Macheo Education Empowerment Program

24^th January 2012, will remain a very special day for Jane Njeri Musungui.  Njeri is a Maasai girl aged 11 years and living with her parents in Kiandutu slums in Thika. Njeri could not read nor write. She has never had the opportunity to attend school despite the Kenyan government having introduced free primary education in 2003.

Njeri’s father was married before but later abandoned his first wife and children in the Maasai land. Many years later, he realized he was getting old (now over 70 years) and decided to remarry a woman with children. He got married to Njeri’s mother with whom (and the children) they settled in Kiandutu slums in Thika.  He never took the children to school since he did not want to incure any costs other than providing food to his family. According to him, he believed that his work was only to provide food to his family. This meant that Njeri and her siblings would not access a much needed basic right of education.

Through Macheo’s social workers under the Education Empowerment program, Njeri and 11 other children were taken into the program. The program seeks to give opportunities to children who have never been to school. These children get a chance to study and attain the minimum level required of education that would enable them get reintegrated to the regular public primary schools, and study just like the other children.

The program involves intensive individual training to help them get to the same level of at least class one or two in the regular schools. At the same time, the teacher and social workers also work closely with the guardians since most of them are not educated and do not understand why their children should be get education.

This program in Macheo is intend to;

• Identify children who have missed the chance of being in school
• Prepare these children for a chance to join regular public schools
• Reintegrate them into the regular public schools normal
• Provide lunch and uniform so that they have the required needs while in school
• Provide psychosocial support to help them cope with some of the challenges they have faced before.
• Work with the parents/guardians, community, schools teachers, government and other stakeholders to ensure that all children enjoy the right to be in school.

Njeri is very happy to have such an opportunity. The teacher is giving her extra attention since in her case; she has never had even a single day in school in her life. She is very motivated and yearning to get education which she believes will transform her life and that of her family. Under normal circumstances, Njeri is supposed to be in class 6 like other children of her age. This however, does not to dampen her drive to acquire education.

Njeri is among many children in Kiandutu and other urban slums in Kenya who miss out on a chance to be educated. Due to poor social economic status, the guardians do not fully understand the need for education and they end up depriving their own children the opportunity. We have found that these children often take the role of the guardians, some are victims of child labour and neglect, some baby-sit their siblings.  Many others are victims to different retrogressive cultural practices.

To reach more of such children and commence a journey of transforming their lives, Macheo’s invites you to join hands. Check out more on this and other programs of Macheo in the projects section on our website.