“Education is the single most powerful weapon against poverty.”     

During my five week stay in the village of Naroosura in Kenya this statement was drawn to my attention on many occasions. While helping to build a classroom for a small school in Kanunka (a neighbouring village) we were given the opportunity to interact with the school children; both teaching them and dancing and singing with them during their breaks. The children have so little in terms of material goods compared to us in the U.K. but in my opinion have so much more. They are happier and value what they have; people and education in particular. They are able to live the simple life that I often wish I had.

At the end of break one day I noticed Setian, one of the young girls from the ‘baby class’ standing still, not joining her classmates in the usual dash back to their desks. She was very upset and I realised that in the excitement of playing during break she had dropped her pencil. Despite its ridiculously small size I managed to find it in amongst the dirt on the ground. The look on Setian’s face when I returned it to her is something I will never forget. She smiled up at me in thanks before running back to her class. As each child treasures their own tatty pencil, and the teacher has none spare, returning without hers would have meant she would have been unable to participate fully in the next lesson. This little incident reminded me of all the times throughout my school years when a pencil was purposely snapped in half; or the tip was broken so class time could be wasted sharpening it at the bin; or simply just thrown out because it was ‘too small’ to be used comfortably. I love that something so important can be taken from such a simple event: we should not waste a moment of the education that we are so blessed to have.

The time I spent building for, and working with, the children in Kenya has been the best use of my time so far. They appreciated us sharing our knowledge, teaching them our songs and dances and attempting to learn theirs more than I could have imagined. The classroom we helped build will allow for more children to be educated and knowing that I have provided even just a few children with a small part of the education that they treasure means so much to me. I touched their lives and in turn they touched mine.

Frances Lowrie (Graduate 2013)