Zoe Mutanu was born amidst family wrangles that involved her maternal relatives.
After a series of push and pull, her mother was thrown out of the family homestead.
She moved out with her children, amidst a separation from her husband.
"My mother's job iliisha (ended) we don't know what happened. At the same time we were supposed to go to school," Mutanu told the Star.
The struggles began because they had to look for cheap rental houses around the area.
But her mother's new job in a local money transaction store could only pay rent.
"Her salary was Sh5,000 and our rent was Sh4,500. It got to a point we had to negotiate with the landlord not to send us away," she said.
In Class 8, she sat her KCPE and scored 360 marks, but her mother could not afford to cater for all the expenses.
This forced the young family to seek help in form of financial assistance.
Luckily, she qualified for the Family Bank Foundation scholarship.
The Foundation scaled up the high school scholarships kitty to Sh60 million for students joining form one in 2023.
This year’s scholarship program will benefit 290 bright and vulnerable students from 32 counties and allow the beneficiaries to pursue secondary education.
The full scholarships will cater for tuition, accommodation, school uniforms, and upkeep as well as get access to mentorship to guide the young children on academics, personal development and careers.
Since 2012, the Foundation has so far awarded high school scholarships to more than 1000 beneficiaries countrywide and invested over Sh250 million in the education sector.
