Aston Lukoye
Mary Karuga, 38, begins her daily chores in Juja town at 6 a.m. everyday in the Ndarasha area of Juja Farm. She works as a Mama Fua in many homes across Juja. It’s a way of life she’s adopted after failing to find a solid job. Ms Karuga, who took her KCSE examination in 2002 and achieved a mean grade of C, believes things would have been different if she had obtained her certificate sooner.
She had huge ambitions of advancing her studies and overcoming her family’s poverty story line after completing her national exams at Mitaboni Girls Secondary School, Machakos county.
Her dream, however, would be cut short when her certificate was withheld by the school administration because of 16,000 Ksh fee arrears that she hadn’t cleared.
“The principal at the time warned me that if I didn’t pay my fee, I wouldn’t get the document. I just had my graduation certificate as the only document or proof that I wenr through high-school.” She explains, holding the outdated piece of paper, “Even when I apply for employment, the only thing I use is my leaving certificate, which recruiters find strange.”
The government ordered all KCPE and KCSE certificates to be released in 2014, but she was still unable to obtain hers.
“Each time I went to the school, the bursar turned me away. They insisted that I pay the Sh16,000 in school fees she owes.”
After she expressed her dilemma in a social media group in January 2022, she received a well-wisher who volunteered to pay off the debt.
“Although my options are restricted at this age, I’m grateful to have the documentation to prove that I attended high school. My two children now hold the future.”
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