A Brian Omondi, Age 21, KCA University t 6am in the morning, while most students in the university are still asleep, Brian Omondi is already wide awake due to the soft cries of his one-year old son, named Jayden.
This signals the start of a new day, not with attending lectures at the university but with a life of fatherhood. He moves quietly around the small one room bedsitter which he lives in with his wife and son in Umoja Estate.
He heats porridge for his son on a small gas stove and pats the baby gently with one arm, while he checks his class schedule with the other on his phone.
This isn’t most students’ typical college morning. Brian, a 21 year old third year student at KCA University pursuing a Bachelor in IT, has responsibilities that one might say are too much for his age.
He is a father, a husband, a student and a part-time delivery rider for Glovo, all at once. His life is all about balance and every single hour counts.
“I wake up early so I can help out before class,” he says, while tightening the straps of his delivery bag.
“My wife takes care of the baby full time, so I try to do my part before I head out to school.”
He attends his classes during the day and rides foe a delivery app in the evenings, sometimes up to 10 or 11 pm.
On the weekends, he takes small free-lance tech part-time gigs like repairing laptops, installing software and doing basic graphic designs for local businesses within the area. The income he earns is never quite enough, but at least it’s something.
It’s his way of survival’ His story begins like many others, a high school student who had dreams of working in tech someday and lifting his family from poverty.
He was raised by a single mother in the county of Nakuru and was always reminded that education was key to a better future. He now studies with a family depending on him.
“It forced me to grow up quickly because I did not have any luxury to make any excuses. I had to look for ways to earn money so that I could stay in school and also be there for my wife and child.”
“My mum always used to tell me, that this degree is your ticket out. So I worked hard and got good grades. That’s how I got into university.”
Then, months into his first year, life took an unexpected-turn since his girlfriend at the time became pregnant and the carefree excitement of campus life came to an end as a heavier reality dawned upon him.
“When she told me she was pregnant, I was in shock. We were just teenagers.”
I had no job, no money and I barely understood how to be a man, let alone a father. But I knew I couldn’t run away from my responsibility. After that, the two decided to get married secretly.
She had to pause her own education to stay home with the baby while Brian continued while still hustling. On any given weekday, Brian’s schedule is usually packed.
He attends his lectures from morning to afternoon and in between that time he’s often in the library working on assignments or maybe even catching up on sleep.
From around 5 pm, he departs, weaving through the Nairobi traffic on his motorbike to make deliveries.
“There are days I’m on the road in the rain, still thinking about maybe a project I have not finished or the fee deadline coming up,” he says.
“It’s stressful, but I have to keep moving regardless.” On weekends, they are just as busy.
While most of his fellow classmates are unwinding after a week of lectures, assignments and projects, he uses the time to look for extra income. It is not an easy task carrying out all of these responsibilities on his own.
“I help out at a local cyber café, do tech support and some even build websites if I get a client. Anything that pays, I’ll do it.” Despite his resilience, the fatigue shows.
There are days he might find himself dozing in class. Sometimes he might skip lectures altogether in order to take care of his son when his wife in sick.
And other times, he simply lacks the fare to go to campus. What keeps Brian going is his son. “My son,” he says, instantly smiling.
“When I look at him, I see why all of this matters. I want to give him what I never had which is stability, a father who’s present and a future.”
Brian also dreams that one day he would start his own tech firm after graduation, which will mainly focus on cyber security and offer training opportunities for youth from poor backgrounds. But he first has to get through the next semester.
“Sometimes, it feels like everything is falling apart, but somehow, I have made it this far and that really gives me hope.”
Despite the emotional too and physical fatigue he goes through, he rarely complains but he still wishes that more people would understand what a student like him goes through.
Sometimes he misses a group meeting or falls asleep in a lecture not because he doesn’t care but because he is up all night delivering packages so that he and his family can eat. Brian is not alone.
Across Kenya, countless of students who come from low-income backgrounds go through this and every day is a battle for survival. Many carry out side hustles to pay for their fees, support siblings or even care for their own children.
Their stories end up being untold all under the assumption that university students live carefree lives.
A 2024 report by the Kenya National Bureau of statistics revealed that nearly 36% of university students are engaged in part time work so that they can support themselves or their families with the common effect for many being withdrawal from school or poor performance.
“We talk about access to education, but rarely about retention,” Brian says.
“What happens when someone gets in but can’t afford to stay?” Brian’s story really sheds light into this question and thereby challenges the notion that education alone is enough.
With lack of adequate support systems in place, many bright students are forced to go through countless struggles every day.
As he concludes his day, Brian returns home, where he finds his son Jayden fast asleep and his wife waiting for him having prepared him a meal. It’s a small moment of peace which he does not take for granted.
I asked what advice he would give other in his similar situation and his answer was simple, yet powerful.
“Don’t be ashamed of your hustle. You’re doing what you have to do. Move at your own pace. No matter how small the steps are, they still move you forward.”
Brian Omondi is many things from a student, a father, a husband, a hustler, but more importantly, he is a fighter.
His story is one of struggle, yes, but it is also one of courage, commitment, perseverance and hope.
In every class he attends, every delivery he makes to every night he soothes his son to sleep, is true evidence to what resilience looks like.
By Vincent Kinyua
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