It is written, “But through knowledge, shall the just be delivered!” Proverbs 11:9B KJV
This is the case of four young souls desperately looking to be delivered from the clutches of poverty, ignorance, and hopelessness. By circumstances, the four found themselves united at the rescue centre at the Samburu Girls’ Foundation (SGF), located in the interiors of Samburu County, where retrogressive practises of child marriage and female genital mutilation are still being inflicted to date on young girls. The boys who dare oppose such practises are punished severely by being kicked out of their ancestral homes into the literal wilderness of Samburu to fend for themselves without the covering or blessing of their families.
The education of these young souls hangs in the balance as they desperately hold on to hope against all hope that the sun might shine their way through well-wishers, donors, and destiny helpers. They believe that through education, they will be empowered and liberated to the point where they can become saviours for their own poverty-stricken community and families.
PARAITO LEARSO, AGE: 22; GENDER: MALE
Paraito is the third of seven children, but one of the youngest, from a polygamous family of close to thirty siblings. His father passed away back in 2015 and had married three wives, but he never provided much for them since education and his children’s wellbeing were left in the hands of his child-bearing young wives.
Paraito’s mother was the youngest in the homestead and was ladden with the responsibility of raising one of her other co-wives’ children since their mother had died miserably from a mysterious disease that claimed her life a few years into the polygamous union.
Seeing that education was his only way out of his community’s misery, Paraito took it upon himself to go to school, so much so that he scored 348 out of 500, which attracted the attention of community leaders and wellwishers who took him to the rescue centre at SGF.
Through the help of wellwishers, sponsors and mentors like the E-Mentoring Africa organisation, the SGF held the hands of Paraito and took him to high school, where he scored high marks in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and got an admission letter from the University of Nairobi (UoN) to undertake a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. The admission letter indicated that he was to join the institution of higher learning on September 25, 2023.
Sadly, this is yet to happen due to financial challenges.
CHRISTINA NASHAKI, 22 YEARS OLD, FEMALE
When Nashaki was 10 years old, her father decided that she was ready for marriage. But before that, as is customary, she had to undergo the FGM knife, which would mark her initiation into womanhood. Education was of no importance to her father, who made all the decisions in the family without anyone’s objection!
A 52-year-old man was identified as the right suitor for Nashaki. The senior man gave Nashaki’s father livestock in exchange for the life of the child, whom he was to take on as a wife!
The child, Nashaki, found shelter in her illicit-brewing mother-in-law, who shielded her from the hands of her all-grown son, who took a child as a wife and expected her to perform wifely duties at such a tender age. In exchange for her protection, Nashaki was forced to wake up daily before sunrise to fetch water from the community seasonal river. The water would be used in her mother-in-law’s illicit brewery, which was the family’s main source of income.
One fine day, a stranger who would later turn out to be a motherly and caring person in Nashaki’s life spotted her carrying a container bigger than her own frame at the shopping centre in Loosuk village of Samburu County. The stranger approached Nashaki and expressed genuine concern about why the child was not in school and why she was carrying that big container of illicit brew. Nashaki opened up to this kind stranger and founder of the SGF and told her story, and as fate would have it, the girl was rescued two weeks into the unethical marriage.
Fast-forward: the girl was taken through a crash programme on the basics of language, counting, interacting communally, and basic education. Nashaki was officially admitted to primary school. With hope restored in her life, Nashaki passed her final primary school exams and proceeded to high school. She cleared her KCSE last year and is yet to join college.
When eMA approached the worried Nashaki, she said that her only wish beyond all else was education. Nashaki holds firmly to the words of Nelson Mandela, who once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world.” And Nashaki is determined to change not just hers but, her family’s and community’s future.
The young lady does not want to go back to the life she once saw in the hands of the 52-year-old man who is her sworn enemy. Nashaki, just like the SGF centre, wants to be the voice and force that first prevents and rescues children from being married off at tender ages.
Even though her tertiary education hangs in the balance, Nashaki believes that the same God who rescued her before will make a way and that her dream of going to school and becoming independent and empowered will surely come to pass!
JACKSON WAPARI, MALE, 19 YEARS OLD.
Just like his colleagues at SGF, Jackson came from a poor background and found himself at the centre because someone saw his hunger, potential, and determination to make it in life.
The 19-year-old also comes from a polygamous family, with his mother being the youngest of his father’s three wives. As the firstborn from a family of seven, Jackson is his mother’s and siblings’ hope out of poverty, lack, and shame. Jackson saw the kind of life through forced child marriage that his own mother could provide, and determined that he wanted more so, this only fuels his will and desire for a life pf freedom and abundance.
And like Nashaki, Paraito, and Rose, Jackson is the most educated and enlightened member of his family, owing to the fact that they have only seen and felt a glimpse of what life has to offer to those who are determined to break free from the yokes of his community’s poverty and retrogressive cultural practises and the little importance they place on education.
In 2022, Jackson cleared and excelled in his high school education and received an admission letter from Murang’a University to join the institution of learning on September 4, 2023, and pursue a degree in public policy and administration.
The four: Jackson, Rose, Nashaki, and Paraito, have all placed their hope that someone will come through for them since they all have letters of admission which is enough proof that they are capable of excellence as they are all set to join various institutions of higher learning. The four are firm believers in the words of the Bible found in Proverbs 23:18, Amplied Version: “Surely there is a future and a reward, and your hope and expectation will not be cut off.”