During the two months of July and August 2009, I spent my time at Eramba Mixed Secondary School in the Kisii region of Kenya working on a sustainable resource investment project whereby myself and my project partner bought over 550 textbooks and spent more than £500 on science equipment for the 220 students.
The aim of the project was to do what we could to boost exam results in this small rural school by giving them a more concrete foundation for education through providing the basic but essential tools of learning that were majorly lacking before our arrival. Through better exam results, it is hoped that more students will gain the necessary grades to undertake further education at one of the colleges or universities in the region, ultimately improving their employment prospects.
In addition to buying textbooks, science apparatus, sports equipment, and organising a (brilliant!) sports day, I played a leading role in the research and production of an extensive careers guide that informs students about every institution for higher education available to them in Kisii, as well as giving crucial information on the application process and funding (including scholarships) that they can benefit from.
Having questioned the students at length, we found that their awareness of the post-education opportunities available to them was minimal, prompting us to find out all we could for ourselves and then making that information readily available to them. With the support of the regional District Commissioner for Education (somewhat of a top dog!) this guide has now been placed in every secondary school in the Kisii region, hopefully standing as a testament to both its significance and value.
This was a massive undertaking in itself but worth every ounce of the painstaking work that went into it even if just one student reads it, follows its advice and is inspired to gain further qualifications after school that may ultimately change their life prospects in a country where unemployment and poverty rates are sky-high.
On a personal level, something I found myself doing a lot while in Kenya was looking around and making comparisons, often even subconsciously, between our ex-colony its vibrancy, its variety, its amazingly positive people and their attitudes – and us.
And one of the most striking differences I found was in the attitudes towards education of both the young and old alike. Unlike in Britain where education is now very much taken for granted, Kenyans and especially Kenyan students view education as something to be incredibly grateful for, as almost a lifeline, as a ticket out of extreme poverty.
In realising this you couldnt help but have such awesome respect for so many of the students at Eramba who took their education to be so precious, like the group of Form 4s who didnt go home in the holidays but slept and studied in school, getting up at 3.30am and not going to bed again until 11 or 12pm.
Yet it also this same realisation that made – or rather makes me feel so profoundly fortunate for the education I have been privileged enough to receive. Perhaps the most inescapable comparison was that that surrounded me every day – the comparative wealth of Kenyans to British people.
Poverty is deep-rooted but importantly, so too is happiness. Of course the students marvelled in wonder and excitement at my touch-screen digital camera but their happiness does not stem from the endless pursuit of acquiring new gadget after new gadget.
Rather, their love for life and positivity were kindled, as far as I could observe, from something most people in Britain have never known a collective community spirit in which everyone helps each other and in which everyone has a place. Of course Kenya needs to develop, I just sincerely hope that 100 years from now the Eramba community has managed to preserve the rich culture of kindness I was lucky enough to be welcomed into.
It is a cliché, but an entirely fitting one nonetheless; the whole project from start to finish was a life-changing experience, providing me with both memories and firm friends that will last long into the future. If I can capture it by painting one brief picture, I would choose the evening before we left the village having spent over 2 months there; invited to one of the students grandmothers house, 8 of us sat around a little wooden table on crates, surrounded by 4 mud walls with chickens pottering around beneath our feet.
By the light of one paraffin lamp, we ate sukumweki and ugali while talking for hours about all of our families, about Eramba beating two other teams to the football trophy at sports day, about corruption in high-politics and the post-election violence of 2007 and about the different attitudes to religion found in Britain and Kenya.
For me, this evening captured possibly the most valuable aspect of the whole project cultural exchange; the chance for not only me to learn about how ordinary Kenyans live, but for them to glimpse how we live in Britain.
Lastly, I am massively grateful to the trust for making this experience possible through your generous funding. Please continue to help and support future students make a difference to the people of communities like Eramba! Many thanks!
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Image credit: lissaphoto
