My name is Pamela Oditt. I joined Kinyago Dandora Primary School in 2000 in kindergarten and finished my grade 8 in 2008 where I topped in my class during the national exams. I thereafter joined Kinyago Dandora Secondary School in 2009 and finished my high school education in 2012.
I remember back in the day, being in Kinyago Dandora Schools was prestigious because we got to enjoy quality education, high standard amenities and many other benefits that schools around the slum were unfortunately not acquainted to. One of my fond moments was getting to have visitors from abroad coming to visit us for days and we could entertain them with traditional folk songs and poems. At times they would bring goodies like attires, shoes, snacks, hygiene products, etc.
I was among the many lucky students who got to have personal sponsors who would send letters, pictures and money for shopping. This was like a life saver to my family, because with the money, we could get to buy some new clothes for Christmas and new uniforms, how exciting. Reading letters from my sponsor made me feel so special.
I remember vividly how during Easter, the Sponsors through Kinyago Dandora Schools would give us shopping comprising of packets of maize flour and wheat flour, cooking oil, soaps, rice, sugar, toothpaste…it was called Easter Care basket! This one we used to look forward to it like the way guys wait for a new season of the Premier League. My family in particular used to have the kitchen shelves looking like a supermarket because my 5 sisters and I, would each get a basket. These shopping would literally serve us for months – I’ll forever be grateful to Kenya Children’s Fund for this and making my family enjoy and have things we couldn’t have afforded.
Sometimes I think it’s impossible for anyone who passed through Kinyago Dandora Schools to say he/she has never heard about Jesus Christ. I gave my life to Christ while in grade 6. The many spiritual sessions we had, made us commune with God more and it has influenced my consistency in salvation to this moment.
The library was my favorite spot in the school because it was full of really interesting reading materials including some from abroad which widened my scope of thinking. We had great teachers right from primary through to high school who helped get the best out of us. I excelled academically because I got the support that I needed.
I joined Maseno University in 2013 after my high school where I later graduated with a degree in B.A International Relations and Diplomacy with IT. I chose to focus on the IT part instead and currently am in the Artificial Intelligence field as a Data Engineer where we do research and development of tools to be used in annotating data for artificial intelligence algorithms.
Were it not for the sponsors that have been generously supporting Kinyago Dandora Schools over the years, then most of us would not be here doing exciting careers and living our dreams, a big thank you.