SaMmy L. LoChuKa

26 years old
Resident of Morulem, Turkana South
Year 1 University/College student
When he graduates, he dreams of becoming a teacher!
Starting in September 2007.
Total funding for 2007: TBA

Administrators:
Joseph Ng’itira Akure +254-722-439-546 mugetom@yahoo.co.uk
Anne-Marie Di Lullo +254-727-238-997 tabasamu.trust@gmail.com


Sammy Lokwawi is 26 years old, born and raised in Morulem village in the recently created Turkana South district. For Sammy, the completion of his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) is a dream come true. His parents are agro-pastoralists, and mainly rely on livestock as a source of livelihood. He is the 3rd born in a family of 7 children, of which 3 are girls and 4 are boys. To date Sammy is the only one in his family with a high school education. In the year 1987, he joined Morulem Primary School where he sat his KCPE examinations in 1995 and attained 501 marks out of a possible 700. With these impressive results, he got admission into Lodwar High School the following year; the only provincial boys’ school in the district.

Raising school fees proved a challenge, but he managed to complete 2 years of high school, and in his third year (1998), his parents could no longer raise the required amount of money. He was therefore forced to leave school not knowing what was in store for him. He decided to try employment, but with no KCSE certificate, this was hard. He was forced to go to urban centers like Kitale where he did some menial jobs to earn a living. He also tried raising fees to go back to school but with minimal wages, this became a distant dream. His desire to return to school had, however, not lessened.

In June 2004, he met some friends and shared his wishes of going back to school with them. Although these friends were still in college, they promised to help him and encouraged him to try other avenues for funding. In 2005, with the friends’ and World Vision Kenya’s help, Sammy was back in school! He returned to his 3rd year of high school in December 2006, was able to attain a C+ in his final exams, the minimum entry grade for Kenyan Universities eight years after pulling out of school!!

Sammy’s wish is to become a teacher. In order to realize this dream, he has to join university or a teacher’s training college. The obstacle now between Sammy and his dream, is school fees. His father remains even poorer than he was when Sammy was younger. His request is for someone to help him fund his college education so that he can finally become a teacher.