Creaw Portal

Nine years ago she sneaked out to a disco, a move that changed the rest of her life.That wild night she lost her virginity and a few months later she was suspended from school because she was pregnant.

Susan Anyango Konditi moved in with the father of her child, a dancer in Machakos. "He assault­ed me frequently before i left to stay with my grandmother in Ug­enya constituency," says Konditi.

Desperate,she contemplated abortion. "I had Sh8,OOO for my form three fees and I was told abortion costs Sh4,000 ... In the end I chickened out,"she says.

Another drastic turn in her life came after she gave birth at 19 and developed a tumour on her right breast.Went back to my boyfriend for money for an oper­ation but he continued to abuse me and I had to return to my parents' house," says Konditi.

Treatment was successful and she continued with her education. She attended classes at St Georges Tutorial at Kenda House. "I regis­tered for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education as a private candidate in 2004 at Maringo Cen­tre in Nairobi," she says.

"I would leave home as early as 6.am for tutorials on what I missed in Form Three before I at­tending form Four classes from 8.am," she says. She raised Sh2,OOO tuition fees and transport by selling roasted groundnuts to schoolmates over break and lunch.

Neighbours mocked me for going to school yet i was a moth­er," she recalls.She sat KCSE in 2004 and scored C. She joined the Kenya Institute of Mass Communications to pursue her lifelong dream of becorning a journalist,