Many women are pursuing opportunities offered by TVETs

Her solitary figure, sitting alone under the sparkling white tent, caught my attention. Staring almost unblinkingly at the imposing administration block of Kibondeni College, Nairobi, it looked as if she was having a private conversation with the towering structure a few metres away.

She looked much older than the students we were expecting. Intrigued, I headed straight to the tent and took a seat next to her. She did not turn to acknowledge my presence. This piqued my curiosity.
“Jina langu ni Anne Juma (My name is Anne Juma) (all names have been changed for privacy reasons)," she said after I had introduced myself.

It turned out that Anne was waiting for her daughter, Lina, who was being interviewed in one of the rooms. I was touched by her commitment to her child despite her level in life: Anne was a house help at Muthaiga where she had worked for 10 years.

Her husband sold charcoal at Kawangware and they had three children. Lina, 19, was their second born child. Lina had studied at Ndurarua Primary School at Kawangware 46 before proceeding to secondary school, where she scored grade D- in the 2019 KCSE. 

I asked Anne about her motivation for bringing her daughter to the interview. “I prayed that Lina would be considered for this opportunity. We learnt through word of mouth from her uncle, who heard the announcement at the PCEA church at Kawangware,” she explained.

“Hatuna pesa ya kumsomesha college. Akikaa tu nyumbani, anaweza kupata mimba. Itakua shida Zaidi! (We have no ability to educate her at college level. If she stays at home any longer, she is at the risk of becoming pregnant and it will just result into more problems!)”.

Studies have shown that the main source of hope for training for young females from poorer backgrounds is Vocational Training Colleges (VTCs).

Panel interviews

Lucy and Josephine, staff of Kibondeni College, were taking the girls through the panel interviews. The girls walked in one by one, armed with their education credentials, hope and determination! And they shared their varied stories.

There was the cheerful Sharon. She had just lost her only parent, her mum, two weeks prior, after having lost her father in 2016. She got to know of the opportunity through a sister whom she lived with. The sister had seen the flier in one of the WhatsApp groups that she belonged to.

Manuela had a small frame... almost too small for her 18 years of age. Both her parents were South Sudanese. She lived in Uthiru with her mother and five other siblings. She came to Kenya in 2005 with her mum as a refugee.

When asked, she explained that she had no national ID because she was a refugee. The panel wondered why yet she had lived in Kenya almost all her life.

She took a very long and deep breath and reclining her head at the back of the seat, she said “It is so... so... so... so difficult to get papers in Kenya. There is no place my mum has not gone to in search of an Alien’s ID. This has made our life so difficult... because I cannot even do Kazi Mtaani. The only legal documents I have are my KCSE certificate and a search for refugee status letter.”

Selection process

She removed several envelopes to get out, perhaps the two most precious documents in her life.

A total of about 200 girls had clocked in by the fourth day of the selection process. That was double the number that the institution was going to take.

The stories of their lives were a stark contrast to the well-manicured grounds of Kibondeni college where they all hoped to get a scholarship to take a course in Food and Beverage.

Those who would be lucky enough to convince the panellists that they were both needy and had the right aptitude and drive to undertake the training would be among the very lucky few 700 young people to be considered for the Safaricom Foundation Scholarship which is being implemented in partnership with Zizi Afrique Foundation.

The program is working in partnership with 12 TVET institutions across the country, Kibondeni College being one of them.

The writer is the TVET Programme Manager- Zizi Afrique Foundation