UZIMA IN OUR HANDS EDUCATION FOUNDATION

Elgeyo Marakwet 

RTSEF recently expanded their work to the nearby area of Elgeyo Marakwet, in the former Rift Valley Province. These stories are directly from them.

             

Elgeyo Marakwet’s level of education is deplorable. Some schools are closed and families are displaced as a result of ongoing conflicts caused by livestock rustling. With the rising level of poverty, parents choose to keep their children out of school so that they can tend to their livestock. As a result, the majority of school going age children are at home. 

Most households know that education is a luxury which cannot be afforded, from what we witnessed and experienced when visiting with families, we saw the desperate conditions in which these families live.

Meet Cornelius who is 20 years old and a partial orphan, he is the first born in a family of six siblings. On the picture below, Cornelius is seated in a grass thatched house, which seems like the only valuable asset the family owns.

             

He was sent back home for school fees which his family couldn’t afford, so after two weeks of reporting to form one (the first year of High School), Cornelius never returned to school.

After the interviews with RTSEF, Cornelius got readmitted to St Francis Kimoru Secondary School. So now, Cornelius aged 20, has the opportunity to start over. This isn’t unusual in Kenya, young people can re-start Secondary at older ages if funds become available.

                            

Caren’s story - a hope and a future after FGM

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) still exists and indeed is rife in some rural parts of Kenya. It is a harmful practice and a violation of women’s human rights that involves the removal of the external female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Most often, FGM is practised on girls and young women under 18. FGM is not prescribed by any religion and has no health benefits. On the contrary the practice can cause life-lasting physical and psychological trauma, and sadly, even loss of life. In Kenya, FGM is prevalent in 22 counties with Elgeyo being termed as a ‘hotspot’. Girls as young as 12 years undergo ‘the cut’ and are married off when a suitable suitor presents himself.

Meet Caren who lives in the settlement Marakwet East Constituency. Caren is 15 years old. Her father took her for the cut against the mother’s wish. This was the only way Caren would become respected and worthy of being married, so he said. All Caren’s siblings who are girls have gone through the cut.

Caren would really love to go to school. At her age and after suffering all that this harmful practice entails, Caren is now considered suitable for marriage. This is not what Caren wants, she would really love to go to school. Her mother also wants that for her.

On this particular day of interviews, she and her mother set out at 3 a.m. to get to St Michael’s Catholic Church at 9 a.m where we were doing the interviews. The desire to be in school over early marriage was very evident to us.

Note from Trustees :

We are very moved by Caren’s story, she is just one of the girls we heard about who has suffered the trauma of FGM. Our desire is to help RTSEF rescue more girls like Caren into full time education.

              

And here’s Caren in her smart school uniform, signifying a new start in her young life.

Special Needs Update 

We know that some of our supporters are particularly interested in the children we support with Special Needs.  Indeed in an area of poverty, these children can and often do suffer more than most and are totally unable to help themselves.  Over the years of visiting we have come across children who are completely deaf, children with cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, club foot, severe learning difficulties, sickle cell anemia....the list goes on.  I personally can never forget these children and their life struggle and some that I have known that have died when they would have been leading normal lives had they been born in a different place.

So now all the children that we have come in contact with over the years are being educated and looked after far better than ever before. The Special Needs Schools that we have tried have sometimes not worked out and so instead, we trained a teacher of our choice who cares for these children. This teacher is now employed to do daily home visits and it is working out really well.  A child who struggles to eat can often suffer from severe malnutrition if not given nourishing food which involves a lot of patience.  There has been some minor movement of staff finding the best fit for the job but basically these children are now all thriving as well as they can, some in Special Schools and others being supported at home.

Reports and photos sent by Bakhitah who visits them regularly make our hearts sing to see their smiles. The photo below is of Sandra, who has cerebral palsy and now attends a Vocational Training Centre and has learnt to knit among other things.  Her smile says it all.
 

Primary and Secondary School Education 

We're delighted to be able to share that nearly 100 pupils, largely from Uzima School, are making good or expected progress at their new schools according to the results of exams sent to us by the link teacher, Jared. The exceptions are 3 of the secondary pupils who, sadly, did not pass their exams. We've been in touch with these pupils, to try to encourage them, and Jared has also set in motion a support package to try to help them regain their motivation and catch up.

There have also been other very vulnerable children, known to us, added to the original list, with Barbara and Lilian (social worker and teacher respectively, who both care deeply for these children) watching out for all the children to ensure none slip through the net. Thank you for your ongoing support for these children.

Thank you & blessings,

Joy, Louise & Viv

Trustees, Uzima in Our Hands

www.uzimainourhands.org