Ex-cobbler’s long journey to university

By Wairimu Kamande

David Karanja’s classmates teased him incessantly and did not understand why he was not working like his agemates but this did not deter him from scoring an A- in KCSE.

The release of KCSE results earlier this month marked the culmination of David Karanja’s dream to join university.

The former Thika High student first sat his KCSE in 1998 but due to lack of fees, failed to join the school despite scoring 525 of 700. " I had lost my father and I was devastated but although the future looked bleak I worked hard to raise school fees," he says.

David Karanja, 27, beat the odds to excel in KCSE

The eighth born in a family of 10 children travelled from Nyandarua in 1999 to work with his elder brother at his cobbler shade in Thika Town. It took eight years for the duo to save money for his secondary education. But when he eventually reported to Thika High he was turned away for staying out of school for too long. Undeterred, the then 23-year-old successfully sought admission at St Paul’s-Gatuanyaga. "After completing Form One I returned to Thika High because it performed better academically. The second time round the school admitted him to Form Two.

Used to topping his class, Karanja was stunned when he was ranked 21 in the end of first term exam in Form Two. "The only good thing about the results is that I proved the head teacher who had predicated that I would become number 90 wrong," he says.

Hospital bills

Misfortune knocked on his door in second term when his brother’s child fell sick forcing him to divert his contribution to Karanja fees to pay hospital bills. "Luckily, the school was supportive and I got a bursary from Juja Constituency Bursary Fund," he says.

His brilliant performance thereafter endeared him to his classmates and the teasing stopped. "They looked up to me and I never experienced discrimination or made to feel that I was out of place," says the former deputy school captain.

Karanja, who currently works at a school uniform retail shop wants to be a doctor.

"From the look of things, I may have to go for the parallel programme because of the cut- off for the course is very high," he says. If things do not go his way he will opt for law.

In spite of the challenges he has encountered, he is focused on working hard and achieving his ambitions however long they might take to achieve. "Those who laughed at me were left in awe when they learnt of my performance. They have now accepted that it was not a stupid choice that I made when I decided to go back to school four years ago," he says.