Nobody Should Learn Under These Conditions In The 21st Century: Who Will Rescue The Girl Child Of This Primary School In Lugari Kakamega County?

This girl,said to be from a Primary School in Lugari, Kakamega County, smiles as she goes about Khumalao as wandase in Bungoma call this activity steeped in Mulembe tradition. Simiyu Wandibba in his 1985 book History and Culture In Western Kenya: The People of Bungoma District Through Time; reveals that the application of cow dung to floors was done to maintain cleanliness and smoothness.

Pictures that draw attention to the inequality in Kenya have surfaced online with many, most likely middle class Kenyans, aghast at school children having to Khumalao classrooms. Thirty or so years after themselves (now grandparents/parents/uncles/aunts to these children) had to Khumalao in pursuit of a brighter tomorrow.


Indeed, the stagnation in human development depicted in these pictures 54 years after independence is appalling. Whilst one can only be inspired by these girls determination to get an education via this act of building classrooms with their own hands, the realization that we have once again failed our children chokes one with shame.

The Good

 

Mgala muue na haki yake mpee. We are reminded by this Swahili proverb to appropriate blame and praise justly. To us children of Mulembe Nation, Kuboma nyumba is part of culture. We applied cow dung and soil mixtures on the floors and walls routinely and whenever we needed to 'remodel' our homes in expectation of visitors.

We therefore should be reluctantly forgiven if we somewhat perceive the injustice depicted in the pictures as being a normal occurrence. Nonetheless, as we awaken to this reality we must remember that sadly, these children have it better than some children in Kenya who are learning under trees with no desks or stationery.

If we are allowed to take the plight of these children in this light, it might be worthy to expound why Khumalao the classroom is a novel innovation given the circumstances. To combat the jigger menace, public health officials are encouraging Ugandans to learn from our cousins the Teso whose use of cow dung to seal cracks in walls and floors where jiggers breed before infestation has been found to be highly effective.

Despite Uganda having somewhat similar cultural mosaic to Kenya with ethnic Nilotes, Bantus and Cushites; Uganda had to look east to our cousins the Teso for this public health measure with African roots. Searching online, I found it quite surprising that Khumalao is not as common place as one would think! This lends credence to the stifled notion that the land of Mulembe is indeed a hot spot for cultural tourism as blogged here by an American Peace Corp.

As depicted in the picture by these school girls from a primary school in Lugari, Kakamega County, the application of cow dung is done by hand after making the paste lighter using water. The pupils appear to be quite comfortable thus chances are that the cow dung paste isn't as pungent as imagined.

 

The Ugly 

 

From my limited research, it did not emerge that the Primary School depicted was a girls only school. Though the pictures do not capture the boy child; having attended similar schools, we all know that the boys were most likely involved in other tasks as prescribed by cultural gender norms. Nonetheless,  this pictures are a stark reminder of what Paul Wenzel Geissler and Ruth Jane describe in the book: The Land Is Dying: Contingency, Creativity and Conflict In Western Kenya, that Khumalao was a woman's only job.

Jubilee government's digital primary schools initiative has been lauded for its foresight as it has been castigated for being emblematic of irresponsible priority setting given that most rural schools lack basic amenities like habitable classrooms and even electric power to charge the laptops/tablets. Here at the very least we see that this school has furniture.