What is the #1 health challenge in Kenya?

Many Americans might be surprised at the answer to this question. It's not hunger. It's not HIV/AIDS. It's malaria.

We offer a bit of information on this disease today in acknowledgment of World Malaria Day, April 25, 2010, established to commemorate the global effort to provide effective control of malaria around the world.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malaria is caused by parasites of the species plasmodium that are spread from person to person through the bites of infected mosquitoes. Though preventable and curable, if not treated promptly with effective medicines, malaria can often be fatal.

A few global stats from the WHO:

• A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.
• There were 247 million cases of malaria in 2006, causing nearly one million deaths, mostly among African children.
• Approximately half of the world's population is at risk of malaria, particularly those living in lower-income countries.
• Malaria takes an economic toll -- cutting economic growth rates by as much as 1.3% in countries with high disease rates.

This 4-minute video recorded in 2007 gives a view of the distribution of malaria in the world:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjToy9rlDq4

Kenya's Division of Malaria Control tells us that malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the country, with 25 million of the 34 million Kenyans at risk. Malaria accounts for 30-50% of all outpatient attendance and 20% of all admissions to health facilities in Kenya. The groups most vulnerable to malaria infections are pregnant women and children under 5 years of age. Malaria is estimated to cause 20% of all deaths in children under five.

Travelers from malaria-free areas to disease "hot spots" are especially vulnerable to the disease, according to the WHO. Travelers from the U.S. – including our ESHA travelers – should obtain anti-malarial medication when getting immunizations for travel.

Claudia Daggett

Reading: Facing the Lion

Joseph Lekuton’s book, Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna (National Geographic, 2003), serves as an engaging complement to his words at the 2009 ESHA conference and whets the appetite for our travel. A moving autobiography of his life bridging two cultures, the book is listed by the American Library Association Booklist as appropriate for grades 5-12. Most fifth graders will find the reading level very manageable but may benefit from discussion of the subject matter with an adult.

Highlights of the book that will open the eyes of both children and adults include Joseph’s descriptions of:

• the traditional gender roles of his tribe, in which women tend the village, men tend the cattle, and young children (ages five to seven) of both genders play together while grazing the young cattle a mile or so from the village
• a diet rich in milk, occasionally mixed with cow’s blood
• the village member responsible for disciplining children, known as “the pinching man”
• managing the distances between a nomadic family and his boarding school – including searching for his family during grammar school vacations, once for as much as two weeks, visits from his mother who walked as much as a 20-mile distance to his grammar school to bring him milk and, in high school, making his way from Nakuru to Marsabit in northern Kenya by hitching a ride on a truck in Isiolo, often requiring a period of time living on the street
• the circumcision ritual that occurs approximately every ten years in a tribal village, in which all males from approximately ages 12 to 22 are circumcised marking the transition to manhood and defining the group as a generation
• the dawning realization that education and time away from his culture were changing him fundamentally. In Joseph's words, “...gradually I was coming home to people who were not the same as I was anymore.” (p. 55)

Reading about Joseph Lekuton's experiences gives us a sense of the power of cross-cultural understanding and global education. We anticipate that this may become more real and even more compelling in our visit to his homeland.

Claudia Daggett

Our host, Joseph Lekuton

The power of educaton in an interconnected world was embodied by the Honorable Joseph Lekuton on the Monday morning of the 2009 ESHA conference in Washington, DC. Lekuton told the story of his journey from childhood in the nomadic Maasai tribe to college and graduate school in the U.S., to teaching at an independent school, to winning election to the Kenyan Parliament.

Members of the Ariaal group of the Maasai tribe, Lekuton's family are nomadic cattle herders. They live in houses made of sticks held together with cow dung and wander frequently searching for sources of clean water and grazing. As a six year old, he was selected by default from among his brothers to attend a school run by missionaries from California. The youngest members of Lekuton's tribe had spread rumors that the missionaries were cannibals. As a result, he explained, “there was strong resistance to education among the children.” Because the Maasai people are nomadic, the school was residential -- even for kids as young as Joseph. Despite his youth and the fact that he was away from his family, Joseph learned to love school and began to excel.

Citing the need to “grow up quickly,” Joseph would be sent out from the school during vacations to find his family. Beginning at age 7, he would set out alone from school not knowing where his family had driven the cattle herds. He told of sleeping in trees to seek refuge from lions and other animals at night, and having to kill and roast small antelopes to feed himself as he searched for days or even weeks for his family. There were years he never found his parents and had to spend his “vacation” time helping other families work their cattle and keep the lions at bay.

Despite these hardships, Joseph continued to return to his school and find success in his classes. He eventually qualified to enter secondary school. Only 20% of students in Kenya go on to secondary school. Lekuton described this new school as "a place for rich kids." He showed up for the first day in torn and stained clothes having arrived in the back of a cattle truck he had shared with the cows. To pay his school fees, his mother had sold the livestock, the family’s chief source of food and income.

Through much hard work and a few fortunate twists of fate, Lekuton wound up matriculating at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York and ultimately earned his Master’s Degree in Education at Harvard. After teaching at the Langley School in Virginia, he decided to return to serve his country and his people and won election to the Kenyan Parliament in 2006. He continues working there today to bring clean water, adequate health care and housing to the people of his district.

As I listened to Lekuton’s gripping story, I couldn’t help but think about our lives as Heads of School. Lekuton faced hardships quite different than the ones we face. We manage difficult people and the occasional crisis but don’t risk life, limb, and lion attacks when we go home. We work hard to make our schools the best they can be, but we do not have to face the daunting challenges that a kid from the Kenyan bush must have faced at boarding school and then in a strange and faraway country.

After his talk, I bought a copy of Lekuton’s memoir, Facing the Lion. He shook my hand and inscribed on the first page, “Real Warriors Fear No Lion.” While the challenges we face are quite different than those he faced, they are no less real to us. Joseph Lekuton’s talk was inspirational and, I hope, helps us all to be warriors with the courage to face our very own “lions.”

Tim Monroe, The Sage School (MA)

Reprinted from ESHA News, December 2009

(Photo: Claudia Daggett)

Joseph Lekuton tells a parable for Kenya --

A TED Talk presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGIBN2gEIeU

Fellow travelers

Here's our group headed for Kenya in July.

Laurel Seid is our trip coordinator. In summer of 2009, she moved from one Washington to another -- from the DC area to serve as Head of School for The Little School in Bellevue, Washington. She is an experienced Africa traveler and a tenacious organizer, lucky for us!

Then there's Muddy Waters, Head of School at the Pike School in Andover, Massachusetts, a post in which he has served for 16 years. In fall of 2009, Muddy joined the ranks of blogging heads with muddyatpikeschool's Blog. I'm hoping he'll do some writing about our Kenya adventure!

Our third member is Jamie Waters. Jamie began teaching physics and astronomy at Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut in fall of 2009. Before his current stint at Westminster, he served as a teaching intern at Kingswood-Oxford School, where he also coached middle school hockey and lacrosse. He comes from a family of educators -- including his father Muddy Waters.

Finally, there's moi, Claudia Daggett, Executive Director of the Elementary School Heads Association (ESHA). As a former head of an independent elementary school, I enjoy helping folks in that role connect with each other and find the resources they need.

We're looking forward to learning together!

Claudia Daggett