Mariakani Primary School in Nairobi’s South B came into the national limelight with the visit of US President Barack Obama. The flower girl dressed in white with a matching tiara who welcomed Obama with a bouquet of flowers is a student there.
Joan Wamaitha, the eight-year-old pupil, was the first Kenyan to talk to and hug President Obama before any nabob in government.
She might not have understood what the fuss was all about, but that photo of President Obama exchanging niceties and hugging her is one she will cherish later on in life. She was dressed in ankle-length princess dress, matching satin gloves and a velveteen cream tiara that matched her shoes.
A chance to be the first to greet the first sitting US president ever to visit Kenya comes once in a lifetime. And to cap it all, Joan sported a badge with a portrait of Obama and the words “American Dream.”
Mariakani Primary School is a government sponsored school with 700 learners, many of them coming from poor backgrounds. Furniture might be missing in some classes and the school’s playing field is more of a dust bowl, but if President Obama’s life is any yardstick, a life full of possibilities and promise can emerge from any playing field.
As quoted by the Associated Press, head teacher Lucy Obonyo told her pupils that they were “very important,” even if they come from a “slum area.” Hard working and smart Joan, as her teacher described her, was selected from Mama Ngina Children’s Home where she stays.
Joan Wamaitha put Mariakani Primary on the world map, albeit briefly.