Dreams shattered for Tana River A students

Growing up, Redempta Barnaba was made to believe that hard work pays off.

Coming from a poor background, he strove to excel from primary school to high school, soaring academically to score an A plain at Nairobi School.

His mother, with the help of her sisters, put him through school. Then two of those who helped a lot died.

The mother was left alone with six children, all at school. Mr Barnaba's career dream was to become an architect, but he was admitted to the Technical University of Mombasa to study for a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.

"I knew right after school that it was going to be difficult for me, so I started doing odd jobs on farms to earn some money, selling vegetables and chilli," he says.

When the time came, he took himself to school and was admitted with the little money he had.

A semester later, he was back home with a transcript and that would mark the beginning of his struggles.

Mr Barnaba decided to go back to farming, selling vegetables; his first crop was a good one, but just as he was about to harvest, the floods swept everything away.

"I cried because the crops I had planted would have paid my school fees for two more semesters, imagine sleeping on the farm at night and then one day everything is washed away," he said.

His mother sold the remaining piece of land –the same one he farmed— and took him and his siblings back to school a year later.

He completed his second year in 2019 and that was the end of it.

“I came back home and my mother looked at me and said ‘son, I would give my life for you to go to school, this is all I have left’," he recalls.

Mr Barnaba says his mother's words struck fear into his heart; he knew she would do it, but he would not allow it.

That year he began to explore the fine arts sector and drew many pictures for sale.

His art would attract the attention of prominent people in the county who promised him heaven but delivered nothing.

"I came up with the Tana River County logo, it was a competition that attracted so many people and I was supposed to be paid a lot of money as promised by the governor, but so far I have not seen anything," he said.

The county owes him Sh6 million. Reached for comment, Finance CEC Brenda Mokaya said it is part of the outstanding bills since 2018 and promises it will be paid.

After several unsuccessful attempts to earn money through art, he started taking photographs with his mother's mobile phone.

People liked his photos and he started charging.

"I used to take photos of my mother and people loved them, they asked her where she took her photos and she said I was the photographer, that marked my venture into photography," he said.

Taken the Tana Delta by storm

It's been two and a half years since Mr Barnaba started his company ArtsRedempta, which has taken the Tana Delta by storm.

He has since bought a camera, which he uses to take photos and edit them on his mobile phone.

He puts his earnings into a savings account and hopes that one day he will have enough to finish his studies.

"I have not given up, I am still looking forward to my sunrise, I just hope it happens when my mother is still alive so that she can celebrate the long years of waiting," he said.

Some of his siblings have also dropped out of school and are doing manual labour hoping to pay their fees.

He also helps them with the little he gets from his photography.

Jibril Isaack is also looking for money to go to university after several unsuccessful attempts to get help.

He wrote his KCSE exam at Ribe Boys in 2021 and scored an A-.

He has turned into a goat trader at Hola market, earning between Sh500 and Sh700 for each goat.

"I go from market to market trying to make deals, especially on weekends, and during the week I get chickens from the villages at a low price and sell them to local hotels," he said.

Two years on, he is still hoping to raise the money to study for a Bachelor of Science in Medicine (Surgery) at the University of Nairobi.

"I was sponsored by a well-wisher through secondary school, he was impressed with my results, but he died before I could go any further, that's where it stopped for me. I'm hoping to get the millions needed for this course," he said.

These two are just a few of the cases that have struggled with the pain of hard work after excelling academically in Tana River County.

While some have managed to find something to do to pursue their dreams, others have given up and are languishing in drugs and substance abuse and petty crime.

Hamid Babusa, the chairperson of the Tana River county assembly's education committee, says the assembly is determined to change the plight of these students by considering a scholarship programme.

"We have earmarked Sh135 million for a scholarship scheme which we are looking forward to discussing in the assembly, we are hopeful that if well managed it will solve such cases in our county," he said.

However, he notes that it will take time for the matter to come up in the assembly as there are loopholes in the law that governs the fund that need to be sealed.

According to Tana River County Commissioner Omar Beja, less than five percent of Tana River students make the transition from high school to university.

"Poverty rates are very high and the economy is not that vibrant to inspire income, we hope that human rights organisations can also partner with the government to facilitate a fraction of the bright and needy students to institutions of higher learning," he said.