Kenyan villager becomes high flyer with Chinese airline

China Southern Airlines creates a sustainable future for local employees in Kenya with better incomes and living standards as part of their corporate social responsibility.

Judith Kamai now is a passenger service supervisor in China Southern Airlines in Nairobi, Kenya. [Photo: Judith Kamai]

Judith Nashipai Kamai, a young Maasai woman from a cattle farming family in a small town called Kilgoris in Kenya's Narok County, has been hired by China Southern Airlines after becoming the first few in her village to graduate from high school and go to university.

Maasai warriors perform the adumu, or "jumping dance," to demonstrate their strength and agility in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. [Photo: CRI/LIU Chi]

Judith Kamai always dreamed of exploring the world outside her village, a dream that was fostered by her mother Joyce. "If you have something in mind, if you want to do something, you can always do it, as long as you have the patience and the passion," her mother said.

After completing high school in 2009, she traveled overseas for the first time when she won the opportunity to take part in a Chinese language study trip to Zhejiang University in China, which was organized as part of a bilateral exchange program. After being awarded her bachelor degree in 2014, she returned to Kenya and started her efforts to promote the China-Kenya relationship and make a difference to her village and her country.

When China Southern Airlines established a direct flight between Guangzhou and Kenya's capital Nairobi in 2015, she successfully applied to work with the company to become one of a small number of its local employees. Now a passenger service supervisor, her job provides her a good salary that allows her to support her family and also contribute to charities in her local community.

China Southern Airlines has said that creating a sustainable future for local employees in Kenya with better incomes and living standards is part of their social responsibility. "Employees like Judith strengthen connections between our two countries and their people. By helping them flourish, we make our success a local one as well. And it can continue to help us grow," said Wu Weijun, the general manager of China Southern's Nairobi office.

Mr. Wu Weijun, the general manager of China Southern's Nairobi office, Nairobi, Kenya. [Photo: CRI/YANG Yuting]