Ruth Omanya

Model, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring Actress Ruth Omanya shares her story to encourage, inspire, and empower others by sharing her childhood dreams, discouragements, and disappointments while pursuing her dreams in the United States.

She was a victim of physical abuse, loss and a survivor in a terrible car accident that she truly believes was a wake-up call that God had bigger plans for her than she actually realized. “I have endured pain along the way, but I know that with God’s blessing, I’m still strong and will remain strong as long as I believe that He has bigger plans for me”.

Ruth was born to Isadora Akeyo Omanya, a banker who worked for Standard Chartered Bank in Kisii, Kenya. Isadora worked for Standard Bank for over twenty- one years until her tragic death from a car accident on Christmas Eve of 1993. Her father Richard Omanya Adongo, a retired county clerk of Homa-Bay, Kenya became an entrepreneur (businessman) and politician, also passed away from natural causes several years after her mother’s death. Ruth come from a fairly well off family; she is the third to last born of her ten siblings. “As a young girl, I remember when I was growing up, and with whatever little exposure I had of American life through TV shows such as ‘Different Strokes’,’ Good Times’, or ‘Three’s Company’, somehow it made me feel connected, and I always imagined that someday I would live in this great country. I did not know when or how it would happen that I would end up in the USA someday – it was just faith at the time”.

Ruth Omanya EXCLUSIVE Story

Over the years and during her secondary schooling, she recalls almost losing this faith and possibly going through the most depressing time of her life. Ruth remembers grieving throughout the entire four years of high school. Ruth’s grandmother passed away suddenly from a cardiac arrest on my first year of high school. Her first born brother George Omanya passed away on her second year of high school. Her mother passed away on a tragic road accident on her third year of high school and, as if that was not enough grief three years in a row, Ruth lost yet another brother, her favorite brother Hanisch Omanya right after she graduated from high school. “I really miss them so much! Not a day goes by without me thinking of my late parents, brothers, and sisters. I shed a tear every time I think of them.”
After High School, and despite all the grief around her, Ruth was determined to move on with her life. Her dream of travelling to the United States had not completely died as she thought. She was determined to keep pushing. Ruth applied to several U.S. colleges, received a few rejections, but was finally accepted to join a university in Baltimore, Maryland. With everyone still grieving at home, her father completely lost and confused from her mother’s tragic death, her brother’s deaths and financially strained from paying for funerals year after year; feeling discouraged and hopeless, Ruth reluctantly decided to seek help from close friends and relatives to help her raise money to travel to the U.S.A.

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Read the Full EXCLUSIVE Story on our JUL/AUG 2010 Issue of ADUNAGOW Magazine, just released.