In this third story of our “Meet the Students You Support” series, we’re pleased to tell you about Trita. Trita is a 3rd year student at Maseno University pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine and Surgery. Like so many, he has faced enormous hardship and difficulty to get as far as he has. We hope you’re encouraged by his story, and the powerful impact your donations have in changing people’s lives.

Trita has had an arduous life since his childhood. As a first born in a family of 10, his life hasn’t been easy, but the notion of the “survival of the fittest” struggle is what has shaped him to become who he is today. His academic journey has been even more arduous, and as he says, “has had more thorns than a thistle bush”. He was only able to attend primary school through the interventions of a church founded school, which chose him as one of three disadvantaged students to support. In secondary school, he had to drop out twice because of a lack of fees and was required to repeat form three. He thankfully found a sponsor who paid his remaining school fees because of his determination and work ethic. After completing his fourth form and attaining average of B-, which is not high enough to gain an admissions letter, there was no possible way for him to afford University on a parallel program. This was a real setback for Trita, so he decided to work, save some money for fees, and then repeat his KCSE, finally scoring an A-. Trita now qualified as a government sponsored student, but his worry was still not knowing where his parents would find the rest of the fees to take him to school. Trita was despondent over having worked so hard, and getting so close, but not close enough. It was at this time that he came to know about ACCES from one of his friends.

With a huge smile on his face, Trita says he was incredibly fortunate to be selected by ACCES. As he reflects on his journey, he says that he finds great joy and solace in ACCES. All his dreams of being a doctor will now be fulfilled in spite of the many obstacles he faced. His family has languished in poverty his entire life, as both of his parents have been unemployed other than ad hoc menial labour. He hopes to be the light at the end of their dark tunnel: being a firstborn, he has a very big burden to bear in terms of offering emotional, physical and economic support to his siblings.

To ACCES, he says, “Thank you for your thoughtful donation and for supporting my efforts to make a difference. Your kindness will help improve quality of life for not only individuals but also their families. It has been a gratifying experience to meet you. Thank you for your generosity”