The posho mill ‘A-student’: Milly Nafula’s story captured national attention

On December 7, 2021, Citizen TV prime time news aired a story about a 32-year old lady who worked at a
posho mill in Kitale. Nothing odd in that.

But Milly Nafula’s was no ordinary story. Fourteen years earlier, she had scored an A- (minus) grade in her
Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination . It was good enough for direct entry into Medical School, the first step towards achieving her dream of being a doctor.

But tuition fees for a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree is prohibitive about KES500,000 a year. Milly’s background was one of abject poverty. Raised by a single mother (who
died in 2012), Milly took over the responsibility of fending for her younger siblings.

She sought work at a local posho mill and hoped to raise enough money to educate herself and her brothers. But without the wherewithal, her hopes of becoming a doctor vanished like flour in the wind.
When her story was broadcast on primetime news, it evoked a national debate on the inequitable access to university education.

Luckily, MKU Foundation through its patron Prof. Simon Gicharu, responded to her cry. Nafula was awarded a full scholarship to undertake the MBChB programme at Mount Kenya University Medical School. The School, located at the university’s main campus in Thika town, was in the year 2020 ranked the best in Kenya by the National Medical and Dental Councils of East African Community partner states.

“I am going to work very hard to make MKUF and its patron proud,” an elated Nafula said after receiving
the scholarship. “I have huge expectations ahead of me but I am determined to achieve my goals.”
MKUF also donated a house and piece of land to Nafula, to enable her siblings settle and accord her time to focus on her studies.

Additionally, the MKU founder gifted Nafula a piece of land and a furnished two-bedroom house in Chereng’any, Trans Nzoia County.