Francis ole Tumanka's remarkable journey in search of education

Depending on your attitude, and how badly you want to succeed, you can achieve your dream, no matter how long it takes.

If you don’t believe this, Francis ole Tumanka's story will make you a believer.

Born in 1993 in Kajiado County, in a polygamous family, Francis has had his fair share of disappointment and heartache in his quest to get an education.

He sat his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in 2006, scoring 270 marks out of a possible 500 marks. He had hoped to score better, but took comfort in the fact that the marks would still get him to secondary school.

Around this time, his parents’ marriage was disintegrating, and life at home was becoming unbearable by the day.

Amidst this instability, he was admitted at St. Mathew’s Secondary School in Emali, Makueni County.

Being a boarding school, it gave him much-needed respite from the tense atmosphere at home.

FIRST TERM

But this relief would be short-lived. When he went back home for holiday after his first term, he learnt that his parents had separated, and that his father was no longer willing to pay his school fees. 

“I was so excited when I joined Form One, because, it was a step away from joining university, now here was my father crushing my dream - I have never felt so hopeless,” Francis recounts.

 After his parents’ separation, his mother moved back home to live with her brothers.

Being the firstborn, and a male child, traditionally, he was to stay behind with his father, but Francis opted to follow his mother and siblings, sure that he would fare better.

At their new home, he offered to look after his uncles’ cattle now that he had nothing to do. He was 15 years then.

He however still harboured the hope of returning to school and continuing with his education, even though he had no idea how this would come to pass.

After a couple of months, he asked one of his uncles, a boda boda driver in Kitengela town, to get him a job.

POVERTY

“It pained me to be unable to do anything about the poverty at home – by getting a job, at least I would be able to support my family in whatever small way.”

The job came in 2008, a butchers’ job that paid Sh150 a day. It was not much, but to Francis, it was better than nothing.

He bid his mother and siblings goodbye and moved to Kitengela town. For a year, he split the Sh4,500 he earned a month between his daily upkeep and his mother and eight siblings back home. 

“After a year of being away from my family, I was homesick and so lonely, I had to go back home. Also, the urge to continue with my education was still strong, so I knew I would never down until I achieved my dream. I decided to look for a well-wisher to sponsor me through school when I returned home.”

He felt his best bet were the custodians of the communal land in which his father and the rest of his family lived.

PAY FEES

He begged them to pay his school fees, and they agreed. Overjoyed, Francis went back to Form One at Mashuru Secondary School, a boarding school in Kajiado County.

However, the officials had committed to paying only his school fees, and so Francis had to raise his bus fare as well as money to buy the daily essentials he needed at school.

He was unable to raise this money though, making his stay at school very difficult. 

“Sometimes, I would not get fare to go back to school after mid-term or the long holidays, and would be forced to walk for seven hours to get to school.

Mostly, I relied on my classmates to share basic necessities such as soap, tissue paper, shoe polish and toothpaste. Whenever she could, my class teacher would give me fare to travel back home when schools closed, ”

In spite of these hurdles, Francis was among the best performing students in his class.

He was therefore devastated when he was informed that he could no longer continue learning at the school because he had not paid his second and third term fees.

BENEFACTORS

When he approached his benefactors to seek the way forward, they asked him to wait as they raised the money.

By the time he was due to return to school to join Form Two, they still had not raised the money required.

After months of waiting, he came to the hard realisation that this door was closed for good; it was time to look elsewhere.

Once again, he packed his few clothes, bid his mother goodbye, and made his way back to the butchery he had earlier worked in, discouraged but still hopeful that a miracle would happen, and that he would one day complete school.

Unfortunately a few months later, the butchery closed down, forcing him to return home. After sometime however, one of his step-brother’s got him a watchman’s job in Ndenderu, Kiambu County.

“I guarded a residential building, a job that paid Sh6, 000 a month. A watchman’s job is not the easiest of jobs.

It was especially difficult during the rainy season since the proprietor had not bothered to put up shelter for me, and I would therefore get rained on.”

He adds, “It was also a risky job, and I lived in fear, especially because at the time, there was rising insecurity in that area, and every now and then, there would be reports of guards being killed by robbers.”

MEAGRE WAGE

To make ends meet on the meagre wage, he teamed up with four other watchmen in the area and rented a room, whose rent they split amongst themselves. He was 17 years then.

Through it all, he never stopped yearning to go back to school.

“I would watch with longing as students walked to school in groups, talking to each other and laughing. It made me feel sad, and at that point I felt like a lesser human being, and believed that God didn’t love me. If he did, why was he taking too long to come to my rescue? Sometimes I would feel hopeful and would remind myself that no matter how long it took, one day I would achieve my dream of going to university.” Francis says.

During the day, once he clocked off work, he would look for casual jobs to supplement his income, since his mother and siblings still relied on him for their upkeep. Initially, he had hoped that he would be able to raise enough money to go back to school from these side jobs. 

“It didn’t work out as I had hoped – a shamba boy’s job pays even far less than a watchman’s and after paying rent, buying food a few necessary personal effects, and sending money back home, I would be left with nothing.”

