How My Dream of Educating My Community Became a Reality
“Ever since I was young, my desire was that one day I would give back to my community, by providing education. This is because accessing education to me was a miracle, thanks to one of the elders from our community, who volunteered to take me to school. Today I am so glad that my wish came true, and that Esiteti community can now have access to education.
My name is James Kamete Muya. I am 46 years old. I am the co-founder of Africa Schools Kenya in Esiteti, Kajiado County. I was born here in Esiteti ya Mbarangoi, Oloitoktok District. Esiteti village is located outside the Amboseli National Park, a few kilometres from Mount Kilamanjaro, at the Kenya Tanzania border.
Growing up, I used to get help from other people because our family could not afford to own cows and goats, something that determines people’s wealth in the Maasai community. My family was among the poorest families in our area. They could not even afford to take me to school. Education was not considered important by the Maasais during those days, who claimed that their children would get lost when they go to school and not come back.
Fortunately, the government of the day at the time forced the Maasais to take their children to school. My father used to hide whenever the government officials visited our home, so that I don’t go to school. As luck would have it, one of the elders in our community came through to my situation and promised to take me to school. I used to feel very bad about it, that the only way I could go to school is by the help of a well wisher, but I prayed that one day I would help other people as a sign of giving back to the community.
I schooled in Lavington Primary School in Nairobi. Upon reaching Form 1, at Highridge Secondary School, the old man that I depended on died. My secondary education was cut short and I had no choice other than going back to my rural home. Back at Esiteti, I met one of the tour guides accompanied by his visitors at the park where I used to work as a watchman. The tour guide loved my work and we became friends together with his visitors too. He asked me asked me if we could work together and I accepted the offer of being an assistant guide.
While working at the tours company, I shared my dream of starting a school in Esiteti with one of the tourists who had visited the area. At the time, there was no school in Esiteti. The tourist wondered how I could start a school but I told her that all I needed was just money to buy books, chalks and to pay a teacher. She then asked where the classroom would be and I told her that if I get a teacher, even under the tree would make a good classroom for my pupils. The tourist gave me $1000, which I gave to my boss to help me buy books and pay the teacher that I would employ because I didn’t want to misuse that money at all, and that’s how I started a school under a tree in 1999. Whenever visitors would come and visit, I would make sure that I take them to that school. The pupils would study up to class three under the tree, then transfer to other schools in a different area.
Unfortunately, I noticed that parents never wanted their children to be taken to those schools, a situation that would force me to use my money to ensure that they don’t drop out of school. One day, Teri Gabrielsen, one of the tourists, promised me that she would go and climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds that would help construct a school. Teri was a very good friend of mine and had visited the area twice. After building the school, I realised that this place was very far since many pupils used to live 20 to 25 kilometres from where the school was. So I decided to start a village in this area and transferred the pupils from the school under a tree to the new school. Every woman who had a child also moved to this new village. After 10 years, Teri came back and we started the Africa Schools Kenya project. We started sponsoring pupils up to secondary school.
Female genital mutilation was also a big challenge in our community because the girls used to be married off after the cut hence drop out of school. So we discussed again with Teri and came up with an Alternative Rites of Passage program. This is because when a girl has not undergone FGM, she has the chance to study up to secondary school level. But the problem is that many used to be subjected to the cut when in class five.
Most of the girls who are now conducting the ARP trainings are products of Africa Schools Kenya. Elizabeth Katambwe who is now a student at the Kenya Institute of Social Work is one of the beneficiaries. We also have many boys who are doing well out here right now. Currently, Esiteti primary school that started with 6 pupils who were all boys under a tree has now 450 pupils who are benefiting from the Africa Schools Kenya project. The presence of this school here in Esiteti has brought a lot of changes in this area since many children are now educated in this community unlike before, where I was the only educated person in Esiteti. Getting a learned person even to employ as a teacher in Esiteti was so difficult, I had travel to an area called Namelok near Oloitoktok, where I found one learned Maasai and employed him. People in this community used not to take their girls to school until when they saw me taking my girls to school.
I am a father of eighteen children, 10 girls and 8 boys. Most of them are in secondary school. My prayer is that they’ll study and become PhD holders in future. I usually feel so happy to see that something that started just as a dream has been fulfilled.”
