Erickson.

From treating animals to soon treating humans, this is the story of a former dairy farm worker who refused to let circumstances define his career.

My name is Davis Kipleting, a nursing graduand from KMTC Kabarnet.

When I look back at the journey that brought me here, one truth stands out: it has been God from the beginning.

I sat my Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in 2017 with hope, but life had other plans. I could not join college, so I repeated in 2018.

In 2019, after my KCSE, I volunteered as an untrained teacher in a primary school in Eldama Ravine. I earned nothing, but it kept me moving.

At that time, I knew little about KMTC and believed it was a place meant only for the privileged.

In September 2019, things changed when I received an admission letter to the Dairy Training Institute in Naivasha.

My parents borrowed money from a neighbour to help me enrol.

I imagined myself treating animals, not knowing God was preparing me for a different kind of care.

Although the course was meant to take a year, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed our graduation to March 2021, after which I landed a job on a small farm in Mogotio.

One afternoon, a friend from KMTC Kakamega saw me in a dustcoat and asked if I was a medic. I laughed and told him I was just a “dairy man”.

He encouraged me to apply to KMTC someday, but I brushed it off because I believed KMTC only admitted students with “perfect” grades.

Life humbled me quickly.

That same week, a cow developed hypocalcemia, and the owner blamed me. I was fired on the spot. I walked home that evening with tears in my eyes, feeling defeated. My mother looked at me and said words I will never forget: “Tusikufe moyo” (let us not lose heart).

In September 2021, the friend from Kakamega reached out again and urged me to apply for a nursing course.

Using my small savings, I went to a cyber café and applied for a Certificate in Nursing. In March 2022, I received a congratulatory message informing me that I had secured a place at KMTC to Pursue Nursing.

The rest, is History! See now, I am on the Graduation List!

Cc