School Year Is Over For Our Students

I tend to be a night owl so I was awake when Moses called at 1 a.m. - 10 a.m. in Kenya. He hadn't received the money transfer reference number necessary to pick up the funds which I had sent yesterday. His sim card hadn't been mated to his phone which he leaves with Mama Akuand, an elderly Dinka lady who lives in Langa Langa, a residential area on the south side of Nakuru near the National Park boundary. Her home is a sanctuary for them to spend a night when they can't be at their school, or to leave personal items for safekeeping. I re-texted the information and other missed messages and all was well when I called him back as he rode the matatu to Lanet (Roots).

When I called to confirm that he had the info, he was enroute to meet James, Simon and Abraham at Roots Academy and travel with them back to Nakuru, where they would meet secondary school students John and Joseph. Abraham Akol is Michael & Agot's brother who stays with a family in Langa Langa when not in school and does not return to Kakuma UNHCR Refugee Camp.

Moses, Joseph and John each registered to vote in the January Sudan CPA Referendum which went smoothly and it only took them five minutes. This will be the first time that they and many other Southern Sudanese in the diaspora, of all ages, will have cast a vote for anything.

I called again at 1 p.m. today, when I knew they would be back at their house in Eldoret. What I learned then is that the school year had also ended for John and Joseph at Victonell, and for Michael at Narok High School. All had travelled to Eldoret together and Michael will proceed to Kakuma at 9 a.m.

An e-mail that Moses had sent today with everyone's grades and end of term letters did not make it to my inbox and I assume that it was too large. However, one of the things that they were trying to communicate was that Victonell has been sold to a university and will no longer be a high school. Therefore, we will have to find a new school for John & Joseph in addition to Agot, who has now taken her KCPE primary school graduation exam in Kakuma. We will see what Mrs Njau and Mrs Mwangi, principals at Roots and Kirobon, respectively, recommend. It is my hope that we will be able to meet with each of them when in Nakuru.

For Agot, secondary school will begin at the beginning of February. She will not receive her scores until they are released nationwide on 30 December. If Agot's grades are very good, it may be possible for her to attend Kirobon, where Moses will be in his last year. If not, we will have to seek a "second tier" school that accepts students with lower certificate scores.

Moses had tried to make a follow-up visit to his TB doctor in Nakuru but he was not in today, so we will probably do that when he returns to Eldoret from Nairobi with Deb and me. James got some of his meds resupplied and tomorrow Moses will take him to see his doctor in Eldoret.

While Moses is running errands with James & Simon tomorrow, the older boys, John & Joseph, will shop for food to restock the kitchen. The "elders" do most of the cooking.

And so it goes ....