At an early age, Noah Kwoba had no other choice than to join his family in selling local brew to help put food on the table. “At the time both my parents were unemployed, and unable to provide for my three siblings and I,” Noah says. “They were doing their best. Their focus was on providing the most basic needs for their family, and education was not important despite my good performance at school.”
At Timbwani Primary school, where Noah sat for his end-of-primary school exams, Noah was lucky enough to have found a sponsor to support his education. “One of the sisters from Consolata Missionary sisters had decided to support my education from primary school to high school.”
However, just before he sat for his final exams, he faced a major challenge that stood in the way of achieving his dreams. “One day the headteacher gave me a letter that informed me that the sister who was supporting my education had been transferred to Italy and that my parents were to look for alternative support if I was to continue going to school. I was sure that I was going to drop out. Later that same day the headteacher also showed me a scholarship application form from Hatua Network and asked me to see if I could attain the cut-off marks.”
In 2013, Noah got the good news that he had been selected to join Hatua’s scholarship program and started his first year as a Hatua scholar. He joined Kwale High School, a national school, that same year. “Hatua made sure that I never had to experience being sent home for lack of school fees,” Noah says. “It meant that I could focus on my studies and remain on track to achieving my dream.”
On mentorship
More than receiving a scholarship, it was mentoring that brought the biggest change in Noah’s future trajectory. “I developed a different perspective in life compared to my peers. During the sessions, I was learning from other Hatua students and sharing ideas. That kind of engagement keeps you on track especially if you have a big goal that you want to achieve in life.”
Hatua’s holiday mentoring sessions also provided a basic essential that Noah needed at the time – a meal. “In the morning, we had a study group session and after that we were given lunch before we went for Hatua’s mentoring sessions in the afternoon. The meals motivated me to keep attending the sessions because, like most students in the program, we mostly ate one meal at supper. Attending the sessions meant that we could at least have two meals in a day.”
While his peers outside of Hatua stayed idle during the school holidays, Hatua’s high school mentoring program provided Noah with an escape from negative influences. “The environment I grew up in didn’t really value education. Some of my friends who hadn’t transitioned into high school had joined local gangs, so during school holidays they would invite me to do activities that were illegal in some cases. I narrowly escaped going down a dark path; the pressure was real and overwhelming but I’m glad that Hatua’s mentoring programs kept us engaged,” Noah says.
After Noah finished high school and joined the Gap Year mentoring program, he met his inspiration – Hatua’s high school mentoring coordinator at the time, Boniface Waithaka. “I watched him work and realized that I also wanted to do the same thing. I chose to study counseling psychology in college because of my interactions with Boniface and the experience I got as a peer mentor during my gap year.”
Noah found his feet as a trainer thanks to these experiences. “I became a trainer because I realized that I loved being a facilitator during my gap year community outreach program. After a session, I would leave class feeling like I made a difference in someone’s life. I also received feedback from my mentees that they loved my sessions as much as I enjoyed teaching them!”
Pathway to the future
Buoyed by the positive feedback, Noah also sought out more opportunities to volunteer as a facilitator while in college. He joined Hatua Network’s mentoring program, this time as a volunteer, helping equip youth who were just like him, with important life skills. After graduating, he joined Professional Mentors of Africa, an organization that goes around high schools and colleges in the country training and facilitating life skills sessions for students. “I can say I am who I am because of training I received through Hatua,” says Noah. “I realised that I have unique qualities that make me a gifted trainer. Now I want to use that gift to positively impact other people’s lives in the same way Hatua did mine,”
Equipped with his diploma in Counseling Psychology, innate talent, and significant experience as a trainer, Noah has been successful in the job market, securing a job as a Trainer & Training Coordinator at MDF Training & Consultancy in June 2022.. Not only will Noah facilitate trainings, he is also handle training logistics such as looking for new venues and finding audiences. According to Noah, “it’s a great privilege because I get to work with different trainers who have more experience than I do. It’s also preparing me for the future as I would like to become a training consultant and start my own training consultancy company.”
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