Meet my new hero; A Kenyan woman named Priscilla Sitienei who is going to class with six of her great-great-grandchildren in order to complete her primary school education. She is 90.
Sitienei is a midwife in the village of Ndalat with no skill to read and write. She joined Leaders Vision Preparatory School five years ago in order to learn how to, with hopes to pass on her knowledge of herbs and natural medicines by writing them down. To this day, she’s believed to be the oldest primary school student in the world. Her classmates call her “Gogo,” which translates from the local language, Kalenjin, as “grandmother.” And as if we do not learn from her enough, she wears the school uniform!
Below are Gogo's words as told to the BBC:
“I’d like to be able to read the Bible, I also want to inspire children to get an education. Too many older children are not in school. They even have children themselves. They tell me they are too old,” she continued. “I tell them, ‘Well I am at school and so should you. I see children who are lost, children who are without fathers, just going round and round, hopeless. I want to inspire them to go to school.”
“I want to say to the children of the world, especially girls, that education will be your wealth, don’t look back and run to your father,” she said. “With education you can be whatever you want, a doctor, lawyer, or pilot.”
Sitienei still works as a midwife, sometimes assisting women to give birth in her dorm room, which she shares with her great-great-grandchild. She is the motivator, inspiration, a fun friend to all her class mates.
And the world.
ps: What's our excuse?
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