Simantoi Kilama

Simantoi Kilama was only able to go to school about one-third of each year, because her mother could not pay school fees for an entire year, and her father, who was adamantly opposed to educating girls, would not contribute.  He demanded that she marry when she completed primary school.  When she refused, her father did not speak to her again, until she graduated from medical college and began working as a nurse.  Simantoi budgets 17% of her monthly income on her family. She continued her education while working and in 2010, graduated from the University of Nairobi in with a degree in psychology, and is continuing her career as an HIV counselor at Jomo Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi.