Mandera County ponders uncertain future as teacher crisis persists

Pupils of Al Qalam Academy in Mandera County during their morning assembly. [PHOTOS/ JONAH ONYANGO/ STANDARD]

To the old woman sitting under the shade of a stunted acacia tree, wrestling might seem to be the simplest of things. The effort put in by the wrestlers, the energy, the perseverance and, at the end of the duel, the wounds that each of the fighters lick remain known only to them.

The pain from the body blows cannot be understood by anyone else. Only the loss of limb or life may inflict some level of discomfort to the watching old woman by the sidelines. Or she may just sneer and look away, diverting her thought to more pressing matters like where her next serving of camel milk will come from.