Esther's Story: "Being an Award volunteer has greatly increased my community consciousness and love for bettering people’s lives."

In the field of education, Award Leader and youth-development advocate Esther, is blazing the trail as a champion of holistic education. With over a decade of experience as a teacher at Nyeri High School in Kenya, she has been more than just an educator to her students and peers, whom she teaches with a unique blend of empathy and strength.

For Esther, teaching goes beyond the four walls of a classroom. What we at the Foundation often refer to as ‘ learning ‘Beyond the Classroom’, she believes that young people require a well-rounded education that goes beyond academics to include life skills, values, and community engagement. This belief has driven her to incorporate the Award programme into her teaching approach – a move that has profoundly affected both her and the students she teaches: “Being an Award volunteer has greatly increased my community consciousness and love for bettering people’s lives.”

Esther has worked tirelessly overcoming the challenges of being a female coordinator in an all-boys school. Her ability to keep pushing forward is by living for those “aha moments” when students consciously decide to continue serving their communities even after completing the Award.

One of Esther’s most significant achievements is her work in pioneering the partnership between Nyeri High School and a local prison. This partnership, now in its 10th year, has grown with the President’s Award-Kenya programme now run in correctional facilities across the country.

In addition to this, Esther has brought the Award to Kamwenja Teachers Training College, where she currently serves as an Award Leader. Her decision to introduce the programme to the college in 2022 was a natural progression of her mission to shape future educators with ‘21st-century’ skills:

Having been a teacher trainee myself, I really wish that the Award can be rolled out in all the teacher training colleges in the country.

Gender equality is another area Esther is keen to champion in her role as Award Leader. In the Kenyan teacher training colleges, where there are fewer male than female trainees, she has intentionally placed male trainees in leadership roles. This approach has encouraged participation from male Teachers who are otherwise under-represented in this field. In tandem, Esther has equally empowered female trainees from marginalised communities, to take up leadership roles and challenge cultural norms that often place women in the background.

Through the years, Esther has faced challenges, particularly in convincing young adults to commit; especially participants from marginalised communities who face what she describes as a ‘myriad of challenges’ from poverty, historical biases to limited access: “participants from the marginalised communities, often, if not always, feel like they are not seen nor are they even heard let alone felt.”

Esther summarises her experience as watching “participants metamorphosize into a beautiful butterfly after months of being a caterpillar as they navigate the Award.” Her commitment knows no bounds: when necessary, she uses her own savings to ensure no one is left behind. And as such, Esther’s work stands as a beacon of hope, making her a true champion of youth development – one who will continue to inspire for years to come in Kenya and beyond.