“Put your hands on the chalk board,” his teacher told him.The boy watched his teacher sharpen his stick. He knows what’s coming next. The harsh punishment. The aches. The pain – the consequences of forgetting his homework.

 The boy who experienced this treatment is junior Munyutu Munyutu, a student from Kenya, Africa. “He took a grip of my shorts and started asking me why I forgot my homework and began 10 slashes,” he said. “You have to endure the pain.”

 The educational environment in Kenya is centered around discipline. “There were times you would get sent to the headmistress’s office and she knocked you in the head,” he said. “And you have to endure it.”

 Munyutu is a student with a mission. His harsh educational experiences only encourage him to succeed. Although the abuse at school in Kenya could have scarred him, it didn’t. This is because he uses these situations as opportunities for growth. The difficulties people in his country have to face daily have become evident to Munyutu, which makes him want to change it.

 At school in Kenya harsh punishments come easily if a student forgets his homework, provides an incorrect answer when asked a question by a teacher, or misbehaves.

 Despite the discipline at his school, Munyutu noticed something else about his country. “Back then I just thought of it as home, but now I understand about government and see it’s almost corrupt.”

 Due to the corruption and heavy discipline in schools Munyutu’s family decided to leave Kenya in 2002 and head to the United States, where they moved to Stockton. He says the main reason his family left is because his parents sought a better education and life for him and his younger brother.

 Even though he is no longer in Kenya, one of Munyutu’s main goals is to change his country by providing better education and eliminating the corruption within the government. He wants to use the education he receives in the United States to reach that goal.

 “I want to change (the corrupt government), direct things where they need to be,” he said.

 Munyutu’s goals and determination are evident to some of his teachers. English teacher Victoria Long says she enjoys having him as her student.

 “He’s such an intelligent student,” Long said. “He’s driven and he wants to succeed.”

 Biology teacher Elizabeth Lewis feels similar. “I think he’s very determined, and very concerned about his grade.”

 So far he has been in the United States for six years. One thing he says he enjoys about the United States is “the way you’re treated.”

 Although Munyutu is content with being in the United States he does miss home, and everyday he wears a piece of his home on his arm. This is a bracelet which consists of 200 red, black, green, and white beads.

 “The black is for the people, the red is for the blood and the green is for the land and the white is the border in between,” he said.

 “It’s something just to show where you’re from.”

 He wants to go back to Kenya, perhaps next summer, but not forever, he explained.”I still want to finish my education here,” he said. “Because the education there, there are sacrifices you have to make.”

 And these sacrifices are serious. For some it means selling their land, farm animals, and things which are necessities for survival. Despite the hardships Munyutu’s family faced in Kenya he does not let them affect his determination.

 “I want to lead not follow, and if I follow, I want to follow to lead.”