A Discussion with Elizabeth Akinyi, Student, St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School, Nairobi, Kenya
With: Elizabeth Akinyi Berkley Center Profile
May 27, 2016
Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice fellowship project, undergraduate student Khaliyah Legette interviewed Elizabeth Akinyi, a student at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School in Nairobi, Kenya. St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School serves AIDS orphans in Kibera, the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa. In this interview, conducted in May 2016, Akinyi discusses the influence of her Catholic education and her future plans.
What is your name, and what year are you in school?
I’m Elizabeth Akinyi, and I am in twelfth grade, which is the fourth form here.
How do you see Catholic education shaping who you are as a person?
I think it shapes me as a person because through the education we get here, and since the system of learning here is all-inclusive, including the spiritual, the physical, and the academic, we get to learn more compared to if you were just in a system that is only academic. So it changed my life, because I get to know more.
What is the most rewarding part about being a student here?
The most rewarding part about being here is the people around me and the education I get. Because without the people around me, I could not have been the person I am today. If I compare myself with when I was in form one, I am a different person, because back then I was just focusing on finishing school, getting it by me, and going on with life. But now I’m focusing on learning how to serve people and to be a better person in the future.
What do you hope to be when you grow up?
When I grow up, I want to study law so that I’m able to change the situation here in Kenya. And after doing law and maybe doing that for 15 years, I would like to become the chief justice of Kenya and try to change something in this nation.
I’m Elizabeth Akinyi, and I am in twelfth grade, which is the fourth form here.
How do you see Catholic education shaping who you are as a person?
I think it shapes me as a person because through the education we get here, and since the system of learning here is all-inclusive, including the spiritual, the physical, and the academic, we get to learn more compared to if you were just in a system that is only academic. So it changed my life, because I get to know more.
What is the most rewarding part about being a student here?
The most rewarding part about being here is the people around me and the education I get. Because without the people around me, I could not have been the person I am today. If I compare myself with when I was in form one, I am a different person, because back then I was just focusing on finishing school, getting it by me, and going on with life. But now I’m focusing on learning how to serve people and to be a better person in the future.
What do you hope to be when you grow up?
When I grow up, I want to study law so that I’m able to change the situation here in Kenya. And after doing law and maybe doing that for 15 years, I would like to become the chief justice of Kenya and try to change something in this nation.
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