A Long Ways to Go
Having the pleasure of visiting Kenya fifteen times, and spending a year of my life breathing the sweet air of the western regions adjacent to Lake Victoria, I have also listened toad heard heavenly music rising from voices of beautiful people. Their songs include unbelievable lyrics of suffering and pain - but more often they are stories of courage and happiness, sung by proud performers on the stage of life.
So what’s it like living in Kenya? A 10 day safari will never get one close to the truth. Staying in a five star hotel in Nairobi or Mombasa is not the answer. I suggest you travel a rural road and experience the infamous "Kenyan massage" - find time to share a cup of tea with locals - visit a school or orphanage - spend time at a dispensary - buy food at a market - go to church on a Sunday morning - ride a matatu - visit a neighbour’s shamba - hang out where the action is - only then will you come to your own conclusion about life in rural Kenya.
Recently I was reading an article written by Francis Mureithi of the Nation Media Group. The statistics cited are cause for concern. Without getting into specifics of the “why’s”, there is enough here to suggest that Kenya is struggling and still has a long ways to go to keep its Vision 2030 relevant and attainable.
At least 17.8 million Kenyans were either pursuing various courses in institutions of higher learning or were in school according to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census report.
Only 11.6 million completed their studies. This means about 6.2 million Kenyans, who were in school or institutions of higher learning, did not finish. But what’s even more alarming, is that 7.1 million Kenyans have never been to school at any level.
Those attending middle level college or technical training education are currently about 500,000, while the number of those pursuing university education stood at 471,000. That appears to be a healthy balance.
The number of people with a university education is about 1.3 million or 2.5% of the population. That of course means little when jobs are so hard to find. Tribalism, gender inequity and discrimination based on age or perceived ability make finding employment impossible for many.
Unemployment continues to be a problem for young people where only half the number of females in the working population have a job. The number of job seekers stood at 2.6 million while 18.9 million people were outside the labour force at the time of the census.
The report further revealed that there were about 10.1 million youth aged between 18-34 years who are employed. Much of that is self employment where young entrepreneurs hustle or start up a business out of the necessity to survive.
94 per cent of home owners have constructed their own houses while the rest have either inherited or purchased their own. 80 per cent of household occupied dwellings have an iron sheet as the main roofing material. About 1/3 of Kenyans rely on piped water as a source of drinking water. One half of Kenyans use covered pit latrines as a sanitation facility. The burden carried by women and children in rural areas forced to transport water for cooking and cleaning is huge.
Kenya like other sub-Saharan African countries faces the uncertainty and potential risks of climate change. If not proactively addressed, climate change will adversely affect the country’s sustainable development efforts. Famine in the north and northeast coupled with an unprecedented plague of literally billions of locusts this month destroy the food needed for 90,000 people each day.
The Kakamega Forest - Kenya’s only rainforest is being reduced at an unprecedented rate. The county’s fragile ecosystem will be put under intensive pressure arising from species migration due to habitat destruction and reduction. Rich farmlands will no longer be able to feed the dense population living in Kakamega County.
There are resources available and significant good will from western nations to assist Kenya in its recovery. Money is not the answer, for that will eventually dry up with little to show for it. Serious investments in education, healthcare, infrastructure and economic development are critical - and yes, Kenya still has a long ways to go.
