A 21-year-old polytechnic student has become one of the youngest Kenyans to secure a home under the government’s Boma Yangu affordable housing initiative.
After paying her own deposit from money she earned on construction sites while still in school, she now owns a bedsitter unit at the Pioneer Affordable Housing Project in Eldoret.
From Scaffolding to Homeowner Abigail Chepkemboi, a second-year electrical engineering student at Eldoret National Polytechnic, was interviewed on stage during the live commissioning event in Eldoret.
She told the crowd how she went from a casual attachment at the housing project to a fully registered homeowner.
Chepkemboi’s path to homeownership started when she joined the Boma Yangu construction site as an attachment student, gaining hands-on experience in scaffolding and tiling.
She became so invested that she stayed on beyond her attachment, showing up on weekends and after lectures to earn an income.
Her parents, unaware of where she was spending her time, reportedly grew worried, believing she had simply disappeared from her studies.
She later transitioned from scaffolding to sandpaper work and eventually picked up electrical installation jobs after fellow workers on site discovered she was studying electrical engineering.
Chepkemboi recalled carrying 40-kilogram loads up nine flights of stairs during the early phases of construction, describing it matter-of-factly rather than as a hardship.
When she learned that a small number of bed-sitter units were still available within the project, she moved quickly.
Commissioned With Applause
Within three days of visiting the housing office to enquire, she had made her payment and secured a unit.
Chepkemboi paid a deposit of KSh 32,000 and will pay KSh 3,800 every month. Her unit is Room 10 on the 12th floor, registered in her own name.
At the event, she was handed her keys in front of a large crowd that included fellow construction workers in hard hats and reflective vests.
She told the crowd she still plans to return to school to complete her exams, and that she had already lined up a hostel for the upcoming term while keeping her new home.
