New dawn for girls in Muhuru Bay away from sex- for-school fees

Former students of Wiser Secondary School- Pioneering Class, celbrating during their their first Graduation ceremony. [PHOTO:MAUREEN ODIWUOR]

MIGORI COUNTY: Muhuru Bay in Migori County has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons from sex-for-fish to sex- for-school fees.

The most affected in the area are women who are perceived as a source of wealth through marriage. Their worth can only be equated to the number of cows they can bring home through bride price.

This is a place where girls are highly marginalised and no one is bothered about their education.

Hence, girls with a zeal to study are sometimes forced to trade sex for money to buy books and sanitary towels, in a county currently ranked number four in HIV infections, according to national HIV and Aids estimates.

For as long as area residents can remember, only one girl from Muhuru Bay has ever graduated from a public university. She is Dr Rose Odhiambo.

The good news is that the sun has finally started shining in the area and girls are now embracing education, thanks to the efforts of this first graduate, Dr Odhiambo, whose organisation, the Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (Wiser), is helping girls to realise their potential and reach for their dreams without fear.

Wiser is a community based organisation aimed at the social development of underprivileged girls through education and health. It hosts a secondary school, which witnesses an increase in enrolment and performance of girls each year.

In March, 28 girls from Wiser Secondary School passed their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams with the institution realising a minimum aggregate of 7.70 (B-), according to Wiser’s Director of Development and Communication Liz Moran.

Wiser’s pioneer class saw 17 candidates qualify for direct entry to the university while 13 received full college scholarships.

“Our first students came from the same historically failing primary schools. In fact, when we wanted to enrol our first class of 30 girls we couldn’t find 30 girls who had passed the primary school exams despite drawing from a population of 25,000 people,” she says.

Wiser decided to take in two girls who had failed their exams, and 28 who had barely passed for their pioneer class - four were already pregnant.

“Thirty per cent of the class comprised orphans and many students had come from abusive homes,” she says.

In its first national metric, Wiser students’ grades were so high that the institution was ranked in the top five per cent of 2,000 private schools in Kenya, despite competing against elite private schools that take in only high performing students.

The school’s principal Dorcas Oyugi says they are happy that 17 girls will go to university directly.

“Seventeen girls are going to university in one boat. That was previously unheard of in Muhuru Bay,” she says.

Fifty per cent of their candidates had good enough scores for direct enrollment in university, with almost all of them qualifying for full government funding.

“Every single girl passed their national exams. We set an ambitious goal of having 20 per cent of our first class, or six girls, qualify for university after four years of education, a target some felt was too high given the performance over the last 30 years in the area,” Moran says.

A member of the first class, Floviance Akoth says her life has changed ever since she was admitted to the institution.

“I have been admitted to Moi University. Very soon I will be a respectable person in the society. I am not going to be equated with the number of cows brought to my home,” she says.

The institution’s co-founder Dr Sheryl Broverman is happy with the girls’ performance. “I am happy for them. They were met with challenges and overcome them since they all passed,” she says.