Grade 9 students of the Academy exhibited an insightful display of artwork connecting with cultural expressions.
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Mary Favour (Class of 2015): Ambitions to build a better future
For a while, getting an education was a process for Mary Favour. She would rise early in the dark – at 4:00 am – and make the long trek to school on foot with her three siblings, arriving at around 6:30 am each day. By the time they returned home to Mombasa, it was 7:00 pm. The rest of the evening was spent helping their mother around the house and finishing their homework.
It wasn’t easy, Mary recalled.
“My sisters and I grew up with a single mother,” she said. And resources were tight.
When the electricity bill wasn’t paid, the Favour children would study under the dim glow of a kerosene lamp or by candlelight. The four siblings had limited school supplies and relied on Mary for many of their study materials.
“We got awarded books if we topped the class,” she explained. “Sometimes we’d get textbooks, other times we’d get storybooks or novels. It was an incentive that the teachers had to motivate students.”
A new opportunity at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa
Despite the obstacles, Mary said her mother was determined for her to succeed. She pooled her resources to give Mary a much-needed laptop in grade 9. By then, things had begun to turn around – Mary had received a full scholarship to study and live at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa as part of its Talent Identification Programme, a programme that provides students from more disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to attend the Academy on full scholarship. She would graduate in 2015 and go on to study at the University of Toronto in Canada, also on full scholarship.
Now a second-year student at university, Mary hasn’t forgotten her difficult upbringing or her roots. In fact, the struggle to get an education early on has instilled in her a strong desire to give back to her community and help others like her get a shot at a better life.
“Six years of growth, skill and a good education” at the Academy was “a gift,” Mary said. “I want to [give] a gift to someone else.”
In particular, she’s learned the importance of independence, humility and sacrifice – lessons she put to use during her Academy days.
Mary joined the Aga Khan Academy in 2009 as part of the first batch of students in the Talent Identification Programme. While there, she participated in a range of activities, including choir, soccer and debate, with the same level of perseverance her mother had taught her. She quickly excelled academically, becoming an honors student in grade 10, and also challenged herself in extracurriculars – musically in competitions and as the assistant captain of her hockey team.
Helping others through community service
Beyond this, Mary fostered a passion for community service and activism rooted in her desire to help outsiders fit in. She led the ‘Just Say No’ initiative, a programme focused on rehabilitating primary school girls in Mombasa who had turned to prostitution in large part to support their families financially.
She worked with these girls for three years, exposing them to the same opportunities she and other students had the privilege of in their own education, including sports and debate. She hosted workshops on public speaking and art, as well as sessions with counsellors and strong female mentors, and invited the girls to perform at the Academy’s talent competition.
“The aim was to help them feel integrated into society but at the same time equip them with skills that would make their education holistic,” Mary said. The mission was especially important, she said, because of the gender gap she saw in Mombasa’s primary schools and the way in which this unfair system contributed to larger problems down the line.
“That inequality creates an imbalance that marginalizes women in our society,” Mary said.
Under her leadership, the club received three awards and became one of the most successful student groups on campus.
Supporting other students to succeed
In addition, Mary founded the ‘I Know Who I Am’ initiative, a programme that integrates scholarship students like herself into the Academy community while understanding that they needed to “stay in touch with home and not forget their society,” as Mary explained.
“I wanted to celebrate the diversity that came with these students but at the same time make sure that they don’t lose themselves,” she said. So she ran workshops on pluralism and open-mindedness, ate food and played games the students would recognise from home and “held discussions on what it meant to be part of a community but remain true to yourself.”
In the summer of 2017, Mary interned with the Students for International Development. The non-profit organisation was founded and is run by students. While there, she worked with the Orphan Sponsorship Programme as project manager for about two months. Mary and her team focused on the Simboyi Primary School in Vihiga, in the west of Kenya. They were in charge of the remedial education project for orphans and also worked on projects to support students financially.
After conducting interviews with some of the students in Vihiga, Mary and her team developed a means by which to help them be better equipped to reach their full potential. According to Mary, a number of the students came from families that were struggling to make ends meet. Some, she recalled, told her they only had one meal per day, which usually consisted of just ugali or porridge. Others said they didn’t eat at all. Further, a number of those who performed well in class were unable to pay for their exams and had to sit them out instead.
With Mary’s help, the organisation created a scholarship to help these students. The award, which she said covers basic health care, one meal a day, a yearly uniform and exam fees, will be able to assist 55 students during the current academic year at Simboyi. The hope is that the sponsorships will continue into the next year if budget and fundraising allow.
Real-time results and change like this mean the world for Mary, not least because she knows firsthand what it’s like to have the academic situation and resources not in your favour.
