Pauline is a teenage girl born and raised in the corridors of Kibra slums in Nairobi, Kenya. She is a true definition of self-determination against all odds.  Pauline is the second born in a family of 4 (2 brothers and two sisters) and lives with her parents in Kibera – Gatwikira area. In the year 2015, Pauline joined St. Jerome School of Hope and by that time she was in class 7. In 2016 she sat for her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and scored 423 marks out of the possible 500 emerging as the best candidate in the entire Kibra constituency in that year. The entire Schools of Hope family couldn’t be more proud of her. This outstanding performance secured her a chance to join Alliance Girls High School; one of the most prestigious National Schools in Kenya.

Throughout her high school life, she was a regular member of the SoH and was ever the first to arrive waiting for the library to be opened: a character that one would attribute to her exemplary performance.  Pauline sat for her KCSE exams early this year and again made the entire Kibra and SoH fraternity proud by scoring a straight A mean grade and becoming the top student in Kibra Constituency and the second in her Sub-County. She was second placed in the sub-county after the second top student nationwide exemplary job. Her performance was the best in all the libraries as she managed to get an A.  She has since received a scholarship to study  BSc in Medicine and Surgery at an American University. She is grateful for the opportunity she got to be part of the School of Hope as she mentions the life skills sessions, extracurricular activities and academic support from peers and the supervisors as key contributing factors towards her academic achievement and character development.