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:
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