By Abdullahi Jamaa

She has beaten the odds. MashaaAllah. TabarakAllah.

With an A plain of 81 points and straight As in Mathematics, English, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, the Furqan Integrated Secondary School student has emerged as one of Wajir county’s brightest academic stars.

Her story is not one of privilege. It is one of prayer, perseverance and quiet sacrifice.

“I once only imagined this dream in silence,” Hafsa Abubakar Sharif says, her voice steady but reflective. “I prayed for this, and Alhamdulillah, my prayers were accepted.”

Behind that calm gratitude lies a journey shaped by discipline and faith. In a county where students frequently study under pressure and deprivation.

Hafsa anchored herself in routine, resilience and belief. She kept Allah at the centre of her life, she says, and refused to place limits on her prayers.

At Furqan Integrated Secondary School, she found more than classrooms. She found a community that believed in her.

The school management went further, sponsoring her high school education and investing heavily in the final-year candidates by hiring top teachers, improving meals and organising weekly Islamic lectures that nourished both mind and soul.

“If I start mentioning the good food and the Thursday Islamic lectures,” she says with a shy smile, “my thank-yous might not be enough.”

Hafsa’s success also rests on foundations laid at home.

Her parents stood quietly in the background, making sacrifices that never made headlines. Their prayers, she believes, shielded her from harm and carried her through moments of doubt.

“Thank you for being there when I needed both physical and emotional support,” she says, addressing them directly. “You helped me move mountains.”

Her achievement has sent ripples through Wajir, where academic excellence is celebrated as a collective victory.

To her classmates, she offers praise rather than pride, calling them a united, hardworking group that will be remembered long after results slip from memory.

“This performance is deserved,” she tells them. “I pray the outside life brings you nothing but the very best.”

Yet even as celebration fills the air, reality presses hard.

Hafsa wants to pursue a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery. Her goal is to return  to give back to Wajir, to Northeastern Kenya, and to the nation at large.

It is a noble dream. It is also an expensive one.

For her family, university fees remain an insurmountable hurdle.

Her mother, Ms Fatuma Adan Jelle, speaks plainly and without embellishment. “My daughter has made great efforts,” she says. “I am requesting the leaders of Wajir to sponsor her university education.”

She is calling on the office of the Wajir Woman Representative and other county leaders to consider Hafsa for a scholarship, not as charity, but as an investment.

Hafsa’s sister, Fardowsa Abukar, echoes the plea, framing the achievement as bigger than one household.

“This success comes from a strong background in both secular and Islamic education,” she says. “It is an achievement for the whole of Wajir.”

She praises the school community for standing with Hafsa.

“We expect Hafsa to get a full scholarship,” she says. “We appeal to local leaders to support her ambitions.”

Here is a student who has done everything asked of her. She has worked hard. She has excelled. She has shown discipline, faith and purpose. The door to medicine is open, but she cannot walk through it alone.

Hafsa herself remains hopeful.

Her advice to younger students is simple and unpretentious. Keep Allah close, respect your teachers, honour your parents, work hard and never give up.

“Don’t limit yourself when praying,” she says. “You are asking the Most Merciful.”

Now, Wajir has a chance to answer those prayers.

A scholarship for Hafsa Abukar Sharif would not only secure one young woman’s future. It would send a message to an entire county that excellence is recognised, nurtured and rewarded.