From Nairobi's Kibera slum to China: Kenyan student reaches Chinese Bridge global top 15

From Nairobi's largest informal settlement, Kibera, to the global stage in China, 23-year-old Kenyan student Miriam Achieng Kenyatta has taken her Chinese-language journey to a new level.

In April 2026, Kenyatta won the first prize of the 25th Chinese Bridge-Chinese Proficiency Competition for College Students Kenya Division. Four months later, she represented Kenya at the global finals in China, finishing among the global top 15 — the best result ever achieved by a Kenyan contestant. She began learning Chinese in 2024.

Growing up in Kibera, Kenyatta comes from a family where her parents have no formal employment and work hard to make ends meet. Despite financial challenges, they have always placed a high value on education. Her younger brother is now studying at one of Kenya's leading universities, while her younger sister is set to begin university this September.

For Kenyatta, visiting China for the first time turned the country she had known through a phone screen into reality. Now studying geospatial engineering at the University of Nairobi, she hopes to pursue further studies in China and says learning Chinese has opened new possibilities for her future.