Prudent bursary use proves students can change their lives

When their parents died in 2000 and 2004 respectively, the task of bringing up Egerton University graduate Franciscar Lokwar, now 27, and her three siblings was left in the hands of her grandmother and, occasionally, an aunt.

Life in the arid county of Turkana in northern Kenya that is Lokwar’s home is never easy, even for those with parents, let alone for orphans like her under the care of ageing guardians. Drought is a perennial problem in this region where the main economic activity is livestock-keeping. Statistically, the county is rated to have the highest levels of poverty in Kenya.

“I went through high school and university courtesy of various bursary allocations meant for bright pupils, be they from government well-wishers, or from our Constituency Development Fund,” Lokwar said.

While the initial round of bursaries enabled her to complete four years of high school, the second round enabled her to enrol at Egerton University in Njoro in 2012, where she graduated with a diploma in animal health in 2015. She went home after graduation to an internship as an animal health assistant with the local government, got married and became a mother.

However, Lokwar was passionate about improving her qualifications. So, when a friend told her about a scholarship opportunity for a degree programme at her former university, she applied without hesitation and got the chance to study towards a bachelor degree in animal science.

Supporting self and family

“The county government which had given me an internship was just about to absorb me as a full-time pensionable employee, but when I won the scholarship, I turned down the offer, picked up my children, packed my bags and headed for Egerton,” Lokwar said.

She is now in her third year at Egerton, thanks to a partnership between the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) and the Mastercard Foundation.

Under the Transforming African Agricultural Universities to Meaningfully Contribute to Africa’s Growth and Development (TAGDev) initiative, she is being sponsored for her four-year degree course. This includes full tuition and a living stipend which has enabled her to juggle being a student during the day and a parent at night.

Lokwar rents a house at the campus where she lives with her children, aged four and six. They attend Egerton’s Kilimo Primary School. Also living with her is a niece she has been helping to educate since October 2020 after she noticed the girl was being neglected at home. The community the niece comes from places little value on the education of girls.

Lokwar’s husband works in a nearby town but joins his family over weekends.

She also helps her younger brother who is in high school in Turkana and takes care of her elderly grandmother.

Students encouraged to be responsible

Professor Nancy Mungai, Egerton’s director of research, and coordinator of TAGDev at the university, said such responsible use of student money, to offer some support to family, is allowed and encouraged under the scholarship scheme. Students support themselves and their families, and others run vibrant businesses, she said.

“Prudent use of money and financial management are some of the things students under the programme are taught during orientation, and a large percentage of our students have turned out very well,” Mungai said.

Students supported under the programme come from humble backgrounds, and a meticulous process of choosing beneficiaries ensures that only the most deserving benefit. This involves visiting their homes to validate a family’s economic status, she said.

Now in its sixth year, one of the TAGDev initiative’s major aims is to transform agricultural universities and their graduates by applying a new model for agriculture education that exposes them to experiential learning.

It also involves entrepreneurship and community engagement as major components in its objective to better respond to developmental challenges through applying science, technology, business and innovation towards rural agricultural transformation, Mungai said.

Money for family and business

Just like Lokwar, 22-year-old Dennis Odero was brought up by his grandmother after his mother died when he was nine years old. He studied amid financial difficulties, eventually overcoming many odds to graduate from Egerton in 2018 with a diploma in dairy technology.

However, in 2019 while he was at home in Homa Bay County, a lecturer friend alerted him to an opportunity for a scholarship from TAGDev for which he applied. After the home vetting and home visiting for validation purposes, he was offered a sponsorship for a degree programme in agri-business management.

Soon afterwards, Odero was invited to the university for his orientation. There, he met beneficiaries from East Africa and beyond who, like him, had been awarded scholarships. Training included lessons on leadership financial management and entrepreneurship, among others – lessons every beneficiary was expected to apply practically.

“I have a passion for agriculture. I want to use the knowledge gained during my studies in Egerton and during orientation to make some money and help my people,” Odero said.

While at home during the COVID-19 break in 2021, RUFORUM-Mastercard sent him his stipend money, which he added to his savings. He bought two dairy cows at US$600 each and now gets an average of 30 litres of milk a day from the animals.

Odero sells the milk at the local market and employs two workers to help manage the venture. He is using proceeds from the venture to help educate a stepbrother who is in high school and plans to support the young man’s education until he joins the university, just as he, himself, has been supported.