O.
St. Al’s Graduation Class of 2009
“Without an Education, My Future Would Have Been Miserable”
Joseph Ouma’s father died when he was 6 years old. He was raised by his paternal grandmother in Western Kenya. Though he was separated from his birth mother when he was young, he knows that he has 5 younger siblings. After finishing primary school “up country” in 2005 his aunt invited him to come to Nairobi because Joseph’s cousin was already attending St Al’s.
“Without an education, my future would have been miserable.” When he was home “up country”, after he finished his primary school education, he was discouraged to hear that he would not go on to high school. Instead he was told that he would take care of the cattle. “I thank the Lord because He knew I could be a better person if I were able to study.”
19 year old Joseph continues to live with his aunt Mary close to St Al’s school in Kibera slum. Aunt Mary has four small children of her own, so that makes 7 people living in the small house. She sells vegetables on the roadside. “We are barely getting by with the little that we have.” He says that they pay 400 Kenyan shillings (US$ 6) per month in rent for their one room house. They also must pay for the electricity to power a light bulb, all their water from a public tap and the cost of access to a neighborhood toilet. His aunt had previously invited another St Al’s graduate named Francis Odongo Ogutu to live with them before Joseph arrived. She had encouraged Francis in his education and now supports Joseph as well.
“The first thing I do after awaking early in the morning is to pray thanking God for his daily protection.” He arrives at school by 6 am. Joseph says that he does most of his studying at school, “simply because at home I don’t have enough room and it’s too noisy.”
One of his teachers, Ms Jill Juma, says that “Joseph is the ideal student for a teacher. He’s easy to teach because he’s so engaged and attentive.” Joseph has a bright and disarming smile. He gets to use his natural leadership skills in his responsibility as the school’s “prefect of games”, in charge of sports activities. He says that this role helps him practice becoming a caring leader.
Joseph has ambitions to become a professional mechanical engineer or possibly a pilot. He enjoys math, French, chemistry and physics in school and playing soccer when he can. “I would like to have the opportunity to serve others as much as I have been helped.”
He says that the St Al’s teachers are well organized, friendly and, “They encourage us to be strong in all aspects of life.” He names some of the strong male teachers as his favorite role models. He acknowledges some friendly academic competition among the other students.
He is grateful to benefactors because, “those who society saw as useless and miserable can now be seen as ‘somebody’ in Kenyan society. I am proud to be a student in this secondary school!” He says that “I am also praying that I may be as generous with others as you (benefactors) are.”
~ by Jim Collins, SJ
