Equity has set pace in philanthropy that could propel Kenya to greater heights

By Kilemi Mwiria

When I got employed at Kenyatta University after my PhD, my ambition was to be a rich professor so I could do good with money. I wanted to replicate my sponsor, the Rockefeller Foundation who paid exorbitantly for my graduate training in America under the University of Nairobi’s staff development programme. African beneficiaries of this fellowship programme christened Rockefeller "Uncle John D" because Rockefeller did what would be expected of a rich African uncle. The scholarship was generous as it also covered a spouse and six children. There seemed to be a belief that Africans would rarely go through undergraduate education without a spouse and many children.