ISSUE 012, February 16-28, 2010
1
Unfiltered, uninhibited…. just the gruesome truth
February 16-28, 2010
ISSUE 012
A bimonthly on-line newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service
Academic light dims for Laikipia’s best By Paul Mwaniki
F
ew people knew of Bernard Sarioyo’s abilities. For three months, he languished in the dense Mount Kenya Forest in a desperate bid to save his family’s livestock from the unending drought. The second born in a family of three, the 15-year-old would later come back and make history in the arid Laikipia North District. He emerged the best student in the 2009 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations, with a score of 405 marks. In January, last year, Sarioyo joined his father in Mt Kenya forest with their herd of cattle as they searched for water and pasture. He was away for three months. As his results amazed other people, the former pupil at Olgilgiri Primary School was, however, not surprised with his performance. Having studied in a school that has no facilities and in a place where education is not highly valued, attaining such marks was no mean achievement. “I used to score over 400 marks even in the end of term exams and with these marks, I feel I am just within my grade,” says Sarioyo to the surprise of his teachers. The school’s headmaster, Mr Dickson Gathogo could not hide his joy. “We noticed this boy in Standard Seven and saw that he had the potential. It was not until January, last year, that problems started when because of the drought he had to move with his father to the mountain,” says Gathogo. The teachers went looking for him and for two months they could not trace him due to the complexity of the forest where thousands of pastoralists had migrated with their animals. “When we eventually located Sarioyo, it was even harder to convince the father to let him go back to school,” recalls the head teacher. The father resisted saying that the boy was in the forest to take care of the animals
A winner from all fronts. Despite having been in the Mt Kenya Forest for three months, Bernard Sarioyo came back to emerge the best student in last year’s KCPE examinations at Olgilgiri Primary School. Picture: Paul Mwaniki.
and as such he could not leave behind the family’s wealth. Unfortunately, the old man’s cattle were not spared by the harsh weather in the high altitude and the associated diseases. Like the case was for many other pastoralists, Sarioyo’s family lost all their cattle. The family returned to Kimugandura Village with nothing but hope. The destitution, however, played to the advantage of the boy’s future as he went back to school. “In order keep the boy permanently in school we decided to make him a boarder and since our school has no boarding facilities, he had to live in the school store together with another three boys who gave him company,” notes Gathogo. Food and basic needs were provided by the teachers who also volunteered to him bring water which is a scarce commodity in the area. However, that is as far as the excitement goes over Sarioyo’s sterling performance. The light to his academic future may go off if help does not come his way. The best boy may not proceed with his studies due to lack of fees. Sarioyo who has been admitted at Nakuru High School, was supposed to report at the beginning of February but never did so as his family could not raise the fees and the required items. The boy is currently looking after his father’s few goats as they try to recover from the effects of the drought where all their animals succumbed. Speaking to the Reject, the boy’s uncle Mr James Sapul said initially there were hopes that one of the local banks was willing to sponsor him but no information had been conveyed to them. “We had been informed of the sponsorship by the head teacher but on following up nothing has been forthcoming,” notes Sapul He says that even an arranged fundraising could not raise enough money to take the boy to school. Most of his neighbours and relatives are also going through hard times after losing their animals to drought. Continued on page 2