Emily travels the furthest distance to Daraja Academy, a 3 day journey. She grew up in Northwestern Kenya just 8 miles from the Ugandan border. Her tribe has a history of violence that they are trying to overcome.

Emily comes from a family where her father has two wives. The father is a casual laborer, getting work wherever he can. In her Daraja admissions interview, it was the first time that she had ever spoken to a non-Kenyan before. 

Emily has shown her capabilities in the classroom over and over again. The first term she studied and positioned herself as 4th ranked in her class. She was dedicated during the second term to improve her scores and her class rank. At the completion of her second term, Emily had leap-frogged her classmates and earned the number one position. Teachers watched how her questions became more in-depth in the classroom and watched how she improved her study habits. Emily is extremely bright and definitely has university potential. 

Christine lives with her mother, four sisters and two brothers. The family was chased away from their home by their father who desired to live with another wife. Her mother is uneducated as that was a normal occurrence for tribal girls when her mother was young.

Christine finished her primary education in 2008 . She received a scholarship to a prestigious Catholic school but had to drop out later in the year due an inability to pay school fees. Later, she attempted to begin at another secondary school but yet again had to drop out due to an inability to pay school fees.

Despite failing to complete secondary school twice, Christine miraculously never lost hope. She came to the Daraja Academy gate once a month since November 2009 to check if she had been admitted to the school. Her persistence and undying hope have finally paid off.

Christine, as otherwise known at Daraja as Jamaica, has settled into boarding school life with huge enthusiasm. She is already coming 6th in her class and is quick to flash a smile.

She has wonderful leadership potential and is motivated to become a lawyer in order to be able to assist her village by providing them with boreholes for water and better living standards.