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Faces of Change

Justice Delivered Courtesy of a Nomadic School Pupil in the North Eastern Kenya

Aden Noor Adow is 11 years old and comes from a pastoralist (nomadic) community in Abakorey in Wajir South Province in Kenya.  Boys of his age typically help look after livestock and never go to secular school. But a mobile school has provided Adow with an education.  Today Adow can name most of the objects within his environment, write his name and the alphabet, and do basic addition and subtraction.

In the North Eastern Province, nomadism poses a challenge for children's access to education. Because families travel from place to place, following food sources, it is difficult for their children to attend a school that is located in one place. Five mobile schools that move with the children have been created through an education program supported by Aga Khan Foundation to reduce the effects of a constantly mobile life on education. 

One afternoon when Aden was looking after his family’s goats, he saw a government vehicle knock down a herder and speed off. Aden wrote the vehicle's registration number in the dirt to memorize it and then raced back to his village. He wrote the number in his exercise book and reported the incident to his family.

Family members rushed to the scene and took the victim to Abakorey health center. After they had reported the hit-and-run incident to the Abakorey Administration police post, along with the vehicle registration number, the police officers were able to signal other police stations in the area and apprehend the driver who had caused the accident, who was by then 185 miles away.  Because of his literacy, young Aden has become a local hero. The skills acquired in the EMACK mobile school have made history in this community.

Aga Khan Foundation’s program – Education for Marginalized Children in Kenya (EMACK) – promotes quality learning in preschools and primary schools by improving teaching skills, educational materials and infrastructure, as well as promoting involvement of the most vulnerable children and their parents.  The program seeks to support the Government of Kenya’s expressed interest in expanding educational opportunities for marginalized populations, especially those in areas that have traditionally fared less well in terms of educational achievement and vulnerable individuals such as girls, children with special learning needs, and children affected by HIV/AIDS, poverty, or famine.  The program is made possible with the generous support of the U.S. Agency for International Development.