There was this moment in my life as an Open Dreams Pre-scholar where I received uncountable rejections from the schools I really sacrificed my leisure, money, and even study time to apply to, just to receive some heart-melting rejection feedback flying into my inbox. This was so recurrent till the extent that I found myself memorizing from word to word the disappointing letters the admissions officer send to me in the most polite manner ever. It always began like this, “It is with deep regret that we are writing to inform you that…” and I always just say to myself, why will you keep on regretting when you could as well award me the scholarship and stop the regrets? But unfortunately, that was not the case. Actually I came to realize that they were playing their own part in making me who I am today and I will have to say that what kept me going through all this was persistence, resilience and the success of others. Seeing a majority of my friends grabbing scholarships, I was pushed to work harder bearing in mind that someday, I will make the impossible possible and all these rejections will make the success much sweeter.
On this wonderful Tuesday, 16th of July 2019 in the afternoon, when there was a blackout (This was an everyday issue at the time), I heard my phone ring at exactly 12:45 pm and the call was from a strange number. I did not hesitate to answer. To my greatest surprise, it was the call of success, additionally informing me that I will be traveling in 2 weeks’ time. At that moment, the rapid adrenaline release and distribution around my body caused me to jump and start giving some heavily loaded punches to the air around me which could cause some severe bone fracture, if it landed on a solid object. So, I finally made it after all this long struggle? Unveiling the parcel to my parents made my mum burst out in tears and my father congratulated me for a job well done with such a broad smile worn on his face.Here I am on the photo with Dr. Sylvanus Mensah the person who gave me this life changing call.
Finally, it came the day I was to enter a plane for my first time. As anxiety played its part in me, by 5am, I was already set, well dressed in my Open Dreams T-shirt and had everything prepared for my 11:20am flight. At the airport, when it was time to check-in for my flight, I hugged everyone good buy and made my last promises to finally jump into the plane for a 7hr flight that turned to be 9hrs.
At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
I will say it doesn’t feel as good as it looks up there for beginners. On several occasions, when the plane was tearing through the clouds and and the ride got bumpy, I knew it was the end of my life and I just found myself praying my last prayer asking God to take me as I am into his heavenly kingdom. My flight was 2 hours longer than stated. That was not all, the sound made by the plane after an individual had requested for the attention of the air hostess, always sounded to me like it was the pilot about to give an announcement that there has been a failure and everyone should take out the live jacket underneath the seat because we are now flying straight into the ocean. That was my weird and funny experience in the plane.
Landing at Jomo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi, I was warmly received by Dr. Mensah and he informed me I had another 4hr journey ahead of me by road to school. Moving to the vehicle, I discovered they used right hand drive, not like in my country where it is rather left. The most amazing thing to me about Kenya is the roads. I had a very smooth ride from the airport right to school. After all this, I am proud to say am a MCF@RUFORUM Scholar at Egerton University in Kenya, which is known to be the best Agricultural University in Eastern African.
What a privilege I have at hand to be part of this renowned family. I know this is a giant step in my life and purpose and I take this as an opportunity to encourage you out there still searching for that scholarship. Don’t give up, I was not the best student in my class but here I am living a part of my dreams. Dream it, Believe it, Make it happen.
