As candidates who sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) continue to enroll in their respective schools, Odhiambo Kamau finds himself in a distressing situation. His daughter, Lindah Akinyi, remains at home a week after Form One admissions officially began across the county.
During the interview, Odhiambo, who hails from Esivembe village in Butula Constituency, Busia County, hadn’t even had breakfast and lunch, and he shared that he is currently unemployed.
His only source of income is cutting down a few trees, which he plants to burn charcoal in order to make ends meet.
‘I have raised my daughter single-handedly from primary school, but where I have reached, I am unemployed, and I can’t raise funds to take her to boarding school. As we speak, I have just decided to cut down and burn charcoal so as to get food to eat,’ Odhiambo expressed.
On the other end, Lindah Akinyi, who scored 336 marks in KCPE and was supposed to join St. Cecilia Girls Secondary School in Misikhu, Bungoma County, cried out for help, saying she saw no hopes of joining Form One as her father was financially unstable.
‘Naona ni Kama baba yangu hana uwezo kabisa ya kunipeleka shule, ningependa kuwaomba Wakenya muweze kunisaidia nisaidike ili niweze kusomea udakatari katika masomo ya baadae. Mkiweza kunisaidia, mimi pia nitaweza kuwasaidia siku za usoni,’ she painfully narrated.
It is also reported that the 14-year-old girl has, in a number of times, tried to kill herself once she rethinks her learning ways and how she will continue with education.
‘If I don’t get a good Samaritan, I might find myself engaged in criminal-related activities that are currently high in our village,’ she said.
