Education is Hope, Kenya II

Where to begin? Well how about some statistics.

-We have conducted nine on-camera interviews as of yet, with two more scheduled for the remainder of this week. Six have been students in various levels of school, two have been individuals not fortunate enough to attend or complete school, and one has been the chairman of IPI-US.

-The on-camera interviews, combined with supporting footage of daily responsibilities and activities, comprise over 10 hours film.

-In total we have around 18 hours of footage. The remaining footage is composed of a visit we made to an orphanage in the city of Nyahururu, shots of the open market here in Meru, stock driving footage, and many different home and farm visits we have made. We are striving to give a good idea of what life is like here in Kenya, particularly the community surrounding Meru.

-We have met with and are currently in the slow process of scheduling interviews with a former hydrologist for the UN who has lived in Kenya for many years, a member of Catholic Relief Services in charge of educational support in Kenya, the headmaster of Anajalli school within the Nairobi slum Kibera, the director of an educational support program in the town of Thika, and representatives of USAID for the eastern provinces of Kenya.

I am excited about all of these opportunities but I think visiting Kibera will be especially powerful and rewarding. Will and I have been invited to spend the night with headmaster Wellington Nabwoba’s family and spend the next day filming within the school and conducting interviews of himself and his students. Anajalli school lies within Kibera slum, the poorest and hardest hit part of Nairobi during the 2007 post-election violence, yet his school performs within the top five in all of Nairobi. Kibera houses some 2 million Kenyans and we are anxious to find out how Wellington and his staff face the challenges of educating children from such difficult home lives and to discover what changes such an extraordinary education affords these children.

Our focus for this film is the power and Hope education is bringing to those in this country. Despite our research and previous knowledge we had no idea how real the title of our film, “Education is Hope” really would be. It is astounding. Without finishing university level or even secondary school, most men are essentially condemned to a life of manual labor. Unlike in the states, this affords no opportunity for advancement. With unemployment ranging from 40-70% competition for what unskilled labor exists is fierce and employers capitalize by providing wages of 100-200 Kenyan schillings per day, or about $2 US for an entire days work. Women are not much better off, with marriage being the best alternative when school is unavailable. This may lead to a life just as difficult as the mens’, as the women are often those who tend to the farms, and are left to raise children if the husbands die of HIV/AIDS or another preventable disease.

It is inspiring to see that most children fully grasp this grim reality and work tremendously hard to improve their lives and the lives of their families. We have met many children and heard stories of perseverance and success, as well as neglect and suffering. We are striving to capture this powerful dichotomy daily and we hope that with your help we will be able to raise awareness of the Hope that an education brings to those who otherwise would have none.

Thank you once again. I look forward to discussing this incredible venture with you when I return stateside, or if you don’t mind waiting some time for a reply you can email me at dwestfall13@gmail.com. With a little internet luck and some electricity I will keep you updated on our progress here. I hope that this letter found all of you in good spirits and good company.

Until Later,

Dylan

03.01

First let me say thank you to Dylan for the above summary of our time in Kenya thus far. He did a thorough job of relating details of our trip that I would have left for your imagination, hanging between the lines of what I write. The following is a response I wrote to my mother who asked the question, “what do people do (in kenya) to make a living?”
Most people in the Meru area are connected in some way to subsistence farming. What this means is that, though monetarily poor, a greater proportion of people in poverty get food. Like many traditional societies, they have a communal network of support, in this case the family (and this definitely includes extended family). When one person or family is healthy and productive, then they are expected to help others in the family. In this way, when that person or family has trouble (whether it be death, sickness, failed crops, maybe school fees…maybe), then they may in turn rely on those they were supporting in the past. It’s not a rule, but in certain families it is close to one. There is very little here that earns one an income, since the history of the place, and what it is set up for, is farming… not trade. Or if trade… then exploitive trade that was set up by the colonial system in order to get produce. There is a serious lack in opportunities to earn money, it is hard to set something up that will actually put coin in your hand. The common person works on their land or does some manual labor (for maybe $1-3 US/day). What jobs actually pay here are scarce, extremely competitive, and most are reserved for those who complete at least their secondary education. Even those “middle” jobs are scarce (jobs such as work in retail or at a gas station). To be middle class or better one must, almost unconditionally, have a University education. Though food is fairly plentiful (again this is only Meru), and even very poor people are at times well fed, the lack of hard cash is a problem. It becomes a problem when certain necessities crop up; particularly school and medical fees. Of course the $2-3 US/day is relative, as it will buy you more here than it will in America. Yet, this is hardly adequate to meet the basic needs of a person, let alone their family, and I’m excepting the fact that competition and lack of resources make most lower jobs far from stable. To give perspective, in order to give a child an education in primary (grades 1-8), it costs a minimum of around $220 US/year and $495 US/year for good quality education in a boarding school with all the necessary medical, food, and school equipment. A common lower class family that relies on a man doing manual labor for money and a woman tending to crops and doing house chores is doing extremely well if they make $500 US in a year. This rules out the “good quality” option for anyone who is poor, and well, you can see how much of a trial paying even $220/yr is…for only one kid.
As Dylan said, the title of our project, “education is hope” is more apt than we could have imagined. Why is that? By its very nature education is a communal enterprise, it is the institution that represents humanity’s attempt to bring along its brothers and sisters. I think it comes as no surprise then, that the advancement of people in society most often comes through schools and people associated with that network. For people in destitute situations, hope is their candle in the darkness. Education is the exit to their cave. In no other way can someone in Kenya, and in reality, the world, open their eyes to what is at their fingertips. Said differently, in no other way can someone learn to read, write, and speak a language, all of which can make them some money. I once read a quote that said, in essence, “Education’s purpose is to replace a closed mind with an open one.” I sincerely believe in this, but in some circumstances it may be more correct to say that Education’s purpose is to give one a little breathing room. That’s all for now folks. Some thoughts to dwell on I suppose.