From Hustling In The Village To Shaping Futures: The Remarkable Journey Of Teacher Josephat Kibui

By Felix Njenga

When Josephat Kibui Gitau completed his KCSE examination in 2012, he held onto a dream he had nurtured since high school—to one day become a teacher.

But standing in Gakui village in Gatundu North, where poverty had shaped nearly every aspect of his childhood, that ambition felt painfully out of reach.

He left Makwa Secondary School without even collecting his result slip, weighed down by a fee balance his family could not clear. With no pathway to college, he turned to survival, taking whatever work he could find.

“I knew my reality,” he says. “I came from a very poor background, and I was devastated because I didn’t see how I would ever make it to university.”

His early years after high school were a blur of odd jobs. At his uncle’s home, he juggled running a small butchery with riding a motorbike for hire, scraping together just enough to get by. He later pieced together a modest teaching role at a village academy, earning KSh 4,500 a month while still supplementing his income through boda boda errands.

Yet even as he hustled, one thing never changed—his conviction that he was destined to teach.

The breakthrough came from a place few would expect: a Mother’s Union meeting in the village church.

There, Kibui’s mother met Rosemary Kirika—then a master’s student, now the Kiambu Deputy Governor. Moved by the family’s struggle, Kirika helped rally six villagers from Gakui to raise approximately KSh 200,000. The funds covered Kibui’s first two years at Kenyatta University, while the remainder was used to buy two calves for his mother to rear.

When the calves matured and were sold, the proceeds paid for another year of his university fees.

But life on campus was still far from easy.

“I struggled a lot,” he recalls. “But Rosemary would send me KSh 100 every day just to help me survive.”

Despite the hardships, Kibui completed his Bachelor of Education (Arts) degree in 2016—an achievement he describes as nothing short of miraculous.

Armed with his degree, Kibui imagined that a good job would follow immediately. But reality proved otherwise.

“I thought I’d graduate today and get a job tomorrow. That was not real,” he says.

His first teaching job in Nairobi allowed him to secure a KSh 75,000 loan, which he used not for himself, but to enroll his younger sister in university—a promise he had made while still struggling through his own education.

But the joy was short-lived. The contract was not renewed, forcing him back home, where he returned to riding his uncle’s motorbike. Concerns from villagers and pressure on his mother eventually pushed him to try again.

He later secured a position in a private school. Step by step, he rebuilt himself until the government announced openings for teachers. This time, purely on merit, Kibui earned a spot at Kiarithaini High School in Nyeri.

His lifelong dream had finally come true.

What makes Kibui’s story extraordinary is not just where he came from—but how he chose to lift others once he found his footing.

“Had Kirika not helped me, I wouldn’t have helped the boy or even my sister,” he reflects.

Back in Gakui, he formed a youth charity group aimed at supporting vulnerable students. During one outreach, he met a boy whose life story mirrored his own. Deeply moved, he rallied friends and used the same community-driven model that had supported him years earlier.

Their efforts helped the boy join JKUAT, where he relied on HELB loans to complete his studies. He, too, graduated—another product of a chain of generosity sparked by Kibui’s resilience.

“That is my success story,” Kibui says. “Today I’m an employed teacher who has also helped change lives.”

To Deputy Governor Kirika, Kibui’s journey is a testimony to what can happen when a community comes together.

“I touched his life in 2013,” she recalls. “We mobilised six people and raised KSh 200,000. We paid his two-year fee and bought two calves for his mother. The young man worked hard and graduated.”

She vividly remembers sending him KSh 100 daily during his studies.

But perhaps most memorable for her was the day he reappeared—years after graduation—to express his gratitude and share the impact of the help he received.

“He disappeared after graduating and only resurfaced last week to tell me his story,” she says. “It is truly a success.”

Today, Josephat Kibui is more than a teacher. He is a beacon of hope, a mentor to young people, and a testament to the power of resilience, humility, and community support.

From boda boda rider to inspiring educator, from struggling youth to benefactor, his journey illustrates how opportunity—no matter how small—can ripple across generations.

In classrooms, in homes, and in the quiet corners of Gakui village where his story began, Kibui is living proof that when determination meets kindness, even the most unlikely dreams can be realized.