Kenya: School trip with a difference

Children with 1.6 million year old Nariokotome Boy

Pupils from Our Lady Queen of Peace School in Todonyang, north east Kenya enjoyed a memorable day out last Friday, when they travelled more than 50k to visit a rare archaeological site as well as the Nariokotome Mission.

The Nariokotome Boy site is located at Nariokotome in the western side of Lake Turkana. Nariokotome Boy is the name given to fossil KNM-WT 15000, a nearly complete skeleton of a boy aged 7- 11 years old, who lived 1.5 to 1.6 million years ago. This specimen is the most complete early human skeleton ever found in the world. It was discovered in 1984 by Kamoya Kimeu, working with Dr Richard Leakey and his team on the bank of the Nariokotome River near Lake Turkana.

The site is located close to the Nariokotome Mission run by the Missionary Community of St Paul the Apostle, (MCSPA) who look after their school.

During the visit the children also visited the graves of the founder of the MCSPA, Fr Paco Andreo Garcia and Peter Chege an MCSPA Seminaria.

Class 8 students are between 14 to 15 years old. There are 29 pupils in Class 8 who will be sitting for their final exams in November.

Our Lady Queen of Peace Todonyang school is very special because it has pupils from the rival tribes of Turkana, Dassanech and Nyangatom tribes. In the past there were conflicts between the different tribes, but this school is helping the next generation to live and study together in peace.

Our Lady Queen of Peace is twinned with The Church of the Holy Apostles in Pimlico, central London.

Read more about Todonyang here: https://mcspa.org/tag/todonyang/

The work of the Missionary Community of St Paul the Apostle is supported by New Ways, a UK-based charity run entirely by volunteers. If you would like to make a donation to support their projects, please visit: www.justgiving.com/campaign/feedchildrenofturkana2022

For more pictures see the ICN Facebook page.