My name is Ibrahim Otieno, I am seventeen years old. I got 398 marks in my Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam and was admitted to the great school, Kakamega High School. I have been born and bred in the Dandora dumpsite area. I dream of better days when life is not as cruel as now. I am currently a form three student. I believe that we make our own destinies, and am currently on my path to do so. I believe that we are not born geniuses but as potential just waiting to be unleashed. We ourselves hold the pen to write our own stories and also what should be written on it. My hobbies include: playing football, reading, peer teaching and involving myself in group work. I am a former mathematics contest winner and mathematics club leader. I am an aspiring architect and I believe that with education everything is possible. I am an enthusiast of mathematics, science and technology. I strive to get impeccable grades which will enable me to get into one of the best universities in the world, Harvard University, a true dream of mine. With grit, perseverance and passion everything is possible. “Aim for the moon, reach for the stars,” they say. I would like to empower others through education, and also change the world through it. I have a dream, that all Kenyans might be able to develop themselves intellectually, morally and also emotionally, this can only be achieved. I hope that this can be done when and if I open a foundation that offers free education to the less privileged as I also have been assisted. I have been bred in an environment where crime is a hobby and drugs are like the daily bread, I have managed to stay away from these vices through God’s help and empowerment. I am downcast when I see what my fellow friends have become, those who could not stay away from drugs, I also hope to help them and my community in the foreseeable future. I am guided by a personal motto: If potential does not work hard, then hard work beats potential.