Kenya — North Eastern Province has the lowest rates of education and literacy in the country according to a demographic and health survey completed in 2009. Only 22% of women and 59% of men in the North eastern Province have received any education at all. Only one in five women in North Eastern Province can read compared to 85% at the national level. Still, there have been major strides forward since 2003 when only 7% of women and 29% of men had received any education.
Photograph above:
Fourteen year-old Scholastica Waithera a class two learner, is seen sitting in the middle, on her bed, with two school friends alongside in their dormitory at the Bura boarding primary school in Bura Fafi in the North East Province of Kenya on March 23, 2001. Scholastica’s mother sent her to the school when she was 7 years old, the same as with her siblings. Scholastica says “School will help me in my future. Influenced by the nursing care she had just received for an injury to her leg while playing, Scholastica says “I want to be a doctor, to help the sick.” One evening in the last quarter of 2010, Scholastica went to bed before the other girls. The girls went to bed after they had finished playing outside and forgot to secure the door from the inside. Scholastica, a moment of half-sleep felt the hand of a young tall boy on her body. Sholastica screamed, alerting the other girls and the teachers who reside 100m away, and scaring away the boy. Scholastica still thinks about it now sometimes. The fear that parents feel about the safety of their daughters, outside of their nomadic settlements, is a barrier to girls’ education. ©2011 Christine Nesbitt/UNICEF
Girls stand for a photograph in their dormitory at the Bura boarding primary school in Bura Fafi in the North East Province of Kenya. ©2011 Christine Nesbitt/UNICEF
Schoolgirls take their plates for lunch to the canteen at the Bura boarding primary school in Bura Fafi in the North East Province of Kenya. ©2011 Christine Nesbitt/UNICEF
Schoolgirls take their plates for lunch to the canteen at the Bura boarding primary school in Bura Fafi in the North East Province of Kenya. ©2011 Christine Nesbitt/UNICEF
Schoolboys are served lunch from the canteen at the Bura boarding primary school in Bura Fafi in the North East Province of Kenya. ©2011 Christine Nesbitt/UNICEF
Schoolgirls are served lunch from the canteen at the Bura boarding primary school in Bura Fafi in the North East Province of Kenya. ©2011 Christine Nesbitt/UNICEF
Seventeen year-old Muktar Ahmed Farah, a class three learner, is seen sitting on his bed, doing his homework in the dormitory at the Bura boarding primary school in Bura Fafi in the North East Province of Kenya on March 23, 2001. Muktar helped to look after his family’s cow and goat herds before coming to school two years ago. He did so well in his first year that he skipped a class and is now in class three. He is the first in his family to go to school. Muktar convinced his parents to send him to school, a family member brought him to Bura Fafi. Muktar says “I have to learn for my own sake and for those I have left at home so that I can help them.” With drought now being a problem, Muktar feels that education will last while animals die. Muktar says “I want to be a doctor, I love that job. I remember once I had malaria and no-one could help”. ©2011 Christine Nesbitt/UNICEF
Schoolgirls are served lunch from the canteen at the Bura boarding primary school in Bura Fafi in the North East Province of Kenya. ©2011 Christine Nesbitt/UNICEF