Be part of my Ivy League dream

Mercy Adhiambo Start Date: May 15, 2021 - End Date: Feb 14, 2022
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Professional Development
  • Study/Degree Abroad
  • United States of America
  • New York, NY, United States of America

My Travel Story

by: Mercy Adhiambo Start Date: May 15, 2021 - End Date: Feb 14, 2022
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Professional Development
  • Study/Degree Abroad
I got admitted into a Ivy League. I never imagined I would type these words. I am a journalist in Nairobi and I have a once in a lifetime opportunity to further my studies in Columbia University. Even as I type this, it is still unblievable for me. 
My journey as a journalist has been long. My undergraduate would be paid for by strangers I met online. 
In 2007, I had passed secondary school but my mama who sold fish could not pay for my university.

“What will we do? she constantly asked whenever she found me crying.

 After wallowing in self-pity for a while, I approached a cyber café owner in my town and we struck a deal. I would work for her for sh.100 (1 USD)  everyday if she teaches me basics of computer.
I used my free time at the cyber café to enter writing competitions. My plan was to use the prize money from the completion to pay for my university fee. I got many rejection letters but pressed on. I never won any contest, but something grand happened. One woman, an elementary school teacher in USA bumped into one of my articles and reached out. After a year of exchanging emails, she surprised me by saying she had told other teachers my story and they were fundraising for me to go to journalism school.
And that is how I trained and started practising. I have been writing features and human interest stories. Then Covid happened and it awakened my desire to learn how to report better. 
In our newsroom, in between the clatter of keyboards, people talk in hushed tones about “when the trumpet will sound.” It has nothing to do with the biblical end of world. It is a reference to when the human resources boss will come with letters of redundancy.

We laugh nervously about it, but the reality of how journalists are losing their jobs globally is not lost on us. Covid-19 made things worse. Advertisers withdrew, media audiences suddenly had no money to buy media products and the result was massive job losses and pay cuts. Amidst the doom, I see an opportunity.

Moreover, the greatest lesson I got when reporting on Covid-19 is the universality of human emotions. When fear, disease, and death comes, we turn to each other for support. Coronavirus shattered geographical barriers that constrict news content. Suddenly, all media platforms were talking about the threat humanity is facing. People were lapping at any information they could get. A story I had written in Kenya about people using lemon and ginger to ‘prevent’ coronavirus became a discussion point at a radio station in Russia.

It reminded me of the importance of knowing how to report for the world and not just my location; hence my choice to study science reporting at Columbia. I have full tuition financial aid, and I am seeking money to travel and pay rent. 


  • United States of America
  • New York, NY, United States of America

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