Jacqueline Nasimiyu used to wake in the early hours and, after making breakfast and fetching water, she would trek down valleys, push through bushes and wiggle under barbed wire fences to cover the 6km to Mahanga K secondary school in western Kenya.
There were no school buses and no paved roads around her village of Mawa in Kakamega county. The 17-year-old’s parents could not afford to pay for the only form of transport, motorbike taxis, known as boda boda.
“I would wake up as early as 4am to do chores and still manage to arrive in school on time. I never had time to study,” says Jacqueline, who would like to become an agricultural officer when she finishes her studies.
One day, when she was running late, she begged a boda boda driver to take her for free. He agreed, but the price ended up being very high.