More girls stay in school as drought-hit Kenyan herders invest in education

In Lorengelup, northwest Kenya, one of the worst droughts in聽years has left the land littered with carcasses of dead聽livestock –聽even hardy camels.

Normally droughts here lead to the early marriage of girls,聽as pastoralist families look for dowry payments to help cushion聽the impact of livestock losses.

But this time, something unusual is happening. Hard-hit聽herder families are instead selling drought-threatened livestock聽and using the money – along with government cash payments – to聽keep girls in school.

国产视频淚t is no longer profitable to exchange our young daughters聽with livestock, because when the animals die of drought, it is聽like we have lost the girl,国产视频� Joyce Apus Ipapai, a mother of聽eight from Lorengelup village, told the Thomson Reuters聽Foundation.

Her 18-year-old daughter, Mercy Lopungre, is one of 150聽girls still in classrooms at Nakurio Girls Secondary school this聽year, despite the terrible drought.

Next year the teenager will sit final exams at the school,聽the only girls国产视频� secondary in Turkana国产视频檚 Kerio sub-county, a聽region with one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the聽country, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Responding to drought by keeping girls in school is far from聽an obvious coping strategy for poor families like Ipapai国产视频檚. Her聽family lost its entire herd of 60 goats to the last brutal聽drought in 2011.

Normally girls in the area are married well before they聽reach 18 years old, often at times of drought.

But since 2013, Ipapai’s family has received cash transfers聽under the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP), implemented by the聽government through the National Drought Management Authority.

The programme gives 5400 Kenyan shillings ($52) every two聽months to the poorest and most vulnerable households in northern聽Kenya – and lets them decide what to do with the money.

More than 38,000 households in Turkana County receive the聽payments, officials said.

Ipapai has kept back some of that money –聽at points burying聽it in the ground without her husband国产视频檚 knowledge –聽to try to聽keep her daughter in school. Other money she has invested in聽starting a kiosk selling Turkana baskets, beans and other food.

The 39-year-old mother is not the only one who has used聽social safety net payments to rethink what resilience to drought聽should look like.

In recent years, other parents in the area also have decided聽to forgo marrying their teenage daughter to win dowries, instead聽relying on social payments to get them through droughts and聽investing in their daughters国产视频� education and future employment聽prospects as a new more resilient form of savings.

The transition to keeping girls in school has not always聽been an easy one. When Lopungre passed her primary school exams,聽in 2014, her father began making plans for her marriage.

国产视频淭hat was the main plan, but before marriage arrangements聽commenced I dug out the money from the ground and, with聽something in my hands, I convinced my husband that it was time聽for our daughter to proceed with her education,国产视频� the girl国产视频檚 mother said.

With memories of the animals that succumbed to the 2011聽drought still fresh, her husband finally was persuaded and聽offered to sell two camels to support his wife国产视频檚 idea.

As a result, Lopungre became one of the 35 girls who started聽at the new Nakurio Girls Secondary school in 2015. Today the聽school has 150 girls, nearly all of them from the Turkana聽community.

国产视频淧eople in this county are slowly changing their mentality.聽Unlike what happened just 10 years ago, where girls were聽forcefully married off in exchange with livestock, the same聽parents are now willing to sell the very livestock in order to
pay school fees for their daughters,国产视频� said Missionary Alfred聽Areman, the principal at the school and a clergyman at a local聽Catholic church.

According to Leonard Logilai, who has been the聽administrative chief in Lorengelup since 1997, many girls聽started school following the 2011 drought that consumed most of聽the community国产视频檚 livestock.

国产视频淪ome (families) have been selling the surviving livestock聽to pay school fees, while others use part of the HSNP money to聽settle the fees arrears,国产视频� he said.

The switch comes on the back of tireless campaigning on the聽value of keeping girls in school by the church, local officials聽and humanitarian organisations.

国产视频淚 have always told my people that when you educate a girl聽child, you gain double because apart from adding value to her聽life, she will still get married, through which the parents will聽still get the much-wanted dowry,国产视频� said Logilai.

国产视频淥nce a few girls get it right, they will become role models聽to others, including parents, and that will help us keep up the聽campaign to promote girl child education in this area,国产视频� he said.