Kicked out - Suspended for Lack of Fees

It's a common thing in rural Kenya to see young children walking home alone, or sometimes in small groups. Home...might not be the same place today as it was yesterday. But why in the middle of the day when clearly they should be in school? Kicked out - suspended, but not for bad behaviour.

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