Pupils from Sieku Primary School in Laikipia North Sub-County had little to celebrate as the world marked the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child.
Accessing one of the basic rights-education remains a dream to many of the girls with some having to make a sacrifice of walking for eight kilometres daily through wildlife inhabited Mukogodo Forest to reach the only primary school in an entire location.
Josephine Ndirias the founder of Mukogodo Girls Empowerment Program says unlike other parts of Laikipia County, access to education in Sieku location is a daunting task to many pupils especially girls, including the feeling of insecurity by the community due to frequent invasion of armed migrating herders to evergreen Mukogodo Forest .
“There have been cases of girls being sexually molested by criminals on their way from school while at times, they arrive late in school as they try to avoid elephants that roam in the expansive forest,” said Ndirias.
She said to minimize the dangers, some of the girls have sought accommodation in homesteads neighbouring the school while some parents now prefer marrying of their daughters to educating them.
The parents and leaders have called for immediate uplifting of the school to include boarding facilities so that all girls can be in school and this will be the only way the plight of the Girl child will be uplifted in the region.
One of the neighbours to the school Eunice Moire has volunteered to host the girls who now live and school with her daughters and only go to their homes during school holidays.
“Some homes have accommodated up to six girls so that they can easily access the school at ease or however risk being married off at a tender age,” said Moire
Sieku Primary School head teacher James Leparmorijo says girls have been dropping out either due to pregnancy, discouragement by the long daily distance to school or other challenges that face pastoralist communities including early forced marriages.
The community through a local group ranch have in the past mobilized resources but only managed to put up an ECD Centre at Nitrim, located nine kilometres from Sieku Primary and many of the pupils are unable to further their education past this level.
James Kiripan a community leader said that those who cannot make it to the primary school go for over three years at the Nursery school before they are engaged by their parents as herders in prepoaration for marriage.
During the Day of the Girl Child celebrations held a few metres from the school, the girls highlighted the challenges they face daily as they pursue a dream of becoming professionals later in life.
Through folk dance, music and skits, they passed a message to their parents and the society at large that they require support and should not be subjected to sexual abuse and early forced marriages.
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia.
A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.
Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad. “How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense”, he thought, but that was something he was unable to do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn’t get into that position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was.
The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.
One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections.
A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.
His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame.
It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer. Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad.