FRIDA: PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENT

Frida lives in the village of Kabariange, which sits atop an arid plateau in the middle of Tharaka -Nithi County. Her family of twelve grows beans, corn and millet. Frida’s mother was born with a club foot and walks with a cane. She walked the two kilometers from their home to the Kabariange Primary School to meet and talk to us about how strongly she felt about educating her children. Her husband would normally have come in her place to save her the journey, but he had fallen from a tree while collecting honey and fractured his hip the month prior, which also significantly affected the family income.

In Frida’s community, women are teachers and small business owners as well as farmers. They serve as role models that create awareness and new ideas about the opportunities available to girls when they have access to an education, which in turn shifts community mindsets towards the value of their education. Frida’s parents were proud that they had educated all of their children, sons and daughters, and they were determined to not allow their misfortune to cheat their last three children. Frida’s parents were unwavering that she would finish school.