Woman gathers village children for literacy lessons under a tree

As dawn breaks over Nakitongo village in Turkana West subcounty, a woman walks slowly under the shade of a tree to inspect what children are writing on soil.

Lucy Arot, 41, completed her studies in class one, but she is on a mission to impart what little skills and knowledge she can to young ones who would otherwise lack an education.

With no schools or pencil and paper to write with, the children of Nakitongo have to do with sticks and earth to learn how to read and write under the notoriously high temperatures of Turkana.

Arot was forced to drop out of school as her parents were pastoralists who did not understand the value of education. They always migrated from one region to another in search of water and pasture for their livestock during the dry seasons.

“I wanted to study so I could be a teacher but it didn’t happen. The culture of the community didn’t favour my studies and inspirations, as looking after the cattle was the priority in the community,” she told the Star.

"We were only allowed to go to school during drought and hunger seasons so we could get food in the school."

NGOs donated food to schools in Turkana as a way of attracting children to school.

Arot said the population of school-age children has grown rapidly but there are no schools, moving her to educate the little ones the best she can.

“I’m well known by the members of the community as 'Madam Teacher' for teaching pupils moral values and helping them read and write on soil,” she said.

“We have no school structure and other facilities, but at least I’m able to teach more than 150 pupils under a tree.”

She teaches pupils how to read and write ABCD…, numbers 12345… and moral values.

She said it’s a hard task to handle over a 100 pupils in a session, but because of her passion and zeal of teaching children moral values, she has to do it.

Arot says once she is done with home duties, she assembles children in the village to teach them how to read and write, so they do not loiter around and disturb their parents at home.

MARGINALISED AREA

Nakitongo village is a deserted region near the border of Kenya and Uganda that has a population of about 5,000 people. Residents lack a health facility centre, school and roads due to neglect by leaders.

Village founder and Nyumba Kumi Initiative chairman David Ebenyo says Nakitongo has existed since 2013. They have fought with herders from Uganda over the fertile region, which is suitable for grazing livestock.

“We used to migrate from region to region in search of water and pasture, but when we reached Nakitongo, a fertile region, I advised my people to settle there,” he said.

"We have been experiencing insecurity from Uganda due to cattle rustling and the struggle for resources, but it has been contained."

He said Ugandan herders claim ownership of Nakitongo and say the area is in Uganda, not Kenya. The villagers' presence, however, has helped the government protect the territory.

Ebenyo faulted local leaders for not pushing for development in the village, such as building schools, hospitals and roads where people live.

FALSE DAWN

While neighbouring countries have experienced war and underdevelopment, Kenya is the biggest economy in the region. However, Turkana feels like another country.

The discovery of oil and giant water aquifers promised a change of fortunes for Turkana residents. It was believed that money would flow to improve roads, schools and hospitals and to also end poverty.

But it was not be. Education could be the only tool to alleviate poverty in Turkana, but leaders have not prioritised it for the benefit of the community.

Nakitongo residents protested over the laxity of the Turkana government, accusing the Education department of failing to set up a simple structure of schools.

Resident Peter Edukon said the county government had committed to building a school but still, residents have not seen any structure where their children could quench their thirst for education.

“The county government has failed our people. We are tired of calling for relief food. We want to educate our children so they can have professions in future to eradicate poverty once and for all,” he said.

Edukon said the Education department had promised to build a school and even picked a constructer from Lodwar to build it.

He said members of the community pushed for a local from Nakitongo village who understands their challenges better to be awarded the contract to construct the school, but the department did not respond to their issue and it has resulted in a standoff.

“We wanted to close loopholes of kickbacks in development to avoid shoddy construction of the school. When we demanded the contract be given to a local, they muted up to date. They have never responded to the issue and we are the ones suffering,” Edukon said.

He called on the national and county governments to consider them by setting up a school to educate their children.

Asked why there is no school establishment in Nakitongo, Education executive Patrick Losike did not respond to several calls and text messages.

However, the county director of education Peter Magiri said he will send his officers to the ground to look into the matter and see if they can start a school.

“We look at certain aspects before school starts. That is the population and the distance between schools,” Magiri said.

RIGHT TO EDUCATION

The constitution states that every child has a right to free and compulsory basic education. But in Turkana, a good number of children are not going to school because of pastoralism and inadequate schools.

According to the Basic Education Act of 2013, it’s mandatory for any parent who is Kenyan or whose child hails from the country to enrol them for primary and secondary education.

The new education system of competency-based curriculum will be hard to implement in Nakitongo village if the government fails to tackle the shortage of schools in some regions.

Arot decried that she has taught the children of Nakitongo for more than three years, yet she has not received any support from the government and relevant institution to help children to acquire education

Despite the efforts of local leaders in Turkana west Sub County to foster for development, they haven’t delivered much as there is a lot to be done to improve poor condition of poor roads standard, lack of hospital and schools.

Residents decried that poor leadership has caused lack of development in their region that has forced them to live poverty life by depending on relief food from National government, County government, NGO and well-wishers.

Ebenyo says Nakitongo village has a good number of school-going children but due lack of school they opt to loiter in the village because they can’t make to trek more than 70km to access Loreng school for their studies.

He said the population of children in Nakitongo village has increased and they are appealing for county government and national government to build a school.

“Education is the right of every child and could be the right decision of government to ensure a child at Nakitongo gets education as a way of eradicating poverty in Turkana,” he said.

Edited by T Jalio