There is bloodbath up north because schools are inexistent

Kootoro primary school, Turkana. Photo courtesy of Lotiki Thomas

Is "sedentarization" - forced or voluntary - the only way to respond to demands by nomads? Where, and when did we bury our creativity? Why haven’t we moved further to understand why illiteracy rules pastoral lands?

The above questions are inescapable as long as policies, actions, and/or interventions geared towards uplifting Kenya's nomadic people's living standards, and fostering peaceful coexistence among them remain skewed, and ill-informed of their local cultural dynamics and the uniqueness of the territories they inhabit.

The efforts of nomadic communities to preserve their cultural identity should not just be appreciated by all conscious beings but should also form the basis of our interaction with these communities. That they still wallow in material poverty and endless inter-community squabbles despite their immense cultural wealth should worry all of us.

We are morally obliged to look into this disconnect with a view to seeking ways of reversing it.

Promoting nomadic education in Kenya is a hard a story to sell to a Nairobi-based bureaucrat who has had no privilege of interacting with nomads, and appreciating the sensitivities that dot their daily lives. Paradoxically, it takes signatures of this kind of officials for nomadic education to see the light of the day. So whether we like it or not, confronting these folks is inevitable.

The punishing illiteracy among Kenya's nomads is a case study on how peace and development are dependent on education. It would be foolhardy to isolate poor penetration of formal schooling among communities from northern Kenya when reviewing the state of peace and the general welfare of the people. 

It is simple: there is bloodbath up north because there is hardly a school, a teacher, a pen and a book for its inhabitants.

The reasons behind this trend are many. One, the belief that schooling is only a dose to be dispensed to "settled" people. In other words, nomads will enjoy this "privilege" only if they settle down permanently. Two, cost implications. It is just too heavy a task to oversee mass construction of schools across this vast region and ensuring kids’ continued stay at school. Three, political blow-backs that view education as a means of alienating the populace from the path of absolute respect of local political establishments. In short, tyranny of status quo hampering education evangelism. Sad story. Four, zero creativity, zero innovation, hence zero progress.

When we talk about illiteracy hampering peace and development in pastoral lands, we talk about how everybody - the young and the old - are left out in this education promotion thing. We talk about a one-sided intervention that is yet to decipher the truism that even senior members of these targeted communities are also thirsty of knowledge. That fighting illiteracy is not just a matter of erecting structures to be used by school-going children only, but a need to put paid a component where adults can be educated.

Look, my lamentations here are informed by numbers from the government of Kenya. The 2009 national census put the number of illiterate folks in Turkana County at more than 70% of its entire population. The story is more or less the same in other nomads-dominated counties, namely, Samburu, Marsabit, West Pokot, Wajir, Garissa, Mandera and Tana River.

Which brings me to my core questions: why do we focus only on children? What makes us believe that by following this route we will overcome the huddles brought up by illiteracy?

No, I do not push for exclusion of children. I only advocate for 100% inclusion. I only push for a dual system. A system where children profit during the day, and adults get their lessons in the evenings. I only push for a system that is tailor-made to respond to the uniqueness of nomadic life. 

One more point. Adults do not just want to know how to read and write. They want skills to be drivers of their destinies. They want to be their own employers. And so? Open the frontiers of these people. Make them be the persons in their dreams. Allow them to interact with their successful peers from other regions. And by doing so, education will take root. The people themselves will lead this crusade.

Final thoughts: you promote peace up north not by distributing guns and bullets but by knowing what matters to the people - evangelism of progress to all.

Go thee and share this message with Kenyan pastoral nomads.

Lemukol Ng'asike is an architect. Twitter:  @mlemukol.