Kenyan slumdweller who found salvation in a garbage dump

Kenyan slumdweller who found salvation in a garbage dump

 

In 1997, Sammy Gitau, a drug addict and scavenger, found a Manchester University prospectus in a pile of garbage; this week he graduated from the university with a masters degree

 

Sammy Gitau says he will now return to Kenya to help others

 

London: Kenyan community organiser Sammy Gitau completed another step in his remarkable journey this week.

 

The story began when Gitau was foraging through a rubbish dump in his birthplace, the slums of Nairobi, and now includes a hard-earned masters degree from Britain's University of Manchester.

 

Of the thousands of students who graduate from the University of Manchester this week, 35-year-old Sammy Gitau's journey to the institution is probably the most remarkable.

 

Born and raised in Mathare, a slum in Nairobi, his parents made a living by selling illicitly brewed alcohol. Gitau's was only 13 when his father was killed in a fight. Being the oldest son in a family of 11, he became the family breadwinner by stealing and dealing drugs.

 

But in 1997, Gitau's life changed when he overdosed on cocaine and fell into a coma. That experience somehow turned his life around and when he recovered he decided he wanted to help others. He went out onto the streets and began organising the community and helping people. It was during this time that Gitau was foraging through a pile of garbage in Nairobi when he found a prospectus from the University of Manchester. Going through it he became interested in a programme offered by the Institute for Development Policy Management. He recognised the course as something that would enhance what he was already doing

 

Later, he mentioned his dream of attending the university to people who had supported his projects. They in turn called Peter Mann, the course director at the University of Manchester.

 

Mann says there are cases where the university has admitted people without an undergraduate degree, but Gitau did not even have a high school diploma. The university took a chance on him because he came highly recommended and his quiet confidence and determination were the qualities that made him prevail against the odds.

 

Mann says Gitau had never written an academic essay or looked up academic references in a library, but he was helped by the staff and somehow made it through without any preferential treatment.

 

Gitau says he intends to return to Kenya, where he hopes to use his new skills to strengthen the community resource centers he has set up in four slums. For Gitau, graduating is just the beginning of what he called a new and exciting chapter in his life. Most of all he hopes that his story can inspire others and show them that if they want something bad enough, it is achievable.

 

Source: Mumbai Mirror