Promoting Education, Health and Enterprise in a Maasai Community
NAMUNCHA NEWS AGENCY
THE NAMUNCHA PEACE SECONDARY SCHOOL JOURNALISM CLUB.
The following was written by members of the Peace School Journalism Club before the school closed at the end of last week.
FINALLY, FINALLY A SIGH OF RELIEF.
Have you ever gone to the grazing fields to graze?
To graze under the scorching sun with drought ravaging?
Where vegetation is not lush?
To graze in those rocky and thorny fields where water is a tall order to get?
To get for both you and your animals?
What is the feeling when you finally get them home safe and sound?
What is the feeling when you are presented with a jugful of cold water to gulp it down then a flask of tea?
What happens to the suspender of your balls after a long hot day in the fields?
Does it sigh with relief?
Have you ever witnessed drought beckoning?
Have you ever witnessed the lush vegetation getting depleted by the ravages of drought to the last?
Have you seen your cow getting emaciated day by day with the biting drought?
Have you seen your cow coming to your doorstep as in supplication with tearful eyes struggling to stand waiting for you to spoon-feed?
Have you ever gone to your cow pen early in the morning to find your favorite hunger-stricken cow unable to stand on its own?
Have you ever cut short your sweet sleep to go outside in the cold and turn your weak cow?
What is the feeling when you finally see wind blowing and heavy dark clouds gathering to tell you heavy downpour is imminent and true to itself, does?
Have you seen your mamma getting up early?
Your mamma loading donkeys with water barrels and set out on a journey to draw water kilometres away?
Have you ever had that feeling coming from her delay and hence delay of breakfast and everything?
What is the feeling like on seeing her finally arrive with donkeys heavy laden with water?
Have you seen your mamma set out for firewood fetching from a distance?
Have you seen her rope reeled around her waist?
Have you seen her pick her axe and shouldering it telling you ashomo irkeek (I go to the trees)?
Have you seen her coming later laden with firewood?
Have you seen the strap that supported the firewood press her head with a painful exhaustion?
Have you seen her dropping the pack of firewood together with bunches of oleleshwa leaves that acted as shock absorbers on her back with a thud?
What did your mamma utter immediately after?
Didn’t she sigh?
Did you share in her feeling?
Have you been to the university?
Have you ever sat for an exam, failed and given a re-take?
Have you ever written deferral-of-studies letters to an academic registrar?
Deferral letters occasioned by lack of fees?
Have you seen the examination period fast approaching with colleague students in hustle and bustle collecting examination cards and gleefully showing them to one another, and yours withheld due to a huge fee balance?
What is the feeling?
Have you taken five years or more to complete a course that would have otherwise taken you three or four years?
BUT what is the feeling like when you read your name finally in the university’s provisional list of graduands?
What is the feeling like when you are finally presented with a clearance form and successfully go through it?
Children, women, men, the privileged, the underprivileged, the young, the old, ALL of you, MY PEOPLE, have you finally breathed with a sigh?
Is it one thing enough to chant ourselves into a frenzy and with abandon dance and chant …..
Either way, we say thank you to the Friends of Namuncha for the relief you have brought to us.
NNA October 2021
COVID-times in Namuncha.
NAMUNCHA NEWS AGENCY REVIEW, 27 June 2021
Monday 16th March 2020 will forever be etched in our minds. We vividly recall that, like any other school day, we were going about the day’s main business; learning. At around 10:00 am, we were instructed to assemble in the school’s ICT room. Little did we know that the day would be the first of many, under which we would be living with the Covid-19 pandemic phobia. We settled in the room and notably, the mood was tense. It was evident that all was not well. On the TV, there was live coverage from Health Cabinet Secretary, Mutahi Kagwe that Kenya had recorded its first Covid-19 case. After that announcement, there was a lot of panic and pandemonium in the country. Later, His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed the country and introduced a raft of measures which included restriction of movement within the country and the closure of all learning institutions. That meant that we were to stay at home until further notice. Basically, this would mark a new beginning; one which would necessitate lifestyle changes and would affect all the dimensions of our lives.
Fast forward, the Covid-19 pandemic has had mixed fortunes. It has had both positive and negative implications. First, the closure of learning institutions meant that physical learning had been suspended. This was a huge blow to us since we were now to study on our own without guidance from our teachers. Only those who had access to smartphones and television could use them to learn while those without them depended entirely on books. Co-curricular activities like games and sports and music were suspended. Socially, it meant that we were to be away from our friends at school for an unknown period of time.
Financially, our parents were worried because the cost of living went up and the prices of basic commodities went up and some became unaffordable. Other needs emerged given that hygiene was strongly emphasized by the government. Our parents were now to acquire items that had not been planned for, like hand sanitizers, face masks, and more detergents. This put a strain on parents’ finances making us feel the pinch. Covid-19 ushered in economic challenges affecting the country as a whole.Parents who were in employment experienced wage and salary cuts, affecting their purchasing power and some found it hard to cater for their families.
The pandemic also introduced a behavior change that had never been experienced before. In pre-pandemic times we used to associate and socialize with people within the community with ease. We attended ceremonies like weddings and initiations in great numbers. However, with the discovery of the first case of Covid-19 in the country, things changed. The President announced a raft of measures against the spread of the pandemic, including the banning of public gatherings.We were required to wear face masks at all times and to minimize physical contact. These measures have brought about a change in how we live, especially given the fact that socializing is the backbone of our community. Shaking of hands was discouraged and now we were required to wave at each other from a distance. The number of ceremonies being held within the community reduced drastically and we began to see less of our relatives, friends and other members of the community. Even churches were closed! With many challenges brought about by the pandemic, some students ventured into the bumpy road of drug abuse while others fell into the pit of early pregnancies disrupting their studies. Cases of gender-based violence shot up and there were incidents of children being employed illegally as manual workers in quarries and road construction sites. Things were getting out of hand.
Thankfully, Covid-19 cases being reported went down and schools were reopened late September last year. Some of our fellow students failed to return to school due to several reasons, for instance, early pregnancies and some were employed notwithstanding the fact that they were school-going children. Learning has picked-up and thanks to our teachers we strictly adhere to the Covid-19 safety protocol, cognizant that the ‘monster’ has not left.
Compiled by NNA (Namuncha News Agency)
27 June 2021
End of term Prize giving Speeches and Football
NNA 18/03/21
Charles Kanchori
New Student Council for Peace Secondary School
#Namuncha_News_Agency(NNA) 26/02/21
John Ketiany
Friday 26th February 2021 marked another day in the history of #Namuncha_Peace_Secondary. The new student council was to be announced. At 7:15 am all whole school fraternity led by our loving Principal stood attentively in the assembly ground as the norm. Unlike the other assemblies this was a unique one, it was being led by the deputy Principal. The deputy principal presented to us the students the new students council. Notably some of the members NNA were among the cabinet that was announced. 
Congratulations to Charles Kanchoi and Joyce Timantoi who were elected as the secretaries in charge of clubs and societies and in charge of games respectively. As NNA we thank the outgoing student council for the diligence service you offered to the school. To the incoming council we wish all the best