Family Background:
Two brothers, mother and father and one sister

Essay:
My name is Mercy Akinyi. I was born on 30th May 1989 at Olando Village Gwassi Division in Suba District. At a tender age, I moved to Nairobi together with my mother and the other three siblings to join my father, who was a casual labourer with a textile industry in the Nairobi Industrial area. I lived and grew in Kibera slums. Due to financial scarcity, I could not join city council schools as my father could not afford the then charged admission fee. My father instead negotiated with a certain pastor named Mulehi, who admitted me in his non-formal school – Mashimoni Squartors primary school.

During my primary education, I faced a lot of problems: lack of proper food at home, lack of school uniforms and regular suspension due to lack of school fear. While at Mashimoni Squartors, I participated in several extra-curricular activities such as music, athletics and soccer. I developed more interest in soccer when I was in standard seven after learning more about Dennis Oliech and the way soccer has changed his life and that of his poor parents. It was also because I wanted to be a superstar to be able to play both nationally and internationally.

While at Mashimoni Squartors, I had the opportunity to play for Carolina for Kibera - a girl’s soccer team in Kibera. On completion of my primary education, I joined providence high school where I learned for one year before being offered a chance to play for Langata High School girls’ soccer team. This meant transferring from a private providence high school to a public Langata High School and given a bursary fund for the remaining three years.

Soccer has really changed my life because it has empowered me in my community and has also helped me to evade a lot of dangerous practices that young girls in Kibera engage in, such as prostitution and bad company. It has also helped me pursue both upper primary education and high school education through financial support both for my tuition and uniform, which would have been a stay due to financial status or my parents.