Cosmas Muiva, born in Kenya in 1971, is one of several RISE students who have been waiting for many years-more than a decade, in his case-for the support he needs to advance in his academic career past the bachelor's level. Thanks to his own perseverance, and the good fortune of an advisor who knew of the RISE program, he is now well on his way toward the PhD he has desired for so long.
His birthplace was 200 miles southeast of Nairobi, in the semi-arid county of Makueni, where his father had worked as an agricultural officer until the end of British occupation. When the British left, those steady jobs were gone. By the time Cosmas was a child, the British had departed, along with their jobs. "I never saw my father work full-time anywhere during my life," he said. "Just occasional employment in the then-Athusi chain of hotels."
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