Malvine Oduor is an alumnus of the Agoro Sare High School in Homa Bay County after completing his KCSE. Life decided to give him a basket full of lemons, but he is slowly learning how to make lemonade from his bitter past.
Malvine is a street boy in the Nairobi CBD region. Judging by his clothes, it is easy for one to mistake the young man, born on 8th June 2004, for a school dropout.
Malvine shocked many when he revealed that he has had a decent education despite coming from Mathare slums and now sleeping in the streets of Nairobi since 2020. This follows a misunderstanding with his family.
In an interview with legendary photojournalist Joseph Mathenge, Oduor narrated that he attended Mission of Hope International School for his entire primary education. Here he completed his KCPE exams and scored 386 marks.
After his brilliant performance in primary education, his primary school deemed it fit to sponsor him to Agoro Sare High School.
“Due to some disagreements with my family in 2020, I came to the streets. But we were rescued by a children’s home organization, and they took us back home,” he narrates.
“Even though I was assisted and got back to school while still at home, I could not stay there. The situation worsened forcing me to return to the streets,” he added.
Malvine adds that during his school days while in the streets, he used to sit and read his books. He hoped to do well in his final exams, which he did scoring a B plain of 64 points.
“I’ve been reading, consulting my teachers at school and utilizing the online tutorials on Youtube.”
Here are his results; OWINYO MALVINE ODOUR:Â INDEX 41710301278 MEANÂ GRADEÂ BÂ AGPÂ 64 ENG B KIS A- MAT B- BIO B CHE C- HIS B+ GEO A BUS B-
Malvine says his experience as a street boy has increasingly become more and more difficult. He has more challenges now than there were in 2020. He survives on the tips he gets from drivers he assists in the CBD.
“Life is becoming harder and harder in the streets. I don’t see myself surviving this. In 2020 life was easier and more manageable. But now, I don’t see it,” he says.
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Malvine anticipates that there is a Nairobi County government policy set to be enforced in the coming weeks and will sweep him and his friends in Nairobi streets from their hustles.
“We might not be here in some days to come. The city council is trying to ship off all the street boys. I don’t see myself surviving this,” the dejected boy continues.
Some of the physical challenges he faces are harassment, beatings by police officers, runoffs, and more. Natural challenges include the sunshine and lack of shelter when it rains.
Malvine dreams of joining the university. On his end, he has accomplished the bare minimum. Odds are high that his family won’t allow him to pursue further education at the university, despite attaining minimum entry requirements.
“School fees may not be there, so I might just resort to staying in the streets and continue with this life,” Malvine says.
Malvine Oduor pleads with sponsors and institutions capable of taking him to new heights to hear his plight for help.
“I would like to ask the sponsors out there to assist me to get fees so that I can continue with my studies,” he eloquently begged.