Written by Leonard Wamalwa 2012-08-28 09:17:00 Read 1759 Times

Richard  Nyongesa Walusana as hen begun his journey to Nairobi on Tuesday morning in quest for money to enable his five children to complete school. [PHOTOS \ Leonard Wamalwa | West Fm]

A middle aged man from Trans Nzoia County with no reliable source of income has decided to ride his bicycle from Kitale Town to Nairobi to raise funds to pay for his five children's school fees in secondary and university.

Richard Nyongesa Walusuna told journalists in Kitale that the school fees for his five bright children has become overwhelming and thus, he cannot sustain it from his meager sources of income whereby he goes out for casual jobs in nearby farms and homes to get some money for sustaining them at school and providing the basic necessities.

Nyongesa said that four of them are in national secondary schools across the country with one awaiting to join Kimathi University College of Technology in Nairobi after attaining an A plain at Starehe High school.

"I have decided to ride this bicycle of mine from here to Nairobi as I ask for assistance from the government, Nongovernmental organizations and other donors with well wishers who can help me raise over Kshs 1 million to have my children achieve their dream of succeeding educationally," he told reporters in Kitale.

The man who said has a total of twelve children has among them one girl at St Brigids national school in form four, one in St Anthony's boys high school Kitale, one in Starehe boys center in Nairobi while the fourth one is in form one in Kajiado.

The man who said he has a small piece of land less than a quarter of an acre on which he has only managed to put up a house on it for the family and nothing else can be done on it to generate any income.

He revealed that he has worked in various farms including tea farms in parts of Rift Valley and had struggled to sustain their initial educational needs at earlier stages, but it has now grown beyond his own personal ability to maintain them at school.

The children according to their father are bright and each of them had attained over 400 points in their KCPE examinations hence managing to be selected to some of the top schools that at the same time charge high rates of fees.

Nyongesa further added that he had some time back rode his bicycle to Nairobi to seek attention of the media to highlight his plight and attract well wishers and other donors to come to his aid but unfortunately he did not get anything meaningful after he went to Jogoo House education offices who referred him back to Kitale to be assisted from there.

"I took four days to arrive in Nairobi after I used to go to schools along the way to seek for assistance in providing me with humanitarian support such as food and sometimes shelter when darkness arrived, but when I reached there I was told by officers at Jogoo house to come back to Kitale and tell my story from here," Nyongesa said.

However, he has not given up he insists he has to do the same to ensure his plight is well known to Kenyans from which his would be donors can emerge to aid him.

He noted that he had also initially had a few volunteers who offered him support for some of his kids to some extend but the support has now been surpassed by the large number of his needy children.

Nyongesa showed fear that his son who is expected to join Kimathi University might lose the opportunity if he can't raise the school fees within the shortest time because he has been warned twice over delays and thus leading to possibilities of losing the opportunity to pursue a course in electrical engineering.

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