DEFYING THE ODDS IN MARSABIT, KENYA, MEET WATO JARSO.
Wato Jarso is an eighteen-year girl who was born and raised in North-Horr District of Marsabit County in Kenya. She comes from Gabra community which is found in the Eastern part of Kenya with Cushitic background. This community keeps sheep, goats and camels as a means of earning their livelihood and they move from place to place with these animals to look for pasture and water like most nomadic communities in Marsabit .
Wato was fortunate to be connected with Chalbi Scholars, a community driven organization located in Marsabit who funds girls scholarships and provides them with additional mentorship programs to develop agency. Many young women are not as fortunate. In Marsabit, convincing families to send girls to school rather than entering into marriage is deeply challenging. In advance of marriage, young women often experience Female Genital Mutilation which is prohibited in Kenya but still unfortunately practiced especially in the North. Shanu Bashuna – Chalbi Scholars Executive Director makes deliberate effort in creating a network of collaboration with the teachers in Marsabit to identify underprivileged girls who struggle to afford an education. Many times, Shanu takes personal initiatives to convince parents to let their girls go to school. Some of these conversations include negotiated democracy in a clan system which are very complicated and not easy to do especially as a woman tradition does not normally allow women to address men in this region.
Wato’s connection to Chalbi Scholars is essential as we know she will return to school due to her financial and moral support. In fact, in her community, Wato is the chairperson of Young Muslims Association a title she has held for the last one year. During the prolonged covid-19 pandemic, Wato took initiative to mobilize adolescent girls in North-Horr town to educate the local community on Covid-19. The community was impressed with her efforts and local leadership really applauded her efforts. She also spearheads the daily roster in maintaining a clean mosque environment in activities like cleaning mosques and watering plants.
Not only is she in school, Wato is the class prefect. Through the years she has ensured her classmates adhere to school rules and perform their roles as expected. Due to her leadership qualities, her class has been voted the most disciplined and neatest class for two consecutive years. She has also worn herself the title of the best and active prefect in 2019. Wato is a born-leader molding her own leadership path in this community where women leadership is frowned upon. Her visibility in leadership is a source of inspiration to other girls who might shy away from expressing their views openly.
Chalbi Scholars supports girls’ education by providing scholarships for them to enroll to school. Shanu Bashuna – Chalbi Scholars Executive Director makes deliberate effort in creating a network of collaboration with the teachers in Marsabit to identify underprivileged girls who struggle to afford an education. Chalbi Scholars goes above and beyond in tracing down school girls and ensuring they go back to school every term thereby saving them from early childhood marriages which are a common occurrence in Cushitic Communities. Their transition rate to higher institutions of learning has been increasing every year. To date, Chalbi Scholars has educated over 500 girls, supported over 100 schools and supported salaries for over 20 teachers. Changing girls futures through education, one at a time.
In order to ensure that more girls like Wato get the opportunity to thrive we must invest in organizations like Chalbi Scholars and leaders like Shanu. When schools re-open the crisis of girls’ education will be one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime. Lets act now to make sure that the crisis of COVID19 doesn’t turn into a crisis of girls’ education.
Read more about girls defying all odds to get an education with Chalbi Scholars and how you can support here: http://www.chalbischolars.org/