Jerita’s Story

Jerita grew up in extreme poverty that led to hardship and grief. Her mother has chronic asthma and lacks the medical resources to improve her health. The roof of their home leaks whenever it rains, flooding the house and leaving them susceptible to illness. This ultimately led to the death of her youngest brother who died of pneumonia before his first birthday. Today, two of her sisters, aged seven and four, are severely malnourished due to a lack of nutritious food.

A few years ago, her seven-year-old brother was taken away from home to live in a children’s center due to their poverty. He mysteriously disappeared and has never been found. Her oldest sister tried to support the family through prostitution when she was 17 years old and ended up infected with HIV/AIDS. Her father digs wells for a living but spends all the money on alcohol.

Jerita is the only one of her siblings who managed to attend school regularly while her younger siblings were often at home because of outstanding fee balances. She was fortunate to stay in school because, as one of the smartest kids in her class, the school offered to sponsor her high school education.

Despite her academic excellence, a college education wasn’t possible because of her family’s poverty, Jerita considered becoming a domestic servant in Saudi Arabia in order to help her family. The country is known for undermining women’s rights and, historically, most Kenyan women seeking to escape poverty in their homes in pursuit of domestic work opportunities in the country are enslaved, maltreated, sexually abused or, in some cases, killed.

Because of her GLOW scholarship, Jerita is able to stay in Kenya, pursue her dreams, and is given the foundation to bring change to her life and the lives of her family.

“Thank you GLOW for reassuring me that my dream will come true,“ she says. Her heart and soul lies within pursuing an education in pharmacy.