What is Ailing Our Children? : Behind the Calm lies Turmoil

At the invitation of a community member, I visited a school in Machakos .Machakos is a semi-arid region in Kenya , the bulk of the community depends on farming , trading as well as sand harvesting. Machakos is quite hilly and very rocky. It lays  63kms from Nairobi city.

When you set your feet in Machakos , what comes to mind is the hustle and bustle, you will be hearing blaring music in the local language -known as Kamba. In Kenya’s history, Kambas[1] are famed for long distance trading. Occasionally as you leave the city centre , you will see someone grazing their cattle , a roadside shop announcing mobilse charging services. You will often see a donkey carrying jerrycans of water , this is a semi-arid  locality as well as women lined by the roadside , crushing stones , which they then sell off to take care of their families. Machakos has breathtaking landscape if you love nature and hiking , but beneath this beauty , there lies a sad tale .Camouflaged in soft voices , the sad tale of children suffering .

When I was invited to this school, I was asked to talk to the children about rights. I did not know where to start, as it was my first time meeting them. Fortunately , as a trainer , I often carry with me tools of trade that I use in the training. On this particular day I had a glass jar in my bad and a ball of wool. The purpose of the wool was to show that all of us are connected to each other and we have to be each other’s keeper. I asked all the children to write the challenges that they face , in school and in the community, not to write their names on the papers ( to prevent current and future victimization) and to put these papers in the glass jar then seal it.

We discussed child rights and child protection , what rights are and how different parts of the body align to different rights .We had one pupil volunteer and we put pieces of papers on her with various rights aligned to the body parts. For example, for right to life, we put a piece of paper near the heart., freedom of movement , we put a piece of paper with a sticker on the pupil’s legs , freedom of thought – a piece of paper written freedom of thought on the pupil’s head and another one on the head to symbolize right to information. For the right to education,  we put  a piece of paper on the forehead to symbolize the use of the brain in learning and so on. We used creativity to align  freedom of religion, protection from degrading and inhuman treatment , right to a name and so on. These children had never had anyone speak to them about rights. To them their lives have often revolved around come to school , go back home, come to school again. The conversation on rights and  how creative it was made the children open up to the issues they were facing , they shared their aspirations , their desire to one day go to university , to have a profession of choice , to have a better life  and to make the right choices in life.

The interaction with the children struck a chord in me, I remembered growing up and the hurdles I went through to get education. The challenges of not having school fees , the self-esteem issues , especially given that I was a tall child -often I used to walk hunched because I felt my height was something bad. I was transported back to my days in primary school , when while playing , I tripped the daughter of a teacher and all the children started chasing me , to take the to the class teacher and get punished. Yes it was an accident , but those were the days when as an ordinary child , you could not and were not supposed to tamper with a son or daughter of a teacher. Teachers were very much revered.

Upon reaching  home , I took the glass jar (  I had nicknamed it the Justice Jar)  and started reading through what the children had said .The sentences brought tears to my eyes. In summary this is what the children said:

“Lack of confidence”

“In our home there is a problem of food”

“We do not have materials for sports”

“At home I don’t get enough food”

“Lack of food  in school and at home”

“Lack of biro pens, books”

“I don’t have shoes”

“I don’t have a sweater”

“Torn uniform”

“Overwork”

“Lack of money at home(poverty)”

I vowed to do something about these children no matter how small. I put up posters on Facebook requesting for material support to take to these children.I asked my friends whether they had clothes , shoes , stationery that they could donate to a cause .I asked them to extend the generosity to the parents of these children by donating to their mothers , fathers and siblings. My Facebook posts yielded positive results , my high school friends ( Ngara Girls High School- I have a special place for you in my heart) brought in books , shoes, clothing , other friends donated sanitary pads (thank you very much Jane-Polycom Development )  and donated this to the children and their parents. My Civil Society friends also came in with clothing. But more is needed to reach more and more disadvantaged children and their families.

The process of engagement with the school is still on-going , currently we are working with 120 children we have not yet resolved all the emerging issues .Yes some children come to the school without food, others do not have uniforms, others live with grandparents and are orphaned and there are those who live with guardians .There are those with self esteem issues , but we try out best one day at a time. More  parents are coming to us to reach out to other schools .The seed we planted is yielding results , the teachers are happier .

As one teacher said “Since Haki Nawiri Afrika  came to our school, the self esteem of the children has improved, we really appreciate”.

Currently, we are in the process of forming a Haki Club at this school-Haki means Justice in Kiswahili. We  encourage any form of support towards this initiative , bring in your expertise , your skills , your material support is accepted. It will go a long way inn brightening the future of these children. These are the doctors, the engineers, the farmers, the scientists of the future. Let us walk together and give them hope , hope for a better tomorrow despite the harshness of today.

[1] https://kawa.ac.ug/Africanhistory/long_distance_trade_in_east_and_central_africa.html