Australia's newest senator grew up doing her homework on a dirt floor in Kenya, by the light of a lantern.
Or by the light of the fireplace, when her parents couldn't afford the paraffin.
Lucy Gichuhi, Australia's first black African senator, made her maiden speech to parliament on Wednesday night as her family, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, watched on.
She spoke of her humble beginnings in Africa, milking cows and picking coffee berries.
"It gave me a strong sense of sacrifice, respect, sharing and the value of hard work," she told parliament.
Senator Gichuhi took her place in the Senate in May, replacing Family First's Bob Day, who resigned before being found by the High Court to have been ineligible to stand for election.
She sits as an independent for South Australia, having rejected an invitation to follow Family First state colleagues in a merger with Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives party.
Senator Gichuhi spoke of falling in love with Ausralia's diversity when she migrated in 1999, declaring that to migrate to a country and get citizenship "is not a right, it is a privilege".
She spoke of moving into her subsidised home in Adelaide and using a broom to clean the carpets until finding out weeks later that the "tortoise-look-a-like gadget" in the house was in fact a vacuum cleaner.
Senator Gichuhi told parliament she wants to use her time as a senator to focus on education, welfare and aged care, vowing to be a voice for Australia's seniors.
"As a society we can never forget that our older Australians are the people on whose shoulders we stand," she said.
"They worked and paid taxes so we could have the life we have today."
She said many Australians, as well as companies and institutions, were trapped in a welfare mentality, insisting welfare should not disadvantage those deciding to work.
