The story of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam candidate Allan Wasonga of Agoro Sare High School in Oyugis, Homa Bay County, is one of resilience and determination.

Wasonga beat the odds to emerge second nationally, including studying for his KCSE examination in the toilet at one point to avoid interfering with his parents’ sleep.

The excited young man made the revelations during an interview on Citizen TV on Monday night as he spoke of the pressure he received from his teachers and classmates to excel.

He remembered how he was unable to study during the seven months that schools were closed countrywide when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in Kenya in March 2020.

“The videos wouldn’t work for me, and I couldn’t log in to anything,” said Wasonga.

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He added, “When schools reopened, I felt like I was on the first lap while everyone else was on their third.”

The top performer, who has been thrown into the national limelight, lives in a bedsitter in Kibra with four other members of his family.

He narrated how challenging it was to study at night when everyone else slept and given his

father is a businessman and his mother a seamstress, life has not been easy for his family.

Wasonga said he opted to study in the toilet until late into the night to allow his family members to sleep as they needed the lights in the single room off.

“I was trying to cover the topic during the night, but my mum was complaining that she was unable to sleep because the light was on, so I went to study in the toilet. When she found me, she did not say anything, she went back to bed and I closed the book since I had finished,” he narrated.

He also revealed that when the schools were reopened by the government he got very little sleep as he fought to catch up with others who had attended online classes unlike him.

“On most days, I would study until around 1:00am then go to my bed and study while standing until around 3.30am, sleep for 30 minutes before waking up for the morning preps,” he revealed.

He intends to pursue medicine to also help change his family’s fortunes.

“I want to pursue medicine and surgery and then after that I can specialise in neurosurgery. Wherever I do it, even if it is abroad, my services will be offered here in Kenya,” he added.