In the far-flung Laisamis area of Marsabit county, an expansive, semi-arid and rugged landscape with barely any infrastructure hails an undaunted 15-year-old girl, Qureish Ibrahim.
Qureish has an indomitable quest for education. In a community still trapped in harmful and outdated cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, early marriages, discrimination against the girl child and child labour, she vows not to relent in her pursuit, until she wears a graduation hat someday. Forget the insecurity caused by cattle rustling and inter-clan feuds that continues to undermine efforts to develop the remote region; hers is a dream that shall be realised.
She heard it said over and over that education is the key to a better life. She is now determined to get this key that promises to unlock her full potential and give her a decent life.
Raised by a single and not so economically empowered mother, her pursuit for this key is not at all a bed of roses. But it is her determination that amazes me. Unlike her counterparts from more endowed parts of the country, the children here in Laisamis are born into a struggle of poverty, harsh physical environment, and other socio-cultural hurdles.
Some like Qureish are determined to confront their fate and are now going to great lengths to pursue education. While it is tough for boys, it is even tougher for girls; the cultural barrier is too high to scale. She chooses to look beyond despair.
In this county, students have to traverse close to 50km daily through hostile terrain to get to school. Qureish has had to altogether give up the love and comfort of her family to join Korr Secondary. She migrated from her sleepy Loglog village and now lives with strangers in the upper Laisamis.
Loglog boarding school would have been ideal, but it is too expensive. Her single mother cannot afford to pay for her tuition. She, therefore, has to make sacrifices to attend the cheaper state-run Korr Secondary.
Without this sacrifice, she may end up married at 15 years old, which would thrust her into a retrogressive cultural trap and turn her quest for knowledge into a pipe dream. But thanks to National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NGCDF), there is a glimmer of hope for her and her kind, for a better tomorrow.
Living away from her family to attend school has not been easy. It comes with its challenges.
“This shelter is not for free, I have to work to pay for it in kind,” says Qureish But the determination to endure it all for the love of education is written all over her young face.
She continues, “Every evening, I have to clean the house, cook and fetch water before I go to bed. Sometimes I am overwhelmed and hardly get a chance to do my homework,” she reveals while holding back the tears that begin to well up her eyes.
Still, she is grateful to her host family for adopting her and treating her like their own. “These people are total strangers to me, but they have accommodated me, and I feel quite safe,” she clarifies.
For the communities living in marginalised areas, education is the escape window from the harshness of the arid and semi-arid lands into a new world of knowledge, skills, employment and empowerment. The missed opportunity to go to school has condemned generations of residents to a life of uncertainty, a vicious cycle of poverty and insecurity.
Though the fruits of devolution by way of schools, roads and health centres can be seen scattered in this county that sits 700 kilometres from Nairobi, the country’s capital, a lot still needs to be done.
The constant migration of pastoralist communities in search of pasture and water for their animals disrupts learning. The children leave behind whatever little they have learnt, just like their parents leave behind a cluster of manyattas.
And with a similar dream in the same school is another form one student, Andrew Orsoryo, 17. He was not lucky to get a family to host him near the school. His day starts at 3 a.m. and for three and half hours, he walks through the insecure, wild bushes in the dark, to get to school. He covers the same distance from school, arriving home hungry and tired.
Does he worry about the risk posed by wild animals and snakes that roam this county which is also home to a game reserve? Yes!
“I am always keen if I sense danger, I have to trust my legs to my safety. I am lucky I have never had an encounter with wild animals and snakes,” says Orsoryo. He is determined to succeed where others have chosen to embrace their parent’s way of life.
Despite learning being free, the student population at Korr Mixed Secondary School is still very low. Principal Abdulrahman Arbelle Abdi attributes this to resistance to fully embrace education on the part of the parents. “We only have 22 students in this school, which opened its doors in 2020. This is below capacity,” he adds. He is afraid that he may not get students to fill all the classrooms. It is a big challenge because even some of the 22 learners enrolled here never attend classes regularly”. But the attitude is slowly changing, and he is optimistic.
According to Laisamis Constituency fund manager Alice Helepen, NGCDF has transformed the area in terms of educational development.
“But we still need boarding schools to cater for learners who are forced to trek long distances to and from schools,” says Alice.
She is appealing to the Treasury to increase NGCDF allocation to help alleviate poverty in the county.
With NGDCF and Devolution beginning to transform lives in the once marginalised areas such as Marsabit County, a promising tomorrow beckons to many. For instance, more schools are coming up through the fund to complement efforts by the National and County governments to improve education standards.
For those like Qureish and Orsoryo, this is an opportunity they ought to grasp with both hands.
Written By: Zainab Said-Writer at Iwomantoday
