ISAYA YUNGE: THE UNLIKELY JOURNEY FROM MWANZA’S STREETS TO KENYA’S FIRST FAMILY

For many people, becoming connected to a presidential family would be the defining chapter of their lives.
For Isaya Yunge, however, it is only the latest chapter in a story that began far from the corridors of power.
Long before his name became associated with Kenya’s First Family, Yunge was a young Tanzanian navigating hardship in Mwanza and searching for a way to change the circumstances around him.
His childhood was marked by family separation and instability. According to his Ashoka profile, his parents divorced when he was young, after which he moved between foster homes. At one point, he lived on the streets of Mwanza.
Yet those difficult experiences appear to have shaped the direction of his life.
Rather than simply trying to escape his circumstances, Yunge became interested in the struggles of other young people facing similar challenges.
At the age of 16, he began advocating for children living on the streets. He convinced Radio Free Africa to provide a platform where street-connected children could tell their own stories and discuss the realities of life on the streets.
The initiative attracted UNICEF’s attention and helped propel the teenager onto a much bigger stage.
In 2007, at only 17, Yunge travelled to Germany to participate in the Junior 8/G8 process, bringing him into discussions involving young people and global leaders.
It was an early indication that his difficult beginnings would not define the limits of his ambitions.
Yunge later turned his attention to another barrier facing African youth: access to education.
He observed that thousands of students were missing out on scholarships and international opportunities simply because they could not easily find information about them.
His response was technology.
In 2016, he created SomaApp, a platform designed to help students identify scholarship opportunities matching their qualifications.
The platform grew rapidly. Ashoka says that by the end of 2018, approximately 15,000 students had used SomaApp, accessing scholarships, short courses and international conference opportunities valued at about US$850,000.
For Yunge, technology became more than a business idea. It became a tool for opening doors that had previously been difficult for disadvantaged young people to find.
His efforts earned him international recognition.
In 2018, he was among Tanzanian recipients of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award. A year later, Ashoka selected him as a social entrepreneur fellow in recognition of his work expanding access to educational opportunities for young Africans.
By then, the boy who had once experienced life on the streets had become an advocate, innovator and social entrepreneur with an international profile.
Then came another unexpected chapter.
On August 8, 2026, Yunge and Charlene Ruto, daughter of President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto, held their traditional Koito engagement ceremony at Intonna Heritage Farm in Kilgoris, Narok County.
Suddenly, a man whose public identity had largely been built around youth empowerment, education and technology found himself at the centre of attention in Kenya because of his relationship with the country’s First Family.
But his story cannot be reduced to that relationship.
Behind the photographs and ceremony is a journey that began with hardship in Mwanza, passed through youth activism and international leadership forums, and developed into a career built around technology and educational opportunity.
His entry into the Ruto family may be the newest chapter, but it is hardly the first remarkable one.
Yunge’s story is, in many ways, a reminder that extraordinary journeys do not always begin in privileged surroundings.
Sometimes they begin on the streets.
Sometimes they begin with a teenager asking why other children are being ignored.
And sometimes, years later, that same teenager finds himself standing at the centre of an entirely different world.
For Isaya Yunge, the road from Mwanza to Kenya’s First Family has been anything but ordinary.