By Maurine

In Kenya, youth who come from poor families often fail to finish their basic education because of the cost of school fees. Although education is supposedly free in Kenya, those who have nothing cannot manage to pay what little is required for books and school uniforms. A cycle of poverty spins through the generations of families living in rural areas. Because parents do not finish their education, they cannot be gainfully employed. Because they are unemployed, their children cannot finish their education. As a young woman growing up in Nyanza, the poorest province in Kenya, the cycle captured me as well. I could not manage to go to high school despite earning very high marks in primary school. My parents were both jobless and only owned a small plot of land for farming. They supported almost 20 family members just by working on other peoples land. When my parents tried to interrupt the cycle, by sending me to Nairobi, I learned that there are forms of employment that are worse than any kind of unemployment. When I returned home still lacking my secondary school certificate, I began to strategize with other youths in my area about how we might take our futures into our own hands. In short, unemployment and lack of education make us vulnerable. Many young people in Kenya find themselves paid very little or nothing for their work simply because they have no alternative. In my own case, my own relatives exploited my state of dependency, which is quite common in our society. Orphans and children from poor families often find themselves employed as housegirls or houseboys with distant relatives in distant cities. In my own case, I thought my prayers had been answered one Sunday evening just after sunset in January 2002. My sister Jane and I were sitting in the center of our small hut because it was the only dry place under the leaking grass-thatched. Our home lacked a door so, at night, we closed the opening with a dirty sack of maize. That evening, a head appeared through the opening. Our cousin Mary entered the house. Jane gave her a small cloth to sit on and some porridge to drink. How is Nairobi? My mum inquired, unsurprised by our visitor. Fine, she responded. I just came to take Maureen to Nairobi to join high school, said Mary with a smile. All the family members were very happy. You could see the white teeth of the children outside. My heart was beating hard, while my body was just trembling with joy. I had never been in any town in my whole life. My hope and dreams had just miraculously come to reality. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I packed my tattered clothes in the paper bag and left barefooted because I did not own any shoes. We asked my mum to pray for us. She began praying for God to reward, me to become the

breadwinner and change the lives of people living in our society and my family too. Later that same evening, we were already in the house in Nairobi. Hallow, Maureen, this is my house, Mary said as she brought a drink to me. The house was very big compared to the ones of home, vey cool and quiet, not even any sound of vehicle passing around. It was like I had gone to a kings palace. My night was long. I dreamt of very big things and asked myself how I had managed to reach Nairobi. All of a sudden, I heard a voice waking me up. The time was 5 oclock in the morning. No sleeping in this house, Mary said. By the way, you came here to be my house-girl so instead of paying you cash, I will be paying your school fees. I woke up very fast without uttering a word. I started mopping the floor, sweeping the compound, washing the clothes, washing the dishes, ironing clothes and cooking breakfast. I did all those chores until 10:30 am. There was no time for rest. Mary later gave me a school uniform, a pair of shoes and socks, a pullover and some books without a bag. I had to carry the books in a paper bag. As we were walking to Ngara Girls High School, we did not talk to each other. I was extremely worried and terrified of the kind of life I had just begun. My Cousin told the principal that she had brought me for the chance she had promised, that she would take responsibility to educate me like her own daughter. This pleased the principal very much. The fee was paid for three years. I as then taken to join my class. I was introduced to the students as Maureen Anyango from Nyanza and they welcomed me joyfully. I quickly made friends with many girls, especially those who were coming from my place. At home, though, my life was not going smoothly. I woke up very early in the morning to do the household chores before going to school. I had no fare to take a bus or matatu (mini-bus) so I had to walk slowly through the dawning streets of Nairobi . Almost everyday, I was punished upon arriving at school because I did not have time to do homework and I came late. Still, my performance was good. One Friday morning, I went to school late at around 10:00 oclock without doing any homework and on reaching the school gate, the principal shouted at me loudly, calling me a stupid girl who thinks the school belongs to her dad. I walked as fast as my thin legs could carry me. The principal told me to kneel down and slapped me very hard on the face. She asked me what was wrong, really wrong with me and why I had made it a routine to come to school late. I tried to explain the reason to her but before I could start she told me to stand up and go to class. I saw her again before I left for home. She asked me whether my parents were still alive and what was the reason for me coming to Nairobi. I told her that my parents were alive, but that they could not afford to educate me so I came to Nairobi with my cousin Mary to get proper education. I was

