Story time
Are you ready for an amazing experience? Do you have your favorite cup of coffee to enjoy? How about some calming background music? Find your cozy spot and get ready for an exciting storytime! As we have a sit-down with Hussein, one of the first beneficiaries of the Assets programme.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Hussein Ali Mdata. I was among the first students to benefit from the Assets programme, joining in 2003 and leaving in 2006. I am now working with the National Treasury as an accountant. While on leave, I have been helping A Rocha Kenya with data entry for the past month.
How was life before Assets?
Honestly, I don’t know how I would have turned out if it weren’t for Assets. If it had not been for assets, I wouldn’t have managed to join high school. After completing my primary education, I passed with flying colours. I was the best student in Mida that year and was called to Malindi High School.
However, since a single stepmother raised me, there was no money to take me to school, and I was forced to stay at home for the first month of school. The only option then was to carry out a fundraising ceremony, which was both challenging and far-fetched. One day, while we were returning home from another not-so-promising lead, my mother sat next to an older man who would later change the direction of my life.
They were making small talk, chatting about the usual things. My mom told him how difficult it was to make ends meet for my school fees. Casually, the older man told my mother about the new Assets programme that A Rocha Kenya had started. Excited and out of options, we visited the Assets offices, then at Gede, and dropped my documents; fingers crossed that I would hear back from them. And I sure did; a week later, A Rocha Kenya came knocking. Finally, there was some hope!
How did Assets change things?
Though I had been called to a more expensive boarding school, the Assets team advised me to switch schools and attend a day school instead since it was more affordable. For all four years of high school, Assets paid 75% of my school fees, and since it was a school just nearby, my mother could clear out the rest of the school fees. She also managed to join Muvera wa Assets (Thank you Assets), a parent group of supported students. Here, she was involved in many conservation activities like tree planting.
It was also through Assets that I learned the importance of conservation. From the Assets camps organized every holiday, I realized why there was an urgent need to look after the environment actively, why careless tree cutting was detrimental, and why planting more trees was necessary. This helped me develop an attitude that would later lead me to establish conservation groups and CBOs (Community-Based Organizations).
How then was life in campus?
Hard!
I didn’t manage to secure the government support to study my campus life. Since I needed to be close to Ksh 75,000/=, which I couldn’t afford, I had to defer the first year and report the following year. It was the strong attitude that I had gained over the years that kept me moving and hoping. I figured there was someone out there who would once again hold my hand and help me take this next step in my life. I knew that Assets only supported people through their high school, but I had no one else to turn to, so I reached out to them again!
The Assets leadership, led by Stanley, did come through for me again. Even though there was no budget in the Assets kit to support me, together, they organized a fundraising ceremony that raised enough funds to send me to school.
By the second year, things got tough again, and the government sponsorship was still nowhere to be seen. I had to defer for another year, and Stanley, the head of Assets, had to stand with me again personally! I got government support after I reported back, which made my remaining time on campus smoother. At least I didn’t have to defer again.
Were things better after campus?
Much better!
After graduation, I joined the Assets-graduates internship and training programme- where the Assets’s leadership helped us look for internship opportunities. Through this programme, I was privileged to volunteer with Turtle Bay Beach Club for three months. From there, I volunteered with the A Rocha Kenya accounts department for another three months. A Rocha Kenya helped me secure my first job and put me on the right track that I am on today.
At a personal level, I founded the Mida Marine Conservation Initiative- a CBO that focuses on alternative livelihoods, conservation, and conservation-based agriculture.
What then, would be your closing remarks?
The Assets scheme works! It is necessary, and it changes lives! I am an example. Now, more than ever, we need Assets. The economy is even worse than during my time. There are people like me who still need help and will be lost without Assets.
I implore even more people to rally behind Assets. If Assets had enough resources, supporting tertiary education wouldn’t be that hard. At the Form Four level, children are still far from obtaining any relevant skills that can help them; they still need Assets. Real empowerment comes from the institutions that come after high school.