Poor boy could miss admission to Lenana School due to lack of fees

15-year-old Dominic Losute Kamama at home in Chesesoi village,Tiaty constituency. Kamama scored 381 marks at Loruk Primary school .(PHOTO:KIPSANG JOSEPH)

Dominic Kamama’s dream of becoming a neurosurgeon is fast fading.

The 15-year-old boy from Chesesoi village in Tiaty, who scored 381 marks out of 500 in the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations, may not join Form One owing to lack of school fees.

Losute, who sat his examinations at Loruk Primary School, was admitted to Lenana School in Nairobi. His parents cannot afford the Sh55,000 the institution wants per year, an amount that excludes some other requirements.

His admission letter indicates he was expected at the school on February 9. But, Losute is a discouraged boy as even getting Sh250 for a belt is a nightmare.

“I am glad to inform you that you have been accepted for admission into Form One at Lenana School... However, should you report later than Wednesday, February 9 at 1pm you will forfeit your place,” read the admission letter.

In tears, the boy says his dream of joining University of Nairobi to pursue a neurosurgeon degree could be cut short unless he gets help.

“I really feel bad when I encounter people with mental illnesses trekking for several kilometres, feeding on expired food and sleeping in the cold. These are the people I always have in mind and that’s why I need to pursue my dream,” says Losute.

According to his father Mariko Kamama, Losute has been an exemplary performer since Standard Six.

“This is not the only child I have in secondary school. I have another son at Chemolingot Secondary School and another at Seretonin Teachers College. I have sold all my goats for the love of my boys,” says the father of six.

Dropped Out

As fate would have it, their second born, Noah Kanareu, dropped out of Baringo High School after fees balance accumulated to Sh137,000 and was moved to Chemolingot Secondary with the help of the Constituency Development Fund. Their home is a small hut with protruding rafters and its roof is covered with tattered black polythene papers they collected from an abandoned military camp nearby.

The parents main source of income is charcoal trading and small scale fishing.

“I was elated after my boy scored impressive grades and saw light at the end of the tunnel. But, since he received the admission letter, I have agonised day and night,” says his distraught mother, Elima Kobilo.