I was born in November of 1994, three years after the popular Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Robert Ouko was killed, and I was named after the white man from Britain, “John Troon”, who came to investigate the crime. “My dad died when I was five and I still don’t know the cause of his death”. The next year I was taken into CBCH by Pastor Stephen. “I learned a lot from him about growing up “in Christ” and sharing everything with the other ‘brothers and sisters’ and I have kept my Christian commitment from that time. We lived, ate, played games and went to school together and life was good until a serious fire destroyed the property and some of my wonderful family.

We were moved into the new home and I still remember all my classmates who went through all this with me.

I continued to attend Dr Robert Ouko school but didn’t attain the pass mark for Secondary school so I went back home for a year, after which a former teacher encouraged me to repeat KCPE. This time I got 150 marks, so it was worth the long walk to and from school every day and the difficulties for my poor mum to keep me in school uniform. In 2011 I had various calling letters from secondary schools but we decided I would join the cheapest at Kirembe where I studied up to Form IV. I remember my first day was so hard. “All the class were clean with new uniform but for me it was a nightmare because I had some old clothes my mum borrowed from some village mates whose sons had just finished school! The clothes were almost transferring skin diseases to me and I only had a paper bag for my school books!” I have now read Nelson Mandela’s biography and am boosted as his start in early education looked very much like mine!

“I knew I must work hard and had faith and hope in God to reach my best potential. I could not get better education as much of the time I could be sent back home for the fee balance or foolscaps or set books.” I tried to be an asset to the school and be well disciplined in all subjects including scouting and athletics. This did earn me the appointment of prefect by the staff and I was elected to be the best prefect by students on prize giving day that year! My mum and I really struggled for our food and my education for four years. I had difficulty in doing my homework as often we ran out of paraffin.

However, thankfully, having passed my final exams, I knew I needed to join a college in order to gain a job with a future income so I returned like a prodigal to CBCH to apologise for not working harder when I was young. When they heard my story the manager, Philemon and the UK team welcomed me back and decided to sponsor my next course. I will not delay in thanking God and thanking them for this new opportunity. I have learned a very good lesson about life and how focused we need to be to reach our goal.

Thank you Kisumu Children’s Ministries. May God bless you for your support, especially in helping the very poor children like me.