School fees were not paid this month, or last month and now the gig is up...go home and when you have the funds you may return. Happening far too often, this scene is among the saddest I have encountered in over four decades of working in schools in Canada and in Kenya. It tears at your heart to see these kids...barefoot, orphaned and now abandoned, for not even the schools will take them in.
Why Me?
Sent home yet again, twice this term
Humiliated I slink out the back gate
With no place to go
Not even a pole sana from my teacher
None to turn to except an aged aunt in
Mumias
Maybe she will take me in for one night
With ten mouths to feed I will be a
burden
Why me?
How can I return to school
without my school fees paid in full
Embarrassed, angry and sad all at once
Through my tears I see I am not the only
one
walking this dirt road
I recognize the blue, pink, green
uniforms
From other schools the same story
We’re in this together
Why me?
Five hour walk over hot tarmac
Thrice pushed into the ditch by an
overloaded truck
Carrying useless tires with no tread
To be sold for new shoes I cannot afford
Hungry I chew on some sugar
Yet the pain does not subside
And even if my aunt could spare a few
shillings
These would not come close
To the 5000 shillings needed to return.
Why me?
An offer to pay for my fees is tempting
Yet it comes with a stipulation and a
risk
That may take my life forever
Down a path of sickness to death.
Why me?
All I want is a chance to learn
Without fear of hearing her calling out
my name
“You cannot return until you have your school
fees.”
The words bite hard at my soul
I cannot bear it – my dream is slipping
It happened last term in Form 1
That was the last time I spoke to my
mother
Aids took her life as it had my father’s
the year before
I would rather go on a hunger vigil for
fourteen days
I have done so before and at least I can
bear that pain
Why me?
If I cannot pay my school fee
Will I ever see the inside of a
classroom again?
Can I complete another prep or write the
KCSE
Or will my life be an unending cycle
Searching for firewood, finding water
Living from hand to mouth for the rest
of my days?
Why me?
What have I done to deserve such a fate
When all around me others eat maize and
beans
And go to school with shoes on their
feet.
I must have done something wrong
Michael Frederiksen
09/12 Kakamega Kenya
