Uche Sandie Nnamoko was in a dark place, and doubted her dreams, when she heard the story of Legson Kayira that changed her life.
Today, she says she’s almost living her dreams like Legson Kayira.
Legson Kayira was from Tumbuka, in present day Malawi. He trekked about 3,200 miles, as a teenager, from his village to Cairo because he wanted to be like his American heroes-Abraham Lincoln and Booker T. Washington.
He knew the only way to rise from his environment and make a meaning was to get first-rate education, and he made up his mind to get it in America.
Armed with just a five-day supply of food, a Bible, a copy of The Pilgrim’s Progress, an axe, and a blanket, he set out to get a degree from his remote village.
Fifteen months after he began his journey, he arrived in Kampala, Capital of Uganda, about a thousand miles from home. He spent 6 months in Kampala doing odd jobs and reading voraciously.
He wrote to the Dean of a College in Washington, who admired his determination and granted him admission, a scholarship, and a job.
He would later became a professor in Cambridge, and he wrote a book titled ” I Will Try“.
Youth of Malawi, a charitable organisation from America, built a primary school in Malawi and named it after Legson Kayira in 2014. The school is solar-powered, harvests rainwater, and has an outdoor projector for movies.
More of his story in Value: The Currency of Life.
