Behind her smile, is a captivating story.
In the lake side town of Kisumu in Agakhan hospital, well known for the Luo speaking community in Western Kenya in the wee hours of March 16 1984, Lorraine Akinyi Otieno was born. Coming from a rich cultured community, she was named ‘Akinyi’, meaning morning. 

She is the second born in a family of three born to Mr. Kenneth Atieno Awino and Phoebe Atieno Otieno of Rarieda constituency West Asembo Location Siger Sub location Nyanza Province.
Akinyi is a chip off the old block of her dad except for the height which she owes to her grandmother.
She has taken after her father’s character and personality and even can do the most intricate like taking the father’s signature.
This attachment made the father love her and lavish her more than her siblings. She grew up a daddy’s girl. “One thing I remember is, if my dad discovered I didn’t know how to do something he would force my sister and mom to teach me until I understood,” she reminisces.
She went to Ofafa Jericho nursery school in her home town. Being inquisitive and assertive, Akinyi was witty and selfless; she skipped middle class and went straight to Final class after her baby class. She later joined Arya primary school in Kisumu where she did not perform so well in the initial classes but managed to level up in standard four where she passed with (450/700) marks in 1997.
This denied her an opportunity for a National School and therefore joined Kisumu High School day and boarding. “My dad’s dream crumbled into debris for he had high expectations of me becoming an engineer just like him,” she said.
Two months later life took a wrong turn, when she lost her father three years after the demise of her mom.  She spoke with a cool and even tone that didn’t match the dark pain that welled into her eyes.
This predicament caused her to change her perception about life. She took to playing basketball through her cousin who was so good at it.
Her first court was her bedroom which she says was accommodative; her rim was an improvised clothes hanger which stood helter-skelter on the wall with fastened rubber bands.
No one could ever imagine such a humble beginning could blossom into stardom. Her cousin taught her the basics and she mastered the art.
“My cousin who was well endowed in the game taught me how to score, shoot and dribble. Little did I know this was a bridge to the fulfillment of my dream. I joined the school team in form two,” explained Akinyi.
  From timid to courageous she was admirable in the way she carried herself. She was cool and composed; principled but calm and treated her studies with seriousness that is when she was crowned role model. I
It is during this time that a pool of responsibilities was entrusted to her. She was made dorm prefect and basketball captain in form three. A year later she was inaugurated to games captain. She excelled with a B plain in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Exams (KCSE).
Akinyi was an MVP twice in 2000 and 2001 at the district level and also top scorer while in high school.  Three times in a raw (2008, 2009, 2010) she is top scorer in the Federation of Uganda Basketball Association (FUBA) league. The twenty seven year old was also nominated MVP 2010, but lost it to teammate Maureen Amoding.
She first came to Uganda in 2004 to play for KCC which promised to reciprocate by either paying her as professional basketball player or footing her education bills in a university of her choice. 
She forewent salary for education. Three months later KCC breached the agreement; this prompted her to return to Kenya. 
The dream ended, hope dwindled.  She was desperately in need of an angel. Under that scotching sun at YMCA at 2pm Lorraine Akinyi bumped into a tall, American, Jason Mehl who awakened her hope. What seemed to be a greeting escalated into a conversation that yielded a scholarship deal. This was a day before her departure to Kenya.
Jason: hi, I like the way you guys play, you are really good players.
Akinyi:  thanks! Unfortunately we are travelling back home.
She narrated to him how the deal with KCC had hit a snag and the decision she had made. Mehl who wanted to start up a ladies’ team requested her not to go and promised to accommodate her on full scholarship. She grabbed the opportunity. True to his word, Mehl got her a full scholarship two weeks after their first encounter.
Speaking about her he said, “It is clear to anyone in Ugandan basketball that Lorraine has played an essential role in bringing two League Championships to UCU.  But what I appreciate most about Lorraine is the way she has modeled physical and spiritual maturity, discipline, excellence and humility for the entire UCU community,” 
After the dad’s death they moved from riches to rags, and had no one to support her, all she had was a scholarship. Back home her brother was flickering with epilepsy and her elder sister was working for peanuts.
Worst of it all they were abandoned by all relatives except her grandmother who instead needed succor because of her old age. Her life was sinking into an abyss, “I pensively thought of how I could reclaim my life that is when my journey to look for comfort, peace and joy started” she declared.
During one morning glory in the chapel, the preacher addressed God as the father to the fatherless; this evoked her feelings. 
A surge of relief crept across her body, unlocking her lips into a tearful smile of resignation to a ‘Father to the fatherless’. From tears, sorrow, pain and loneliness she gave her life to Christ at 6:30am in 2006.
She later served in the lunch hour fellowship.
She also served in two regimes of the guild parliament as sports minister and assistant finance minister, and treasurer MUCUF. Adikinyi served as Lady Canons captain for three years from 2005-2008.
Against all odds she graduated in 2009 with BBA accounting option with a First Class Honors Degree.
 “I sacrificed leisure to cover up for the times spend elsewhere. I also got rid of unproductive friends and comfortable nights,” she said.
She is now a tutor in the business faculty, and plays for the Lady Canons.
In five years’ time, she sees herself a financial manager, a married woman and a youth counselor. Akinyi could have taken the short cut in life but she chose to wait just a little longer. Patience pays. 
“I can do anything anybody else can do, only that I can do it better,” she concludes.