Meeting Ms Esther Maina, it is hard to believe that she was once a house help.

Born in 1963 at Mathioya, Murang’a and raised as a Kiambuthia village girl, Ms Maina says her life has been a cocktail of good, bad and terrible days.

Speaking to Mtaa Wangu, she revealed that growing up, her definition of success was to be a house manager in the big Nairobi city.

At the time, most of the young women who had travelled to Nairobi as domestic workers showed up with shopping bags and seemingly expensive clothes when they went back home for the festive season.

“I saw being a house help as the fastest way to make money for our family. The girls who had done it made it seem like a lucrative job,” she added.

After the death of her father, life became even tougher on her side as her mother, who did menial jobs, struggled to make ends meet.

Driven by the need to support her mother, Ms Maina became a house help while still in Primary school.

“I was happy because I had money to support my family and I could also easily access food at my employer’s home. Life was slowly becoming bearable,” she added.

Luckily, her uncle intervened and chose to support her through school.

After completing High school, Ms Maina joined Kenyatta University and studied Education to become a teacher.

“It was during my teaching practice at Nakuru High that I realized I enjoyed teaching and interacting with students. I made up my mind to be a teacher until I retire,” she said.

Now the Principal at Kariandusi Secondary School, and a part-time lecturer at St Paul’s University Nakuru campus, Ms Maina strongly believes that every student has the potential to succeed in life, their financial status notwithstanding.

When not in class, Ms Maina participates in workshops as a facilitator on family life which she says she does under the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru.

She is currently writing her thesis after enrolling for Master’s degree in Counselling and Psychology at Egerton University.

pmambili@gmail.com

From house-help to pursuing a Master's degree at 60

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Pristone Mambili