Tribal Youth Attend Secondary School in Rural Kenya

July 22, 2008

Scholarship recipients, in blue skirts, with classmates.

Young people from the Orma tribe, a community of rural herdsman in Kenya, are becoming the first in their villages to attend secondary school. The Orma Scholarship, a collaboration between WWCS, the Reformed Church of America (RCA), and the Africa Inland Church, is helping them get there.

The Orma are a community of herdsmen living in the arid interior of Kenya. Orma settle in small villages along the Galole River, where they are able to dig wells to get water for themselves and for their animals. The Orma have held on to their traditional ways of life, which has benefitted the community in some ways by allowing them to maintain a simpler lifestyle. However, as a result they have also been marginalized in terms schooling. There are only a few elementary schools in the area, and not a single secondary school.

The Orma Scholarship Program is making a significant difference for many students from the Orma tribe, and some are even considering college. There are ten students enrolled in the program each year, two of which are girls.

An ongoing program with the annual goal of $10,000, funds are necessary in order for the Orma Scholarship to continue. The Orma have a very limited access to education because of their rural location. Despite this setback, the effort each student has shown after being awarded the scholarship has been encouraging.

"They come in with a deficit and excel because of their enthusiasm," Dieleman said. "They want to do their best."

The Orma Scholarhip Program is significant because of the long-term effect it may have on the traditionally Muslim culture of the Orma. "[The students] go back to Orma country and are looked up to by the community as leaders," said Dieleman. "Because of Christian education, some convert to Christianity, while others have a more positive view of it from attending Christian school."

Two Orma students who graduated as a result of the scholarship have already gone on to become Wycliffe Bible Translators, translating God's Word into the Orma language.

This is a huge step for the Orma, but Dieleman is especially excited by the prospect of future Orma teachers. He gave an example of a student from Kyome, a secondary school involved in the program. "For the first time, one of the secondary school graduates is going to teacher's college with funding from one of our partner organizations. This student will be the first Orma teacher in Orma country!"

Dieleman explained why having an Orma teacher available to these students is so monumental. "Because of tribalism, former teachers who were not part of the tribe were often in the difficult situation of having to leave when there was a conflict between tribes. The education of these students would not be interrupted with an Orma teacher."

The Orma Scholarship Program is changing the lives of Orma youth in Kenya for the better. $350 pays for one year of education for an Orma student. $100 pays one month's salary for one teacher in the Orma school. Give now.

View a photo album of Orma Scholarship students 

For more information on this program, contact Dale Dieleman, WWCS Field Director for Africa, at ddieleman@wwcs.org or (800) 886-9000.