By Natali Chinchaladze
I am 14, the same age as many students at Nyamboyo Technical School. As a young woman from the Republic of Georgia, I dedicate this to my Kenyan peers, from whom I have gained inspiration through their eagerness to learn. I hope that each of them will reach their dreams. I know they are climbing towards them, enduring hardships every day to get there.
“Achievements are the building blocks that enable someone to construct a sense of themselves as a success. The achievements that matter most combine to form a version of success that has meaning and substance for the individual.” When I read this quote in a Cambridge University Press article entitled “The Meaning of Success”, I immediately thought of an NTS student – Achimba. A nineteen year old in the Electrical Wiring course, Achimba says that every time he switches on the light bulb, it gives him a sense of achievement. His goal, which he keeps in the front of his mind, is to support himself and his family one day through his future job. And isn’t that itself success – following the unstoppable desire to achieve a dream? And this is what I see – the students at NTS are all motivated and dedicated to their dreams.
On NTS’ homepage is a video with this equation: “Poverty + Isolation = Hopelessness”
I believe this equation shows us the main 2 factors leading to hopelessness. It’s a situation where one’s view of the future is nothing but an endless repetition of the present – misery.
As a 14-year old child of a middle class Georgian family, I thought everyone had choices in life. I remember the first time I went to school, my mother told me to focus and learn well, so one day I would become independent. But I have never had to embrace poverty, hunger, lack of health care, and even access to clean water. Even though my life has not always been easy, I have always had choices.
Then I discovered NTS. I learned that for many of my peers in Nyamboyo Village, the only option is to work day and night to help their families and young siblings stay alive. Without education, without a choice, they become unskilled child laborers, fall victim to teen marriage or teen pregnancy. When there is no other way, you go straight to what you know. What else is there?
So, I hope my NTS peers will hear my message: Push yourselves. Achieve. Even when it’s hard, keep going. Show the world, each of you, that hard work leads you to your dreams and to success.
And here comes Achimba’s light again, the illumination that comes from switching on the bulb. As Jones Obiria, NTS School Founder says, “Education is my personal story that has changed the trajectory of my life.” Fortunately for NTS, he was (in his own words) “one of the lucky ones.” Because of the generosity of his employer, when he was 8, he had the chance to go to school. Fortunately for Nyamboyo Village, he decided to give that same opportunity to other generations. Today, NTS has 80 students. Someday it will be hundreds. And thousands will feel the effects.
Mr. Jones’ journey has taught me more about lights and bulbs. Now I see that once you light one bulb, you want to light more. That’s what these students are doing, lighting the way for their siblings and peers.
NTS is like an early sunrise that empowers teens to change their tomorrow and their fate for the better. Most importantly, it gives the choice between hopelessness and a prosperous future. Maybe someday, this will be a future, where the words hunger, poverty, child marriage, and teen pregnancy do not exist. Maybe soon, NTS’ young leaders will be out there lighting the way toward that future.
And finally: “Education + Opportunity = A Prosperous Future”
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