“I was a child with big dreams and no way of actualising them until I joined the Academy,“ she said. “I want to be for someone else what the Academy was to me.”
Catalyzing change for a better future
Mary believes education is one of the best tools to rid our societies of poverty, and she’s determined to be in a position to support students so they have better paths forward at their disposal than what she had. That’s why she plans on returning to Kenya after she’s obtained the necessary experience and skillset to properly give back to her country and community.
Currently majoring in human geography and diaspora and transnational studies and minoring in African studies, Mary thinks that, through the study of cultures and international development, she can better understand how to bridge the gap between rich and poor at home. Her hope is to protect the rich cultural diversity of Kenya but also contribute to changing the country so that it is better able to develop and sustain itself and compete and interact on a global scale more effectively.
“Kenya is at such a pivotal moment in the making of African history,” she said. “It has so much potential. I just want her to maximize her potential. I want to help her do it.”
Mary is uniquely positioned to kickstart such a change at home. Her pluralistic perspective on the world and passion for country could be just what Kenyans need to motivate their leaders to be better and to take action to institute real change. And if her triumphs at the Academy are any indication, Mary’s motivation may just be contagious.
By Farah Mohamed
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The Daily Nation: Aga Khan launches academies to foster leaders
The Daily Nation reports on the inauguration of the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, and how it is an important milestone in the establishment of a network of schools that foster pluralism and aim to develop the world’s future ethical leaders.
Alumni
Education at its best facilitates positive growth in all domains – intellectual, social, physical, ethical and spiritual – leading to the well-rounded development of the child. The Aga Khan Academies aim toward this ideal, and the values they espouse are reflected in each school’s aspirations for its students.
The vision for Aga Khan Academy graduates
Students at an Academy pursue a well-balanced education combining intellectual inquiry, academic excellence, sporting and cultural activities, and a grounding in ethics and moral reasoning.
They are committed to rigour and self-discipline in their studies and subscribe to the principles of intellectual honesty in the preparation of their work.
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Videos
The Aga Khan Academy Maputo is committed to developing future leaders by delivering Excellence in Education. We offer merit-based admission to our International Baccalaureate (IB) programme at our purpose-built world-class campus in Maputo, Mozambique. Watch our newly released video to learn more about our unique offering.
The International Baccalaureate featured the Aga Khan Academies and our approach to creating home-grown leaders as part of their 50th anniversary commemoration. Watch to learn how the Academies work to transform the communities in which they are located.
This is Abdirahman, a student at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. During his time at the Academy, he explored his wide-ranging abilities and developed an initiative that helped change the lives of young girls in Mombasa.
Meet Abdalla, a Somali student from the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. He shares his journey of self-discovery: Abdalla solidified his multiple identities, fostered his strengths, and created positive social change during his years at the Academy.
Women and girls are strong, fearless, courageous, limitless, and powerful. The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad celebrated International Women's Day on 8 March 2018 with this video.
Video by AFD – Agence Française de Développement about how children at the Aga Khan Academy Maputo "Dare to Dream Big" in their new school facilities. The Aga Khan Academy in Maputo, Mozambique has been growing since it opened its doors in 2013. The second phase extension was completed in early 2018 and included bigger classrooms, extended outdoor play areas, a library, an art room and a science lab.
This is Mercy, a teacher at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa who joined through the Teacher Preparation Programme. Mercy fosters profound and meaningful relationships with everyone around her and consistently encourages her students to be the best versions of themselves.
Meet Sadiq, a student at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. Open-mindedness, confidence and time management are some of the many characteristics he has developed at the Academy that will help him achieve his dream of becoming a journalist.
Meet Saumya, a student at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. A musician and a leader, she shares her wisdom on what it means to make a true positive impact.
Introducing Ivy, a student at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. Her innate drive for self-growth and desire to give back to the community makes her a true home-grown leader.
Meet Felix, a student at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. With a keen early interest in science, he shares his dreams for the future and explains how the Academies have helped foster his ambitions.
This is Stephen, a student at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. His passion for community service shines as he expresses the growth in perspective he experienced through his education at the Academy.
A day at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa's Junior School, seen through the eyes of the students.
Students and teachers from the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad are featured in this film from the International Baccalaureate about the Middle Years Programme.
This film by the International Baccalaureate highlights the impact being made by students from the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad through a service initiative at a local government school.
July 2017 video showing progress on the construction of the Aga Khan Academy Maputo's campus.
The aim of the Aga Khan Academies is to develop future leaders with the skills and knowledge to support positive development in their societies. The Academies achieve this by recruiting exceptional young people from all backgrounds and providing them with the highest international standard of education.
The Aga Khan Academies are a global network of schools that produce future leaders who are ethical, effective and pluralistic.