When the 84-year-old Kenyan, Kimani Nganga Maruge, was the same age as the pupils that surround him in this picture, primary school education was impossibility for him.

But with the election of Mwai Kibaki in 2002, and the promise of free primary school education for all until eighth grade, the former Mau Mau freedom fighter set aside pride to take his place in a classroom at his local school with those 80 years his junior.

Maruge represents youth because of his unwavering optimism and enthusiasm in achieving his goal of completing primary school education and go onto secondary education.