“I travelled from Kisii with nothing but hope and clothes on my back”

My name is Jespher Nyaboke. When I started my Diploma course in Medical Laboratory at MKU Thika
main campus in 2009, I used to sleep in the lecturer rooms. Literally. It had been seven years since I wrote
my national examination at Kebabe Girls, Nyamira County, where I scored a ‘C’ mean grade. I dreamt of
becoming a nurse. I was orphaned at birth, and every passing day, this seemed like a fantasy.
I was adopted by a compassionate stranger who later passed away. To make ends meet, I resulted to doing menial jobs. One day, while traipsing along the dusty paths of Kiongogi village, I stumbled upon a copy of the MKU prospectus. I noticed they offered Diploma courses in Nursing, and Medical Laboratory at their Thika Campus, 347 kilometers away.
I applied for a bursary at our local constituency office, and received KES4,000. With this money, I bought
a few writing materials and boarded a bus to MKU Thika. Arriving there, one of the employees heard my story and informed me that I had to deposit at least KES 100 into the university’s bank account to get a student number. Which is what I did. I started attending classes but by then I had exhausted the bursary money. I was sleeping in the lecture room after classes, and surving on hand-outs from friends.

Eventually, MKUF patron Prof. Simon Gicharu heard my plight through the student council and awarded me a full scholarship. I graduated with a Degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences and later a Masters in the same discipline.