Children and Education

I have been informed that my blog has been shared in the Immanuel United Church of Christ’s newsletter in Clarksville, IA (where my Dad used to be the pastor); in the Friends of Ngong Road newsletter; and the Humphrey Institute’s Global Public Policy website. So those of you new to my blog, welcome and I hope you enjoy!


Life in Kenya continues to be an exciting, frustrating, and wonderful experience. Luke and I moved, again, to another host family yesterday, and are beginning to settle in. The cons of moving every few weeks is that when I begin to really feel comfortable with my location and the family, I move to a new place. The benefits, however, are that I get to experience different Kenyan families and the variety of traditions each family has. Staying with this many families also affords me a place to stay when I return to Kenya…I will always have a home here.

I’ve been spending a lot of time gathering data on height/weight of children, HIV/AIDS stats, average number of years in school for Kenyans, and average grades of students in Kenya. The task has been more difficult than I had anticipated and a few phone calls to the Kenya Bureau of Statistics for more information has been in vain. I plan on traveling to their office on Thursday to see if a face-to-face conversation will allow me to gather more of the information I need. I have been able to find some data online from credited research organizations and the United Nations, World Health Organization, UNICEF, and more. I will continue the search!

On Monday, I visited a school where we have about 26 of our children, called GSU (General Service Unit)…I know, quite an attractive name for a school, huh? It is a boarding school within a military compound. Boarding schools are considered some of the best education for children in Kenya, and also the most secure form of education. The children are provided 3 meals a day, classes and activities all day, and 24 hour a day armed protection. The problem with boarding schools is that they are tough to get into and are more expensive…well worth it though!

When we were at GSU, we were escorted around by the Deputy administrator, and kids would stare at us, but not approach us. However, when I began to walk around the compound by myself, the kids would rush me, and want to shake my hand and touch me…it makes you feel as though you are the most important person there. It was even crazier when classes let out and all the children began to gather around asking questions, trying to shake my hand and touch me, and just be near the muzungu (white person). As you can see from the photo, the children are very interested in white people AND having their picture taken.

The education system here is very different from that of the United States. In Kenya, you spend 1st grade until 8th grade preparing for an exam that will determine what kind of high school you will get into. The test is a one-shot deal, and if you don’t do well on the test, then you may not get into a high school at all; instead you may have to go to a trade’s school, where you learn some type of specialized hand work, such as shoe repair. If a person does make it into high school (and most kids do), you spend those 4 years preparing to take another exam that will determine your placement in college, or if you are even able to go to college. When speaking to the Deputy about this, he agreed it’s a terrible system. A child could be doing great for 8 years and then come to take the test and not do well, and then their talent would be wasted. The test takes into consideration 5 different aspects of education; Swahili, English, Religion, Science, and Math. The overall score is taken into consideration; which is too bad. If for example, a child excels in Math and Science, but does poorly in the other 3 categories, then they might not get into high school or college. And if this happens, then you’ve wasted the talent of someone who might make a great mathematician or scientist. Not to mention the great pressure put on these children to do well on these tests because their futures absolutely depend on it!

The deputy said that there is a push for educational reform as people are realizing that this system is really shortchanging their country. However, he informed us that everything becomes politicized and there will be many who will fight to maintain the current system for their own interests. And because corruption is rampant in this country, I do not see great hope in the system changing anytime soon.

The pictures are some of the staff, along with kids playing at the Saturday program.