THE VALUE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS: AN INSIDE PERSPECTIVE

Rebecca Ledidi, our Schools Outreach Coordinator, and Gladys Muala, one of our Team Angaza interns, have experienced the benefits of a secondary education firsthand. All our staff and Team Angaza interns have completed secondary school, a feat for ladies in the Loita Hills. Neither Rebecca nor Gladys grew up in villages with high schools, which meant their parents had to make remarkable sacrifices to enroll them in expensive boarding schools far away. Day schools are about one sixth to the cost of boarding schools which is important for Maasai families that often have large families.  The high cost of boarding schools often oblige families to choose among their children who will go to secondary school, and even so, family resources often run out before the children can graduate.  Rebecca’s mother took her and her sister to a rescue center after their father died to keep them safe from impending marriages arranged by their uncles, then washed clothes and fetched water and firewood for other families to pay for Rebecca’s school fees all the way through university. Gladys’s parents sold off their livestock one by one and asked extended family for help to support her education. They were fortunate.

 Without that secondary education, both women feel their lives would be radically different. “Secondary school helped me know my rights, and the rights of other girls in the community,” says Rebecca. “It has helped me to know myself, and to be able to be a role model to many girls who are losing hope.” The benefits for Gladys were similar. “Lack of access to secondary education would have significantly altered my life trajectory, limiting my personal, academic and professional growth opportunities.”

 In 2023, Rebecca, Gladys, and the other Team Angaza interns joined us at the official opening celebrations for three new day secondary schools in Mausa, Olmesutie and Enairebuk. All three villages lie in the region of Kenya’s Loita Hills where Gladys and Rebecca grew up, ensuring that secondary education will be vastly more accessible to thousands of children in their communities going forward.

 “Those children who are left behind also have dreams. And the dreams of many girls are now more valid from the time before For the Good’s work and the new schools they have built,” says Rebecca. “The new schools at Mausa, Olmesutie and Enairebuk and their work have become a great help to the many girls from these regions. My passion is to ensure that they can also go to school and are not left behind. That is what drives me.”

Hellen Orngashar, our intern for Morijo Primary, where we started a day secondary in 2020, adds how important day schools also are in keeping girls in school in a region with one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Kenya. “Many parents now continue to support their daughters to stay in school even after they have babies,” notes Hellen. “Parents have learned the value of educating a girl. Those of us on Team Angaza show them, by example, that girls who can get an education can become someone who can make a difference for the whole community.”

One thing all our staff and interns agree on is the value of a secondary education both in creating agency in girls –– and creating change that ripples out to their communities.

“Education is a powerful tool for empowerment, especially for girls,” says Gladys. “It empowers them with knowledge about their rights and also about land rights, environmental conservation, and sustainability. It equips them with critical thinking skills and problem solving skills, enabling them to innovate and implement alternative livelihood strategies. This means they can contribute to addressing challenges such as land privatization [with solutions] such as ecotourism or sustainable agriculture that can generate income for their families while minimizing negative impacts on the environment. As more girls attend day secondary school and receive education, they can play active roles in driving positive change and progress within their communities.”