Anger and Deep Sadness

"I have seen them, young kids huddled together in a corner of a refuse heap in Kakamega. With barely enough to cover themselves, their minds dulled by sniffing glue or drinking a poisonous ethanol mix, their outerwear soiled and ragged, they live on the bare edge of survival. No one comes looking for them, no one even knows who they are. 

And then the little ones who roam roadways and rural pathways searching for food. Chewing on a piece of sugar cane is only a temporary fix. They suffer from many things, but today and yesterday and likely the day before they have not had a decent meal. What that does to a hungry child is physiologically, mentally and emotionally disturbing.

I have witnessed the effects of malnourishment and children dangerously thin or anemic. I have talked to young people in their mid teens who due to "stunting" appeared as those aged nine or ten. Something stirs within me...a mix of anger and deep sadness."

The right to adequate food is a human right. So why does hunger prevail when there is more than enough nourishment and food sources on the planet? 

Hunger is universal. Most humans have gone without a meal or experienced pangs of hunger where a day has gone by without nourishment. Yet there are an estimated 800 million people worldwide who are chronically hungry. This is greater than the populations of Canada, the United States and the European Union combined. One in eight people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. This makes hunger and malnutrition the number one risk to health worldwide, greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

Presently, due to environmental factors and lack of rain in the north and northeast sectors, there is a severe drought in Kenya. The facts are that 1.6 million Kenyans face hunger on a daily basis. 80 percent of Kenya's population participate in agriculture and pastoralism. Small farm households deliver the bulk of the nation's food supply. Landholdings are small, productivity is low and most have little access to technological inputs, financial services and markets to sell any surplus produce. Poverty and hunger are for many a fact of life. 

The hungry in Kenya are of all ages; from the very young whose mothers cannot produce enough milk, to the aged with no relatives to care for them. Landless farmers working on the fields of others and youth orphaned by HIV/Aids need increased food supply to survive. So too the unemployed living in acute poverty and the ones suffering from mental illness. Women and children remain on the front lines of hunger.

The malnourished cannot fight infectious diseases due to lack of protein and vitamin deficiencies.  Their food intake does not include enough energy to meet the minimal physiological needs for an active life. Wasting is an indication of acute malnutrition caused by deficiencies in iron, vitamin A, zinc and iodine. This can result in reduced physical growth and mental impairment bringing on premature death.

Since 2004, CES Canada's mission to reduce poverty through education and healthcare has created better and healthier learners through a daily nutrition program. The creation of dairy and agriculture farms in schools has enabled students able to concentrate on their studies and not on mere survival. Hand washing stations provide added hygiene that can reduce up to 80% of diseases. 

Recognizing the importance of Agriculture in Kenyan society and realizing the impact that improved practice and technology has on the supply of food, CES Canada/Kenya has encouraged students to study Agriculture at the college/university level. CES Canada has provided university scholarships for four CES grads who have or are close to completing honours degrees in Agriculture Economics, Engineering, Business and Education. 

The fundamental right to be healthy, grow and become productive human beings in their society depends on access to education. Yet, there remains a deeper more sacred right than that...the right to life and liberty, predicated on access to proper food and nutrition. The scourge of hunger in Kenya must be taken out, its bitter roots cut and destroyed. 

Enough is enough!

Kenyan Scholars Deserve Better

"The perception that university education is a great social and economic equalizer is rapidly turning into a myth in Kenya, as it has failed to provide well-paid jobs to many degree-holders. A World Bank report shows that it has become almost impossible for most graduates to get good jobs. Unfortunately, the issue is not because there are too many graduates chasing few jobs, but because most graduates lack the necessary skills that the job market demands." Wachira Gigotho 10/02/17 Kenya Standard Media

There is no doubt that higher learning in Kenya is under fire. There is intense pressure for universities and colleges to perform better. Some are calling for complete reform for the 70 Kenyan Universities. 

The key question for most scholars is whether there is a job opportunity available after they have completed their studies.  According to the ‘Expanding Tertiary Education for Well-Paid Jobs: Competitiveness and Shared Prosperity in Kenya’ report, “the delivery of quality education, including tertiary, should build the skills base of youth, enhancing their capacity to accrue higher earnings, contribute to improved national productivity and eventually lead towards healthy and sustainable livelihoods.” 

Private sector employers reiterate a common theme that students are ill prepared for the market place. While knowledge might be in abundance, the practical skills necessary to succeed are lacking. The public employment sector can only absorb so many and presently jobs there are scarce and difficult to find. 

CES Kenya Patron Malik Khaemba confirms the fact that a number of highly qualified CES graduates who have completed their degrees at top universities in the country, systematically experience rejection in their job search. Reasons given are gender bias, tribalism and a CV that does not include the "right" references or place of learning. "Our graduates become discouraged and our only response is to say...keep trying and never give up the search for a meaningful job."

The sad part of all this is that graduates likely to stay unemployed for a longer time, or remain stuck in low-paying jobs are those from newly-accredited public and private universities. That includes the many satellite campuses that do not have sufficient resources for staff, research and academic excellence.

A British Council supported study, ‘Graduate Employability in Sub-Saharan Africa,’ indicated that most employers in Kenya preferred graduates from University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, Moi University, Strathmore University, KCA University, Maseno University, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Egerton University and Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, in that order. The difference is that staff in these institutions teach as well as conduct research.

Universities need to offer quality and relevant programmes that would enable local companies to recruit workers with an appropriate mix of applicable skills and knowledge. Instead of duplicating degree programmes of the established universities, the regional universities establish their own academic missions and build degree courses to that reflect the needs of the local labour market. 

Half-a-million Kenyan university students now enrolled deserve to know that their studies are not in vain. They need to learn and practice quality skills that are relevant to the needs of the labour market and to their individual prosperity. 

CES Canada has offered through CESCED continuing education program an ICT module for secondary education and Leadership Training for university students. The CES Internship Program provides students an opportunity to mentor students and to act as teacher assistants while waiting for university entrance. CES in Kenya recognizes the need for graduates to be fully prepared for higher learning and to that end encourages its 250 students through conferences and small group training in topics that include Healthy Living, Career Education and Entrepreneurial growth and development. 

CES promotes the concept that while quality higher education can eradicate poverty and promote a better society, it remains critical that skills development accompany the degrees obtained.