Man Sacrifices His Studies To Educate 1,650 Needy Students.
Lack of school fees has been a major impediment to thousands of students pursuing their dreams, and the issue became a threat to an ambitious young man, Jeremiah Kambi, in 1991 after completing his primary school studies.
Kambi, who was born in a poor family in 1977, completed his secondary school education after a long struggle and with assistance from the Rotary Club, which paid for his school fees. Later, he enrolled at Port Reitz Medical College in Mombasa, where he earned a diploma in Clinical Medicine.
Kambi was determined to complete his studies and earn a bachelor’s degree in his field in order to land a lucrative job.
When he got his first job as a Clinical Officer with the USA Medical Research Unit at Malindi Hospital, he used his computer and internet access at work to look for friends who would donate money to help him pursue his medical degree.
Fortunately, he had a few internet friends who donated some of the money he required. As he struggled to mobilize and raise additional funds for the course, he reflected on the difficulties he faced in secondary school. His heart was moved by compassion, and he changed his mind.
Instead of using the money to get another certificate and a better job, he decided to make a sacrifice and use the money he had saved in a kitty to help bright students from low-income families in his village in Kilifi County.
Kambi explains that he reflected on the times during his secondary school education when he was hopeless and had to rely on donors and government bursaries to complete his studies.
“I had my own dream and for it to come true, I had to get a scholarship. When I got to the level that I was a doctor and only wanted to study further, the amount of money needed was quite huge.
“This would interfere with the welfare of my family therefore I changed the dream in order to give bright and needy children a chance to go to secondary school,” he explained.
He began sponsoring a few students from Watamu, Malindi, who scored 350 or higher. He quickly became overwhelmed a few months into the charity initiative due to the overwhelming need of many students who were on the verge of dropping out due to school fees.
In some pressing situations, he had to dig deeper into his pockets to keep students in school while he sought funds from well-wishers to settle student fee balances. He was sometimes forced to organize charity walks in order to raise the necessary funds.
Because the demand for his charity was so great, he rallied his friends and formed a Community Based Organization called Pwani Education Welfare Association in 2006 to pool resources. They grew and provided scholarships to students throughout Kilifi County.
As the CBO’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, he continued to use the internet to find donors from various countries, including the United States of America and the United Kingdom. He also used his network of friends to raise funds for his mission’s success.
Kambi and his friends registered their CBO as an NGO and named it Aiducation Kenya a few years later. They expanded their scholarship to include students from outside Kilifi County.
When he voluntarily decided to serve his community, the education hero says he faced many challenges. Because the community he was serving is mired in extreme poverty and superstition, any generous initiative by fellow community members would be regarded as suspicious or tainted with a hidden agenda.
For example, if a sponsored student became ill, he would be in big trouble because he was suspected of offering human sacrifices to dark forces in order to generate money.
As time passed, they accepted the change, and the community welcomed the charity organization with open arms. Parents flocked in large numbers looking for help getting their children to school, so the funds collected would not be enough to cover everyone.
That, too, became a huge obstacle.
Kambi’s official job as a doctor became increasingly hectic as he gained more experience, and he was unable to balance being in both the hospital and the organization’s office. He began assembling a stronger team of both local and international talent to fill his roles and relieve him of the work backlog.
He delegated other roles to his other team members and handed over his role to one of his energetic team members. He had successfully saved the education of 1,650 students by the time he left the organization in 2019.
During his charitable service, he mentored over 800 of his students who wanted to start their own businesses and even funded their start-up capital after they graduated from high school.
The majority of his students are now employed and running successful businesses both locally and internationally, and some volunteered in his organization.
Kambi is currently running for the position of County Assembly Member for Watamu Ward, and his vision for education in his community is even bigger.
He claims that as the MCA in the area, he would have the best opportunity to quench the thirst for education by ensuring that all children completing primary education in his ward were taken to secondary school and finally followed up on to ensure that all of them went to colleges regardless of their socioeconomic status.
“I will make education among the community my priority and mobilize people, organizations, businesses, and the government to give more funds and ensure no child is left behind regardless of the marks they scored,” he said.
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He went on to say that the need for assistance in getting children to secondary school is so great in Kilifi County that the government and all charity organizations have been unable to meet it.
He urged the government and non-governmental organizations to quadruple their scholarship budgets in order to make a significant impact in the education sector, and vowed to become the bridge to improve the lives of his people if given the opportunity.
Man Sacrifices His Studies To Educate 1,650 Needy Students
