Six years ago, she had a dream. She told me she wanted to pursue her Master’s. At the time, it sounded almost impossible—financially out of reach, logistically complicated, and emotionally heavy. So, like many dreams planted in hard seasons, it was shelved. But it wasn’t forgotten.
Fast forward to now, and we’re celebrating the fulfillment of that dream. My wife—determined, faithful, and fierce—is officially an MBA graduate from Fairfield University. Go Stags!
But this was no fairytale.
The Rejection Season
Her journey began with doors slammed shut. One university rejection after another. Three no’s in total. It would’ve been easy to stop trying. But she didn’t. She kept showing up, kept applying, kept believing—until finally, Fairfield said yes.
Then Came Tuition Reality
With an acceptance letter in hand, the next mountain loomed: how do we pay for it?
As an international student, financial aid options were scarce. Scholarships were elusive—either taking months to respond or looping us through endless applications only to come back with a “you do not qualify.” But we had already inched too close to the dream to back away now.
Back home, we call it school fees—modest, manageable, relatively reasonable. But here? It’s “tuition.” And tuition has a way of multiplying faster than any statistics formula. In Kenya, a master’s program might cost $2,000 to $10,000. In the U.S., that same piece of paper comes with zeros that can make your head spin.
Yet somehow, she found a way. Hurdle number two: cleared.
"We paid tuition, not school fees. There’s no quitting here."
Daniel Mainye
Founder, DanMan Group
Reality Hit Like a Freight Train
With tuition sorted, you’d think the hard part was over.
Nope.
If you went to school when Kodak film was still a thing and Nokia ringtones ruled, let me prepare you: Calculus is back. Probability and statistics too. The kind of classes that make you want to track down whoever decided ‘x’ and ‘y’ needed to be involved in everything.
And then there was programming. She took it on as a grown “18-year-old” (😉) and quickly discovered that learning to code isn’t as glamorous as YouTube tutorials make it seem.
She almost threw in the towel. And honestly? Who could blame her. But as I gently reminded her, “We paid tuition, not school fees. There’s no quitting here.” 😅
The Juggle: Grace in the Chaos
What blows me away is that she wasn’t just a student.
During all this—projects, exams, group work—she also volunteered at her school’s Career Development Center, helping undergraduate students prep for mock interviews. Coaching others while barely holding it together herself. Giving when she herself was drained.
And as if that weren’t enough… she did all of this while I was in the ICU, undergoing multiple operations. At times, it felt like the world was collapsing in slow motion—but she kept going. She stayed strong for both of us.
She never made a big deal about it. She just… showed up. Over and over again.
Graduating in Record Time
She didn’t just graduate—she accelerated.
She skipped summer and fall breaks, overloaded her course schedule, and completed the program in just one year. No shortcuts. No handouts. Just prayer, grit, and an unwavering refusal to stop.
Even when the analysis wasn’t giving any workable data (😊), she kept going.
Reflections
I’ve always admired my wife. But this season? It revealed a quiet kind of heroism.
Balancing (or more accurately, integrating) school, volunteering, family life, emergency room visits, and the full weight of being an international student—she didn’t just survive it. She soared.
She would probably downplay it all. Say she just did what had to be done. But from where I stood—often from a hospital bed—I saw a woman who refused to fold. A woman who turned chaos into courage.
What’s Next
So here we are. An MBA graduate. A dream once shelved, now fully realized.
Take a moment to let it sink in, Babe. You did it. You prayed. You persisted. You showed up when it was easier to shut down. You gave even when you had nothing left to give.
But don’t take too long—because the next chapter is calling. And I’ll be right here to write about that one, too.
