Our Friend, Steven

We are likely all too familiar with the various roles we undertake when leading schools: wise counselor, patient listener, passionate advocate, benevolent judge, inspired educator, etc. Our school cultures present us with strengths and challenges that help guide us in prioritizing our time. We take comfort in the company of colleagues (shameless promotion for the value of ESHA here). Once in a great while, we meet a colleague who makes us shake our heads in wonder at all that he or she accomplishes. This is how we felt after meeting Steven Labarakwe, who leads seven primary schools in the Laisamis area of Northern Kenya.

During our time with Steven, we covered several hundred kilometers visiting his schools. Do you have buildings on different sites? Imagine having to travel over rock-filled and washed out dirt roads to get to them. Undertaking capital improvements? Steven must constantly work on improving his buildings, most of which are without electricity or running water. He monitors the collection of water in fantastically-sized barrels large enough to walk into or the digging and maintenance of wells next to the sites with underground water. We made a humble contribution by painting blackboards in one school and gathering stones for the foundation of a new classroom addition to another. Project management? Steven built a beautiful new primary school in Mpagas within the last year thanks to his efforts in organizing local and international volunteers. He also worked with a Netherlands foundation, Ayuda en Todas Partes, to purchase the materials (http://www.ayuda-en-todas-partes.nl, website in Dutch). The school, on a beautiful hilltop, now serves as something of a local community gathering spot. Teacher and administrative oversight? We read, with awe, the monthly report from one of the schools. The thoroughness of the school's inventory (including a special accounting of the school's camels, castrated and uncastrated, goats, cows, rice, beans, and other assets) caused us all to marvel.

Along the way, Steven practiced the art of pole pole (literally translated, it means "slowly" in Kiswahili but we came to view it as an approach to life). Pole pole (pronounced po-lay po-lay) requires one to stop at any point and greet clan members, neighbors, friends and potential new friends. Handshaking is a requirement, as are affirmations of head nodding and sounds like "eh" every time there is a lull in the conversation. Steven also served as the primary source of news. In a place with little or no electricity, great geographical distances, multiple dialects and languages, and illiteracy, Steven brought the news to the people. Bringing news is always pole pole.

In the village of Ngurunit where Steven maintains the equivalent of a summer getaway home, Steven's time and attention were taken up with organizing the women's market, political advising for the constitutional vote, counseling to people about their children's health and education, being a father and husband, and, for one special friend, arranging his marriage ceremony. In addition to all of these responsibilities, he served as our cultural interpreter, driver, and fellow traveller during our visit. By the end of our time together, we felt honored to have been given the opportunity to get to know this incredible school leader who we fondly referred to as "the Big Boss."

Laurel

Photo: Steven Labarakwe (Photo credit, Laurel Seid)