Ken Carson’s grass-to-grace story has left an unfeigned impact on the lives of many Kenyans.
He has lived a meaningful and powerful life to come out on top while all the odds were stacked against him.
The 2007 KCSE A graduate from Chulaimbo High School comes from a humble background, as his parents struggled to educate him.
Mr. Carson however managed to scale the academic heights despite the rocky life terrain. He is now one of the best-qualified Orthodontists in Kenya and the founder of Lake Basin Orthodontic Center.
Ken Carson has built himself a palatial residence near his high school. He says the move is a means to motivate students from his community with a similar life story to his.
At his housewarming party, shared by YouTuber Jarunda Jaluth, Carson narrates the struggles he has had to endure to become who he is today.
Ken Carson performed so well in the final primary exams that he got a call-up to Maseno School. He reveals that despite scoring well in KCPE, he could not join his dream high school due to the abject poverty that riddled his family.
Instead, his father urged him to take up carpentry through apprenticeship. His mother on the other hand was willing to sell part of their property to take him to school.
With an urge to quench his academic thirst, his parents enrolled him at local school, Chulaimbo High. He states that he will never forget the journey that he started there.
“On February 6, 2004, at 3 am, my dad and I set out on a bicycle to Chulaimbo High School (a distance of 40 km). By 6.30 am, we were already in the school compound.”
“We sat at the visitors’ bench. The principal noticed us and summoned us in. We had no admission letter or school fees. Dad handed over the result slip. It was a chance for me,” he vividly recalled.
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“The head teacher scanned through the slip and then looked at me from head to toe. I could see him nodding; he seemed impressed. He told us to go back home and leave our contact. He would contact us after everyone has been admitted.”
Two weeks later, Mr. Carson says that his father received a call from the then-principal Mr. Hezron Oyolla. He agreed to enroll Ken Carson in the school without paying fees, on condition that his father agrees to supply farm produce to the school.
Initially, the terms of Ken Carson’s admission at the school were that he’d be a day scholar living outside school since his home was far away.
“This is the house I used to rent during my early years of high school. I would wake up at 3 am every day to de-weed people’s farms for pocket money. This reminds me of the phrase ‘never give up in life’.”
Over time, Carson would top in all his classes at Chulaimbo. This made the principal take a chance and enroll him as a boarder at Chulaimbo.
“We made him a full boarder who could not be sent home for fees because I saw an A plain and that was rare during that time. I never wanted that grade to go,” the Principal, who attended Ken Carson’s housewarming party stated.
“I went ahead to give the school their first ever A plain and put them on the newspaper. Now I am a doctor who transforms people’s smiles! Never! Never give up!” a proud Ken Carson wrote.
Carson went on to set a school record as the first A ever produced from Chulaimbo High School in KCSE 2007. By grace, Ken joined Moi University and later moved to Indiana University School of Dentistry where he studied Orthodontology.
Mr. Carson invited all his teachers from nursery to university, to thank them for molding him into the man that he is today.
“Doctor Oyolla, may the Lord bless you! Sometimes when I remember everything, I just break down,” he said.
“He always protected me. Even when they wanted to chase me for fees, he could organize for me to remain in school. We were suffering at home and I wanted to change things,” he tearfully said in his housewarming speech.
Ken Carson noted that he would mentor the local students to encourage them to reach their limits. The Doctor also pledged to support all primary school infrastructure programs.