afraid to tell her about being a house-girl because I feared my cousin might kill me if she heard from the school. In early August 2005, I returned from school with a lot of homework to be done as usual. I also had the chores of washing dishes, cooking supper, cleaning the kitchen and toilet, cooking chapattis until midnight that I had no time for homework. On the same night, my cousin came complaining that I did not sweep her room. She also insisted that I must take all her panties and soak to make sure that they are clean by tomorrow. Even if you are my cousin, I will not wash your panties, I said. For what purpose am I to do this anyway. All of a sudden, I felt very hot slaps that continued until I collapsed. My nose started bleeding. Imagine, my cousin cared even less when she noticed. She packed my books, clothes and everything that belonged to me and threw them outside. Stand up, stupid! Take your things. You rubbish girl should not even be in my house, she said. I stood up quietly, my hands in the back of my neck. I asked her where she wanted me to go in the middle of the night. Looking very upset, she told me to leave her compound. I have done enough. I have no more to pay you, she replied. I am not the one that told God to stop blessing our family. It was very late, past midnight. I took my bag, books, everything that belonged to me and opened the gate. I started walking towards the town in fear that someone might kill me. I felt like I was suffering from high blood pressure. I was tired, bitter and tears freely flowed down my cheek. I sat next to a roasted-chicken street stand until a Good Samaritan came and asked me what I was doing late, in the night, alone. He asked me what happened to my face and bought me food. He asked me to tell him what was happening to me. I was vulnerable so I told him all my problems and why I was there. I had no fare or anything to eat. The Good Samaritan really sympathized with me and offered me a 1,000/= Kenya shillings. And that is how I left Nairobi to return back to home. A few months passed before another opportunity from a relative arose. My uncle from Kisumu, the city closer to our home area had come looking for me. I gave him a lesso (a traditional cloth) to sit on while others were sitting on sacks. My uncle then dropped a bomb shell. I want to take you, Maureen, to Veronica College of Hairdressing and there is a chance only for one girl, he said. I was tired of being idle without any alternative ahead so I agreed. He said the course would last for six months and that I could start the very next day. I nodded my head happily. My mum refused to answer him because she thought my life might be the same as the one I had earlier in Nairobi. The following day I was taken to Veronica College of Hairdressing and Beauty with beautiful ladies and men doing the same job. The administrator led me to a classroom and introduced me.

The next morning, I knew the routine. I had to wake up at 5:00 am sharp and prepare breakfast for my uncles family, mop the house, clean dishes, wash the windows, and clean the toilets. There was no time for rest or for taking breakfast or even doing the homework. I then walked two kilometers from home to college because I had no pocket money. Still, I only had to persevere for six months. I faced a lot of challenges at college, sometime, I felt lonely nobody wanted to be close to me, I could not speak in public, my classmate made a fun of me because I used to put on dirty and tone clothes. Sometimes barefoot without even shoes, I could not practice on somebodys hair. They looked at me and say Oh no with your dirty clothes, that are smelling fried omena, leave my hair and go somewhere else where they will be comfortable with you. I felt very bored and useless but because I had a sharp mind, I did not lose hope. When I returned home, I had a plan. After I had rested for 3 days, I began calling all girls and boys in my community who had some problems and challenge of lack of unemployment, no proper education, lost hope, lack of skills on management, idleness, poverty and hunger. We sat down with thirty-two of us at the first meeting. We discussed ways of forming a group to start our own income-generating activities such as group savings and loaning, cash-crop farming and also poultry-keeping. I also invited anyone who was willing to join me in hairdressing and beauty. We managed to start a small poultry business . Each of us had at least 20 birds or more. Because I had to start-up my salon, I eventually sold 10 birds each at 350 and got a total of Kshs. 3,500/= from the sale. I used the money to buy chemicals, shampoo, hairfood, hairpiece to keep my salon moving forward. Now from the little I earn from the beauty business, I give some to my parents to fulfill my obligation to become a breadwinner for the family. I can now support my younger brothers and sisters even though there is a problem of low demand of by customers, lack of enough finances for expanding my business. Whether one has a certificate or not, he or she can start a small business. Start-up money can be a challenge. As I learned very early, when you have nothing, you have to balance between humiliation and dependency without falling apart. My own experiences and those of the youths in my life have taught me that everything begins with education. Ensuring that children and youths can access knowledge freely will create a generation that can begin to think about strategies for changing our world. Next, schools and teachers should be aware that students from poor families are often forced to work as housegirls or houseboys for their education. A child in that situation has no other advocate. Eventually, we must learn to become our own advocates, though. Youths are 70% of the population of Kenya so we should be finding our voices as a majority. We can bring change in our society when we realize that we are not rubbish like my cousin said on that awful night when she turned me away.