Fiona Akoth, is the first Kenyan to join US Air Force. But how did she join the most coveted military country in the world?
Fiona hails from Kisumu county, close to her home was a small air strip where she would watch planes land and take off.
This is where he dreams to become a pilot began. But being the pilot of the most powerful nation in the world is something she never imagined before.
At the age of 13 years however, she new that she will one day visit USA, because her mum was studying in a US based college while she stayed with her grand parents back at home.
And lucky enough, she moved in with her mother at the same age and was enrolled at a local school in Texas, USA.
“I was well engrained in the roots back in Kenya. I had to leave a familiar country with a familiar group of friends when I was just becoming a teenager looking for a solid foundation, and that was challenging,” she recalled her move.
Fiona Akoth’s moment came in 2017 when she joined Colombia Airforce Base as a 14th Student Squadron Student Pilot in Mississippi, USA.
She was immediately enrolled into LEAP, aka the Language Enabled Airman Program because she is fluent in Swahili.
This allowed her to help US military to built good relationships with the communities in Africa especially Kenya.
“It was a unique experience,” Akoth said. “I got to go back to Africa and help the Air Force communicate with my people.”
