Kenyan Girls Forward: Why Not Indeed?

The distance between Lexington and Kenya is approximately 7,939 miles—a long way and a big ocean to have much of a connection with anyone there.  But we do and I do because of the work of CCC parishioners Carolyn Witt Jones and Jo Robertson.  Through their efforts in Kenya to further education for young women, I have had the opportunity to be a little part of a young Kenyan girl’s life. Named Ruth Nyangate Onyonka, she is now working very hard as a student in a private high school in Eldoret, Kenya. 

Since there are no publicly funded schools in Kenya, most girls don’t go to school.  If uneducated, they are married young, begin having children and, like most of the population, are consigned to lives of poverty.  This is poverty that we can’t even imagine. Sometimes women with as many as ten children have perhaps a dollar a day to feed them.  If a family does have money to send a child to school, it generally is the sons who are sent. 

But now through our partner, Rural Women Peace Link (womenpeacelink@yahoo.com), girls are identified as having the potential to be successful in high school.  And because of the work of Carolyn and Jo, we have the opportunity to see that some of these girls can attend school and raise themselves up out of poverty along with as their families.  Wow!  When I found out that I could actually have a lasting impact on a young Kenyan girl AND her family—why in the world wouldn’t I?

Ruth writes me lovely letters telling me of her progress.  She’s hard on herself and says she isn’t doing as well academically as she would like, but that doesn’t disappoint me.  Instead, it lets me know that she has high standards for herself and the ambition to achieve.  And since I’ve never had to leave school to walk miles home, then take care of little brothers and sisters, haul water, prepare dinner, milk the cow or goat (if they are lucky enough to have one) and then, only then, sit down to study by candlelight—why in the world would I hold her to standards that I couldn't begin to reach?  But she IS learning and she IS making her grades and I am so very proud of her.

Knowing that Ruth is going to a good private school, dressed in her school-furnished (attractive!) uniform and being given the opportunity to learn and develop skills is a huge gift to me. It’s not often that I can have that much of a direct impact on another’s life.

NOTE: For more information, contact Jo Robertson at jobrobertson@gmail.com or Carolyn Witt Jones, cwjones@partnershipforsuccessfulschools.org.  Partners with us in this endeavor include the Bluegrass Community Foundation and the Rural Women Peace Link (RWPL), womenpeacelink@yahoo.com.

UPDATE 5/5/15 from Rural Women Peace Link: Please pray for Baringo County in Kenya, where students failed to report to various schools because of insecurity, and most schools failed to open for fear of being attacked by bandits. A demonstration was held on 5th May 2015 along the town streets in one of the areas known as Marigat against insecurity to create attention on what is going on so that the government can take action in minimizing insecurity probably through the disarmament process. Also, there has been increased conflict over cattle, water, and pasture between Pokot and Turkana tribes, but affects everyone living in the areas either physically, emotionally or psychologically. This year, according to reports, many learning institutions, health facilities, lives and property worth millions were destroyed and 2 schools closed. This menace has caused many girls to drop out of school in the area and get married at an early age because of high poverty levels encountered by most parents following sustained raids.

Susan Stempel
This article was previously published in the March 2015 Prayer & Action.