TURKANA DIARY 6 - Education and Faith

Porridge at the nursery

Whilst access to water, food and health services is an urgent priority to alleviate the hardship that the Turkana people face, by far the most profound and transformational change is the provision of education to children.

There are some government schools in the area, but they are very few and badly run. Without easy access to schools near to where the tribes live, or the provision of boarding schools, very few children go to school.

In addition, parents see children as a source of help, they send boys to farm animals or fish at a very young age, and boys and girls fetch water and wood and help their parents for any other household task from as early as three years old. Also, girls marry young, and they are a source of revenue as, in their culture, the husband must buy his wife, typically by giving goats to her parents. This is clearly a bad practice, as it fosters a culture of subordination of women versus their husbands, but this is their culture, at least for the moment.

The mission in Todonyang, and all four missions in Turkana run by the MCSPA, have set up one or more schools, some are day schools some are boarding schools. In a day school, children attend from early morning until early afternoon, then they go back home. At boarding schools, children live at school for the entire term time and return home during the holidays. Setting up a school is essential, but not enough to change the culture and ensure that children attend school. Parents need to see and embrace the positive impact that school has on their children's life and must choose to send their children to school. This is a slow process. Fifteen years ago, children did not go to school. When the mission arrived, they started by setting up nursery stations for very small children, aged 3 to 5. Children were given a space to play together and, crucially, they were provided with food, typically a porridge made of maize flour, water and sugar. For many children, this was the only meal of the day. In addition, children were given basic health education and, at the same time, referred to the dispensary in case they were not feeling well. Parents started to appreciate the positive impact of school in this manner, which allowed children to continue their education, as nurseries gradually evolved into proper schools, with qualified teachers and recognised by the Kenyan government. School attendance is still very low in Turkana, but the positive impact of the schools set up and run by the mission is extraordinary and I am convinced that this will be the main factor that will drive a positive evolution for Turkana.

Last, but not least, the job of the mission is to bring the word of God to the people. Kenya is a Christian country, but the tribes of Turkana also have their own tribal religions. I have not seen people practising these tribal religions, so I can't comment much on them. However, I have experienced the way the Christians of Turkana engage in worshipping God. A Mass in Turkana is not just time for God, it's an injection of joy, a celebration of life, a show of positive emotions that brings communities together. The way they celebrate Mass, singing, dancing, actively participating, makes it a wonderful moment that gives them strength, brings peace and joy into their hearts and makes them better people. By bringing Mass to the communities in Turkana, the mission ensures that their souls are nurtured, and this allows them to do everything else.

It took me a few days to start to understand their world and the transformational work that the mission has been doing in Turkana. One can read reports, see videos and photos, but this world is so different from ours that the only way to understand it is to go there. There is no substitute to visiting Turkana, meeting the people, their children and the missionaries, to get a real sense of how different life is over there. However, going to Turkana is not something that can be done easily, so I hope that by sharing my experience I can bring this world a little closer to you and bring to life some of the issues that I have just talked about.

LINKS

To sponsor a Turkana child, please visit: Children Sponsorship Programme

To contribute to Manlio's trip crowdfunding, please visit: Manlio for Turkana

To support New Ways, see: Fundraising - New Ways

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