HABARI: NEWS MAY 2014

By end of May we have completed the first of three months of the second trimester that will end in the first week of August. I am informed that the children reported well from their April Break; each time there are a few who come late for some reason, such as school fees were not set or dad was not at home and other reasons which we do not get into once the child is back to school.
I have encouraged the head teacher to call the parents – thanks to the age of cell phones we can get them even when they are fetching water from the river far from home, or picking firewood in the forest or even looking after their goats, sheep and cows, and even those who may be working in agricultural fields. When I was in school in 1958 the nearest police signal (telephone like in my home area) was a thirteen mile walk from home. It was operated twice a day if the generator fuel was available and the police station was not a place people were tempted to visit even with a pressing need.
In the month of May the students and staff have been doing well in teaching and learning as well as activities that prepare students for music, athletics and ball games. These activities continue with the best going to higher phases before the best players from different schools form a combined team for their area.
There are many general reports on insecurity in Kenya at the moment. We have not heard of any incident with the school families but there is fear of it spreading and what twist it may take in the future.
DROUGHT: Elementary schools in some areas of Kenya have closed down due to hunger that has been caused by prolonged drought. Some schools were forced to close after children moved out of some areas with their parents in search of pasture and water. This has been reported in Northern Kenya among some nomads. Animal keepers (Maasai) in Kajiado, a neighboring District to Narok District where the Jubilee School is, have begun moving their livestock into the National Park near Kilimanjaro in search of water and pasture. One of the local leaders has reported that most animals have died due to the drought that has left seasonal rivers dry. Most farmers have now moved their remaining stocks to other areas in search of grass and water.
Distribution of food to drought-stricken families has been reported in some areas but enrollment in some schools has drastically dropped. In some places the leaders are asking the government to supply residents and the few schools that are operating with clean water to prevent water borne diseases and stop the closure of the remaining schools. Some places people are forced to walk over 10 miles to fetch water from a river. Many people may be facing starvation with women and children being the hardest hit. Most children in some nomadic areas are currently facing malnourishment since they are surviving on one meal per day as one leader said.
Such occurrences point out that boarding schools like the Jubilee School are still needed in nomadic areas so that the students can stay in school and learn as well as getting meals there, otherwise they too would be moving with their families away from school. I remember when I started introducing Father Symon Jubilee School to friends and asking for support there were questions regarding taking young children away from their homes and families to attend boarding school. Some people were even suggesting the possibility of a mobile school which practically would only be possible for very few children. I thank all the many friends and benefactors of Jubilee School for understanding as we now keep 174 children in school that also employs 20 people both in teaching and nonteaching staff. Droughts, however, have serious effects on the school because most of the stable food prices go up sometimes like this year by 43.4% and the only solution to this would be to increase school fees for parents who are already experiencing effects of the same drought. I have kept the same school fees for the last four years and hopefully we can go through the season without an increase.
In such situations when drought sets in, however, families even of those of students are affected. Old persons are also affected because they cannot move with the community and so sometimes are abandoned by their families, who have migrated to far off places in search of pastures and water. The aged are left behind by their families and with nothing to feed on. Sometimes it takes between five and ten years for people to recover from the effects of drought and this renders people to remain in poverty all their lives. Current data from the World Bank shows more than 15.4 million citizens in rural Kenya live in abject poverty.
EDUCATION IN KENYA: Despite the said successes of the extremely popular universal Free Primary Education scheme in Kenya, up to one million children remain out of school as recently as last year, according to a UNESCO report. This is still the ninth highest in the world. It is further reported that thousands more do not transit to higher levels of education. Another report that paints a bad picture of the Free Primary Education in Kenya is increased dropout rates and a rising proportion of boys and this warns over the rising neglect of the boy child. This is very surprising because for many years among some Kenyan people it was the girl child who was marginalized in education. The challenge now is to bring all these children back to school and retain them there. Also highlighted are the worrying trends of absenteeism, decline of parents’ involvement in their children’s education all of which threaten the quality of education in public primary schools.
LIBRARY CUM ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: Construction engineer and the architect made their routine inspection last week and have informed me that the work is going on well as we projected during my last visit in February. Since my last letter windows and doors have been fixed, walls have been plastered, floor complete and in the next one or two weeks the plaster will have dried for the workers to start painting inside.
Fr. Symon