Three years ago, Pauline Blessings from Migori County sat for the KCSE examinations, hoping to attend university and pursue a career of her choice.
In the 2023 KCSE examinations, she scored C+ and qualified to attend Moi Eldoret University, where she was admitted to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Agroforestry and Rural Development.
However, her hopes ended when her single failed to raise money to enable her to join the university.
She resorted to making a living by running a salon and walking from home to home to look for clients who could engage her and enable her to make ends meet.
Speaking to Education News in Migori town, she narrated about her daily attempts at getting her hair done, which made her hustle around.
“After sitting my Form Four examination, I resolved to become a hairdresser because I needed money for survival and did not want to sit idle at home because it was boring,” she said.
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She said that her day starts at dawn, and she walks from her home for a long distance daily to look for clients, moving from house to house.
“Sometimes, I am chased from people’s homes on claims that I disturb them from morning sleep, but I remain polite and explain myself to gain their trust, ” she said.
Blessings paraded the numerous challenges she faces in her daily struggle to raise enough money to enable her to join and continue with her university education.
The top of the list includes the unpromising clients who agree to pay her but fail to honour the promise after plaiting their hair, the lack of clients, and travelling to reach a broader market of her clients. She is also looked down upon by her age mates who joined the university.
Her mother said that she has tried to seek help from the local MP’s and MCA’s offices for Education Bursary Fund help, but she has never succeeded.
Blessing and her mother appealed to any well-wishers to help her join the University and complete her education, saying that she has not lost hope of going to college because education has no age limit.
” I know that every dog has its day, and one day, God will send an angel in human form to raise money for university education,” she said.
She says that her university’s first-year fees amount to KSh275,000, exclusive of accommodation fees.
By Enock Okong’o
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