"They have given me a voice"

“They have given me a voice, and sure I will use it to bring change in my community.”  Tracy Khakali expresses her deep gratitude for how Kijiji Cha Upendo has opened doors for her. Now about to enter her third year of accountancy studies, Tracy would never have imagined such an opportunity could be hers.

Fifth born in a family of seven children, she was brought up by her late single mother from the age of seven.  “It was a very long journey, fraught with difficulties,” she says. Her mother, a vegetable vendor, struggled very hard to make ends meet.  She would wake up very early in the morning to go to the wholesale market to buy goods to sell. She would task one of their elder brothers or sisters to prepare them for school, that is, if school fees were available. More often than not they could not attend school for lack of fees or school supplies. 

 
Tracy was always an excellent student, however.  At the end of primary school, in the national exams, her grades were high enough to admit her to one of the best provincial schools, but unfortunately, she did not have the school fees.  For two years Tracy stayed home as her mother struggled to raise money for her fees.

While waiting to join secondary school she would help her aunties plough their small piece of land. But what was realized from the farm was not enough to take her to school.

Eventually, in 2010 she was thrilled to join secondary school in the second term, but again her attendance was sporadic for lack of fees. Then everything changed. “In the second term of my third year in secondary school, my mother came home very happy,” Tracy says. “She told me that an organization called Kijiji Cha Upendo would pay part of my fees from then on, and she would get some support in running her business.”

The Village of Love team visited Tracy in school and persuaded the school administration to take her as a boarder. However, just as she was settled in school and her grades had started to improve, tragedy struck. Tracy’s mother died. Now there was the burden of the younger brothers, house rent to pay and food to buy. “I was always on my knees praying for my brothers, sisters and Kijiji Cha Upendo, as things were not looking up.”

Dealing with grief and the stress of family care, Tracy was not as well prepared for the final exams as she would have wished. She managed to qualify for College, but not the government scholarship that she had hoped for. Then, just as she thought that she had struck a dead end, her prayers were answered from a very unlikely source. Word came to the Village of Love organisers of a college sponsorship for a girl orphan. Tracy applied and was accepted. The rest is history.

“Kijiji Cha Upendo has made a big difference in my life. Not only have they helped me get an education, but importantly they have given me a voice; and sure I will use it to bring change in my community.”