As fate would have it, after a year, Francis was sacked. Instead of returning home where no hope awaited him, he looked for jobs in construction sites as he looked for a more promising job with a somewhat stable income. 

UNCERTAINTY

After a couple of months of living with this uncertainty, his step brother got him another job as a caretaker. Unknown to him, this is where his saving grace would come from.

His boss, Ms Winnie Wainaina, was a high school principal. From the few times that the two  interacted, Ms Wainaina was particularly impressed with the young man’s good command of English.

Curious, she asked him more about himself and his family. Francis did not hold back. She was so moved by his story, she decided to help him realise his dream of going ahead with his education.

Says Winnie.

“After hearing his story, I felt that employing him to do menial work in my compound would be doing him a disservice; what would have a lasting benefit on him was returning to school.”

At the time, Winnie was the principal of Moi Girls Kamangu; she would later move to head Uthiru Girls High School in Kiambu County, where she is principal.

GITITHIA

She immediately approached the principal of Gitithia Secondary School in Lari, Kiambu County, who agreed to offer Francis a place in Form One. Winnie committed to paying his school fees and bought him everything he needed to make his stay at his new school comfortable. Overnight, she had become his guardian.

She also got him a place to live, from where he would take a short commute to school.

In May 2011, Francis, yet again, started a journey that he had started twice before, only that this time round, he would get to complete it.

“Going back to school for me had been a near-impossible dream come true. I was beside myself with joy, and could finally dare to envision what my future would look like. I called my mother and informed her that I would no longer send her money since I had gone back to school.”

He adds, “My mum was happy for me, and gave me her blessings, and wished me all the best.”

At 18 years, he was the oldest student in the school, and would complete secondary school when he turned 21, the age when most graduate from college.

This did not bother Francis though, not one bit, after all, he finally had what he had yearned for, for years. He therefore dedicated all his time and effort to his studies, his sight set on university.

OLDER

 “It did not bother me at all that I looked, and was much older than the other students. I was in no way going to let anything come between me and my dream.

Thankfully, I received a lot of support from my teachers, and that played a big role towards achieving excellence. The Principal, Mr Francis Wanene, in particular was very supportive, and would regularly call me to his office and encourage me to give my best.”

Besides his classwork, Francis was also active in co-curricula activities, his dedication rewarded by being elected head boy by his fellow schoolmates while in Form Three.

He sat for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams in 2014, scoring an impressive B. It was short of his target of A-minus, but he had managed to qualify for entry to university. 

 “I did not reach my target, but at least I would still realise my dream of joining university; that is all that mattered.”

In September 2015, Francis was admitted at the University of Nairobi’s College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture.

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

When he attended his first class at the university, he could not help reflecting on his long journey there. He had finally made it.

No word could describe what he felt at that point. He is currently on long holiday, and will be back in session in September 2017 to start his third year of study at the institution.

He is majoring in animal science.

Winnie, a mother of  two, (a 24-year-old and a 19-year-old, both university students), says.

“I am very proud of Francis, he has never disappointed me and continues to make me proud. I am especially impressed by his desire to drive positive change in  society. He conducts himself with high esteem and respect, and there is no doubt that he has a bright future ahead of him.”

Winnie is also supporting two of Francis’ siblings through primary school.

“Having taught hundreds of students for many years, I have seen education making great transformation in young peoples’ lives.

I believe that it is the most powerful tool to fight disease, ignorance and poverty and empower our young people, so if you are able, educate a deserving child.”

GUARDIAN

Francis has only good words to say regarding his guardian.

“She is like a mother to me, my mentor and a pillar of hope. I was a stranger to her, and yet she offered to carry my burden. I will never be able to repay the kindness and generosity she showed me, so the least I can do is to ensure that once I am financially able, I will help a needy child to achieve his dream of getting an education.”

At the university, Francis has taken up various leadership roles: he is the organising secretary, Faculty of Agriculture, an elective post that he vied for.

His major roles involve organising faculty events and activities and working with the rest of the leadership to identify opportunities that could be of benefit to the students at the faculty.

He is also the organising secretary in the Young Christian Students, (YCS) an organisation for Catholic students at the university.

Besides this, he is also the founder and chairperson of Onward Kenya, University of Nairobi Chapter.

This is a national organisation with a membership drawn from various universities across Kenya.

EDUCATION

The members, in their various locations and at different capacities, participate in various charity activities in their commune.

This is not all, during his free time, Francis gives motivational talks in various schools, particularly those in Kajiado County. He encourages the pupils and students in these schools by sharing his story.

“When the time is right, I plan to establish sustainable year-to-year mentorship programmes across all the schools in Kajiado County. I want my people to understand how important education is, that it is a tool that fosters development.”

He adds, “It is disturbing to see how outdated cultural practices continue to rob many children of a bright future by not giving them a chance to go to school. This is the huge problem I seek to address.”

He is also planning to use the knowledge that he is currently acquiring at the university to address the constant problem of food shortage that faces his county. This, he says, will be his way of giving back to society.

“Most importantly, it is my prayer to God that He shall also use me to help a desperate person achieve his or her dreams, just like someone came to my aid.”

This young man’s story definitely does not end here. It is just unfolding.