Orphaned Kenyan girl achieves her dream and gives back to society

A Kenyan girl has achieved her dream of studying medicine despite losing her parents at a young age

Jackline Muthoka is studying Medicine at the University of California, Irvine

She has started a number of initiatives to give back to society

When Jackline Muthoka lost her mother to pneumonia and her father to cardiac arrest within five years when she was a child, she thought all her dreams were shattered.

In a recent interview, she said: “My dreams were shattered and the thought of being an orphan destroyed me. I didn’t have anyone to look up to anymore."

She continued: "I had lost everything! I questioned the God I knew to be all loving and caring and I didn’t know what to believe in anymore."


Jackline Muthoka achieved her dream of studying medicine
However, God had not forsaken her, as her uncle took her and her siblings in and ensured they finished high school.

She resolved to make her parents proud and studied hard with the hope of enrolling to study Medicine at university.


Jackline with her classmates
Jackline gained admission at university to study civil engineering, but her dream of studying Medicine still beckoned.

She finally won a scholarship to study pre-Medicine at Hope International University in California. Her clan in Kavumbu, Machakos, gathered to fundraise for her air ticket.


After achieving her dream, Jackline is giving back to society
Once in California, a friend urged her to apply to study Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, where she was accepted. Her dream finally realized, she said to herself: “Mom and dad are watching, make them proud.”

Jackline is now giving back to society through various initiatives. She started the Kavumbu Water Project last year and is currently fundraising for an ultrasound technology trip to Maasai Mara this year. She hopes to buy and donate an ultrasound machine to a clinic.


She is currently fundraising for an ultrasound technology trip to Maasai Mara this year
In her interview, Jackline concluded by saying: “I live every day, most of the days as my last, trying to maximize every opportunity I have and to live my parent’s legacy.”