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... And Yet They Learn An Educational Reconnecting Mission to Kenya In July of this year, twelve other African American educators and I visited Ethiopia and Kenya for sixteen days. Whereas I learned and saw much in both countries, this letter will focus on Kenya. Sixteen days influenced and changed my life in ways that years of experiences here in America have not done. Of all the places that I visited and of all the people I met and lived among in Kenya, Kibera and Toi Primary School remain all but omnipresent in my mind! More than 1.2 million people live in Kibera, Kenya, one of
Nairobi, Kenya’s poorest areas and one of the largest slums in the world. As
far as my eyes could see, shanties sat upon shanties in long, long rows, giving
refuge, in some of them, to as many as ten people, in an either dark and dank or
dark and dusty living space the size of an American-size kitchen. Shanty
toilets with only walls of tin, announced their presence long before we reached
them, making it harder and
Many of the children from Kibera attend Toi Primary School, a 1st – 8th grade school. As of 2003, primary education became compulsory in Kenya. Consider that compulsory school is free providing that parents pay for uniforms and transportation, a feat that drove poverty to ‘way below poverty’ for many! Toi School provides no on-campus living. Students walk to Toi. Classrooms consist of hard wooden benches without backs on which six children sit butt to butt, in a 72:1students to teacher ratio. The class maximum ratio is allowed to reach 80:1! One pencil and one blue book for note taking are highly valued and every millimeter of the pencil is used as well as every inch of the blue book (tablet). Obviously, books, crayons, chalk, erasers, etc. are minimal at best, or in most classes, non-existent. Even though there were orphans in attendance, and students
who had no shoes, or students who wore shoes that were sometimes unrecognizable
as shoes, or students whose uniforms were tattered and torn, or students who had
teachers who felt sorry for them and for their own conditions, or families that
ate little in order that their students might be educated, students sat
attentively, teachers taught, and they demonstrated to us,
‘the
stolen ones who had returned to the Motherland’ (as they called us
affectionately) that they were learning and could learn at a high degree of
proficiency! Teachers were teaching and students were learning! Students
showed love to each other, to their teachers and to us. As children do, they
walked home, some down railroad tracks to avoid the dust or to get home faster,
laughing, cajoling, and joining adults who walked everywhere that they had to go
and other children from similar schools. They had a great way of showing love
and hope.
In Toi School and Kibera and with all gatherings we had in Kenya, nothing began without praying to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ! Nothing! No meeting in public places, nor any meal in homes! Most gatherings ended with prayers as well. When asked why Toi Primary students were as competitive as others students we met in schools that had more materials and a smaller student to teacher ratio, the staff and parents responded that students needed to please Jesus! Jesus, an education, and family were the main values that they believe would serve Kenyans and Kenya and see them through to the Promised Land! We thirteen were considered family and there was an outpouring of love and gratitude to the thirteen of us that was second to none! I know that there is much to do here in America for our people who are poor, homeless, uneducated, and disenfranchised. I ask you, though, to please run a parallel track and support our children and families in the Motherland. Basic, basic needs are needed, imminently!
The above is printed courtesy of Pauline Hill, LLC Copyright © 2006-2007 All Rights Reserved |
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harder
to breathe the closer we got to them. We kept walking, though, with our eyes
fixed on where we were going because the trenches from the rainy season made
walking nearly impossible and unsafe for those of us who had not worn the proper
shoes for the visit. We swallowed the stench from the toilets as well as the
red dust that covered us from head to toe. Once inside a home, we met parents
as well as caretakers who were responsible for lots of children. Many of the
children were orphaned. Small mats that protected only the children’s upper
body were stacked alongside walls that were held together with nails driven
through pop bottle tops. Resources were few and there was little, if any,
private space for adults. We listened to stories told in rapid succession about
illnesses and diseases which included HIV/AIDS and asthma.
