Hello, my name is Michelle Lemuya Ikeny, and I’m 14 years old. Growing up in Turkana, one of Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL regions), I’ve seen firsthand how challenges can make success seem out of reach. But despite these difficulties, I’ve always dared to dream big.
From a young…
Dark-skinned girl, I am
Lived through the rainbow colors
Saw all the distractions
My confidence shaken
My mind swallowed; as a dark-skinned girl, I kept moving.
Dark skinned girl
A word of power
A power through my veins
A force pinning through
Shades of colour influencing my thought
But I remembered I am a dark-skinned girl
I kept moving.
Dark skinned…
Sing a million praises to my Mother.
Orisa bi ti Iya kosi laye.
Call her the virtuous woman.
Yes, she is a selfless woman.
Add the ambitious woman to the list too.
She put me first before anything,
And anyone and even before herself.
Her name is love because she abides in love.
Not just an ordinary…
As I sat at my desk, staring at the blank page before me, I felt discouraged. My dreams seemed distant, and I wondered if success was merely a myth for a village black girl like me.
Then, I recalled my mentor’s words from my student days: “Success is not a…
When I was 19, I received a life-altering diagnosis. The doctors called it soft tissue sarcoma. The tumour spanned from my pelvis to my knee, entangling itself with every soft tissue it could reach, including the sciatic nerve. The treatment plan was aggressive and unrelenting: radiation, surgery, chemotherapy, followed…