My Thoughts, My Work and Kenyan Education

Well friends, I must apologize for the lack of communication in the past month (It has been a month since my last post-how time flies!). It is a little difficult to even begin this post because so much has happened in that time…but here goes nothing.

Work is going well. We are working very closely with a primary school next to DeKUT university with our focus being on nutrition, hygiene and health teaching. Currently we are working on building relationships and laying groundwork to continue this project and collaboration. We have created a survey/tool to assess the health status and practices of the children, teachers and school as a collective, in which we hope to use to base future teaching, workshops etc on.

For some background information on the school; it is, as quoted, a “VERY needy school”. It consists of open wooden slat buildings with dirt floors, separate toilets, an open dirt field for recess and play time, and an outdoor water pump. During this time of year(winter time) it is very cold for the children. There are about 202 students in the primary school, who come from all over the county, some travelling a fair distance to reach school. The majority of the students come from poorer households, making uniforms, food and school supplies, stressors and burdens for the teachers, parents and students. With this financial status, one of the main driving factors for parents to send their children to school, is the provision of a warm lunch during the course of the day. That being said it is often a lunch of rice, maize and beans which is not necessarily nutritional. Vegetables are very expensive and scarce during select seasons and therefore often left out of the diet.

The interesting fact about education and the state of this school ,is that the Government of Kenya claims free education for all. However, the success and status of the school largely depends on the parents contributions. Because of the governments promise, some parents do not feel obligated, while others simply do not have the means to give and support their Childs school, creating a large disparity between schools with “rich/poor” parents. And this disparity is HUGE. We also visited Mount Kenya Academy, another school in Nyeri County and were able witness the abundance of supplies, uniforms, infrastructure etc which was comparable(if not even nicer) than any school in Canada. It was eye-opening and saddening, but also a very accurate representation of Kenya as a whole; the disparities that exist between social classes is enormous-but this is a topic for a whole other post. Here are some pictures of both the schools:

Another burden with the education system in Kenya is the lack of immediate/direct effects after gaining an education. There is a large push from government and international committees to send children to school and get educated, however there is a lack of services/positions for these graduates to fill after gaining an education. A large amount of university graduates complete a degree, but are never able to find a job in that field, therefore they become a taxi driver, bodaboda driver, work in manual labor etc….parents are becoming skeptical of this system and the continuous circle of paying for education with no “positive or direct result” and therefore are not strongly invested in educated their children. In the moment they see the benefit of keeping children home to work, or make money for the household, rather than thinking of the broad benefits of education. Education is a significant social determinant of health, as well as important factor affecting general wellbeing and prosperity of not only an individual but also their family, community and country at large.

So back to our work. With this first primary school we are focusing on improving the health and nutritional practices. While there are a lot of areas that could be improved we are starting with nutrition as this is a major factor that keeps the school open and thriving. There is a greenhouse on the property that was once active(about 6 years ago), however has been neglected and overgrown for the past couple years. With this, one of our main projects is rejuvenating this greenhouse, producing vegetables for the school to use and providing sustainability measure to keep this greenhouse running and successful in the years after we leave. So far it has been baseline planning, networking and surveying to accurately plan for a successful implementation. This project will require a lot of manual work as the greenhouse is overgrown with weeds and plants, soil needs to be replaced, infrastructure repaired (a cow ran through from end to end) and a reliable water source needs to be connected. (if anyone has any information/tips that might help, feel free to send a message. Nurses aren’t really trained for starting greenhouses haha). Otherwise, we also plan to host workshops for the teachers and staff at the primary school, provide health teaching sessions and implementation methods for the teaching of health and nutrition practices to the students at the school. We also hope to initiate mentorship programs with the children, organized activities and information sessions to build healthy relationships with the students, provide instruction on health and hygiene and inspire a healthy, happy environment.

This past weekend I was also given the opportunity to visit a Children’s Home in Nyeri county with some students from the university. We spent the day playing different games, activities, sports and spending time with the children. We enjoyed a lunch together of rice and lentil stew it was THE BIGGEST pan of rice I have ever seen, and I was shocked to see how much these children eat. While I was struggling to finish one plateful(heaping plateful) these young children were going back for seconds!  My previous workplace handed me a bag of fidget spinners before I left for Kenya and this time at the children’s home gave me the perfect opportunity to pass them along! The children weren’t the only ones smiling, my face actually hurt by the time I left! I was beyond happy to spend a day playing with these kids, it was such an amazing day. *A special shout out to Al’s Shoe Factory! This day was such a reminder of how it can be so easy to make a small difference, and that even these small differences leave an impact. Also a reminder to be active in the community wherever you are, even/especially at home! The last highlight from this day was the ride home where we stacked/squished/shoved 24 people into a matatu which is meant for 14 people- that was fun.

Some of the challenges we have faced so far include providing sustainability to our projects, and gaining positive direction in our efforts as interns. We are definitely learning to adjust to a different working environment and overall way/speed of life here in Kenya; however, sometimes struggle with no clear goal of what should be accomplished/what we should have created by the time we leave. That being said we are learning to network with community members and stakeholders to try find a relevant areas where we can focus our time and energy, creating these goals for ourselves.
Some of our other ideas/potential focuses include starting a soap making project for some women, brainstorming other income generating activities to assist with the school finances and nutrition programs, working with community health workers to assist in community health needs, and improving reproductive health within communities, i.e. continuing a previous project called MAISHA where they provided health teaching, training and awareness on proper deliveries, care for complex deliveries and emergency obstetrics care as well as optimal reproductive health practices. Again if anyone has any information, ideas or comments on what we can do/implement, or what might assist us, please feel free to share!

We have also started a GoFundMe account/campaign to raise money to cover initial costs of starting the greenhouse and making it a sustainable effort. At this point, we have no funding and no financial support for this greenhouse, so anything would be much appreciated and put towards seeds, supplies for repairing the structure, creating chicken coops, repairing water supply line etc. There are a lot of costs that are involved and very little financial compensation at this point!  If you feel inclined the link is as follows: Muringato Primary School Greenhouse  Thanks in advance! 🙂

So for now, that is about where we are at, and a brief description on what we are doing/hoping to do. It’s a slow going process some days, but happy to be able to be a part of these projects, ideas and health culture in Kenya.

And now, because it has been so long, and there has also been a lot of “play” during the last month, look for a separate post on our safaris, Mombasa trip and experiences outside of being an intern!

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela

Cheers!
Caitlin-The Happier Traveler