Early Death of Parents Affecting Education in Kenya’s Nyanza Region

“Education Is Light.”

“Education Is the Key.”

“Education Is Power.”

“Education for a Better Tomorrow.”

“Unlock Your Potential, Embrace Education.”

You must have come across such expressions on students’ badges—mostly high school students. They are called mottos and are meant to inspire students to work hard and to ingrain in their minds and hearts that education opens the way to a bright future. Happily, for some students, this turns out to be true. Sadly, for many, the messages in these mottos are mere wishful thinking, not because the students perform poorly in school, but because of one big factor that hinders their advancement—a factor that is largely out of their control—the death of their parents!

Let me explain this through the lens of an individual in the Nyanza region who repeatedly and narrowly missed opportunities to advance his education to his desired level, largely because of being an orphan. His case represents many youths and adults in the Nyanza region. We will call him Aron. Here is his story:

“I was raised in a village in Homa Bay County in the Nyanza region of Kenya. At the beginning, life appeared relatively fair, but as years passed by, conditions started worsening. Then in 1994, I sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, an examination that ends Primary Education and prepares one for Secondary School Education. It was meant to be a happy transition, but that was not to be.

“In January 1995 when I was supposed to join Secondary School, I lost my father in death. That tragedy led to about two months delay in my starting Secondary School education, since my mother was now the sole provider and we were five children in different stages of education. My four years in Secondary School was full of misery—many times being sent home for lack of school fees, mandatory text books, and other utilities. At one point during those four years, I nearly died of a severe typhoid infection. Due to poverty, I could not get proper medical attention. Fortunately, I survived, and in 1998 I completed my Secondary School Education.

“In 2000 when I was in the process of searching for opportunities to join a college and study mass communication, another tragedy befell me—my mother died! Now I was a total orphan. My siblings were struggling even to put food on the table, hence they could not support my further education. I had to join the struggle by doing some menial jobs to keep me and others going.

“In 2006, I got an unexpected opportunity to be trained as a teacher. Again due to similar circumstances, I could not join college despite having been invited. Since then I have learned some on-the-job skills and somehow they keep me going, but life in Kenya and Africa at large without a certified trade or the so called ‘experience’ can be very challenging. I am now in my 40s with a family and the struggle continues.”

Like Aron, many young ones in Africa experience severe poverty and suffering because of being orphans. As a result, they fail to get good education, or at least basic education. But their resilience is amazing. With meager wages, they support themselves and their families and often try their best to make a difference in the lives of other orphaned children by providing basic things like pens, exercise books, geometric sets, and some personal items, so that they stay in school and get the much-needed education.

At AFN, we strongly believe that education is a fundamental right that every child is entitled to, whether his or her parents are alive or not, and we are here to take a solution-based approach to advocate for this. This aligns well with the second of our ten pillars.