Kilemi Mwiria was born in the remote village of Tigania sub-county in Meru County, Kenya. He studied in humble primary and secondary schools in Meru County and later in Embu in Embu County, Kenya. Through merit, he made it to the University of Nairobi, the University of Chicago, and Stanford University. It is his early modest life that has shaped his interest in philanthropy. On return to Kenya after graduating with a Ph.D. from Stanford University, he started a program to send poor youth from his home area of Tigania and beyond to America, influenced by the biblical saying: Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Except that, in this case, it was about a different kind of faith, that all the poor need is a window of opportunity to make the best of it. Indeed, my American program has produced $ millionaires, university professors and vice- chancellors, military generals, medical doctors, and engineers-mainly from young men and women most of whom made their first trip to Nairobi when applying for the passport to head to America.