By Erick Nyayiera
When she was transferred to Baragoi Girls High School in Samburu County, Principal Joyce Abuya was oblivious of the harrowing experience she would contend with for a decade.
On the day she reported, she was given a police escort since the Ministry of Education was aware that the area was a war zone in a journey that took a number of days but her security detail was only to ensure she reports to her new station.
“It was an experience of a lifetime being transferred from my comfort zone to a place I only saw in news stories featuring all manner of skirmishes and turmoil, in fact when I arrived at the school gate after a tiresome journey, I was thoroughly frisked at gun point by the school security detail because they thought I might have brought trouble. It’s the area education officer and the police officers in my company who saved me,” she stated.
In her 10 year stint, Principal Abuya came to terms with the challenges facing the girl-child education in Samburu and Turkana Counties.
She literally had to become a mother figure alongside being a teacher since virtually all girls come from underprivileged backgrounds and the society only recognises the boy-child and would rather opportunities be accorded the boy child to the detriment of the girl child.
Mrs. Abuya now the Principal of Sigoti Complex Girls’ Secondary in Nyakach, Kisumu County disclosed that girls would be travelling long distances to come to schools and were guarding themselves with guns since the terrain was insecure and they often engage in some form of war on their way to school and back home.
In spite of the challenges, we had girls doing better in their studies and joining universities and getting lucrative job placements and even coming back to encourage the students on the benefit of education.
She also noted that the teachers were dedicated in their call even amidst challenges and always ensured they cared for the girls.
“The girls were wonderful to deal with, they are respectful and prayerful. I virtually became their mother and a mentor figure and most of the time played the peacemaker since the school hosted largely students from Samburu and Turkana counties who have a long history of tribal hatred and would be fighting and regrouping every other time for all manner of ill intent,” she discloses.
She added: “Turkanas feel more underprivileged, if you annoy a Turkana girl then the whole situation will be unpleasant and they will fight the whole day and night because they are high tempered. The experience made me appreciate life.”
Principal Abuya recounts numerous times that classes and school operations would suffer when the two communities fought leading to gunfire exchange in the school compound that lasted hours.
“Initially I was naive and didn’t know what was happening until students would run and push me down on the ground to escape death and this would go for hours as the two warring communities exchanged fire. The girls study in horrifying environment and it’s even the case when they leave for home because the place is totally insecure,” she said.
The girl-child in the area suffers early marriages including high pregnancy rates and the school administration must invest a lot of time tracing them when school reopens to ensure they are back in school.
Principal Abuya appealed to the Government to beef up security in the area for all the students and teachers and also give girl-child support programmes to ensure most girls get basic quality education to change their destiny.
