I Attempted To Rescue A Girl From A Wasted Future

I came to this village to work as a teacher, nevertheless, on the very first day, I made up my mind to do whatever was possible to quit my new post. I even bribed the villagers with money just so they could help me out of this situation, and instead of help, I got nothing but stories. I went to the people with power and begged them, but nothing worked until I decided to go through the three-year period and apply for a transfer.

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The whole village appeared to be constructed against the teaching profession. Some teachers had to visit the homes of their students to persuade the parents to let them attend school. One Thursday, I turned up for class to discover no one there. I expressed my incredulity and the other teachers were amused. One teacher said, “They are not coming today because no one went to ask their parents.” Another added, “It’s normal; today is market day.”

I needed more than a year to get used to the village's educational system. One student named Juliet particularly caught my attention. She was a rare attendee in school but her intelligence was extraordinary. At times she was absent from class due to no money for breakfast, or her parents had taken her to the market for selling their goods. In fact, apart from being intelligent, she was also beautiful and the only girl in the class who spoke English fluently. When I inquired how she learned, she said, “I am a reader. I learn through my readings.”

Every morning on my way to school, I would always pass her house. I was in the habit of giving her small amounts of money when she said she had none. Frequently, it was only Ksh2 or Ksh3 that she required to be at school. I would talk to her parents when it came to her farm work. One night, I went to them with the sole purpose of talking about Juliet's education. That's when I found out that her father had died many years ago, and her mother had married a man who did not care about Jules' education.

I implored them to allow me to back up her education, meaning she could go to school without barriers. They gave their consent if I took care of the financial side. Juliet became a daily schoolgoer and each day she grew more and more attentive. Before her finals, I conducted special classes for her and a few other kids whose parents allowed them to come. She was very successful with a total score of sixteen, the highest of the school.

In the locality, girls do not carry on with schooling despite their good grades; it has always been the case with the JHOs. After that, they either learn what their parents do, go to the city to help relatives, or be maids. I was not going to allow that for Juliet; it was like throwing away her brain and all she had learned. I went to her parents again. The man was opposing, but the woman was more receptive, “We have no money to…”

I cut in, “Money is not a problem. I will be the one to see off her school. I may not have a lot, but I think it will not take her much to reach upper secondary.”

The farm or the market always needed her help, which made it hard for them to release her. I used the headmaster's influence to persuade her parents to accept my offer. Some teachers also participated in support until Juliet was finally allowed to go to boarding school.

At the end of each term, she came home with great reports and I was ecstatic about her. When she came home for the holidays, I was her tutor, interacting with her mentally and keeping her occupied till she went back to school. Through her, I found my calling the reason why I had become a teacher. After three years, she graduated with no subject failure, but some scores could have been better. I felt a lot of pride and she was proud of herself for being the sole one in her village to have completed upper secondary.

I started to think about ways to help her get a university education. I talked to friends in different organizations to check if they could offer assistance. One day, Juliet's mother came, and though she was in a hurry, she wouldn't sit down. She said, “When are you going to marry Juliet now that she has finished school?” I laughed, “Marry her? How? That wasn't the plan, so what are you talking about?”

The villager's mother accused me of being the main reason why her daughter was not getting any marriage proposal at all, saying that her education was the big turn-off for the men. According to her, Juliet would not be able to run a farm because she had been to school for nothing. It was funny, but I couldn’t laugh so much because I was afraid it might look like I was disrespecting her. I told her I would come later to talk about it more.

On her next visit, she came along with Juliet and her husband. I took the headmaster's advice and surprisingly he also considered me responsible for the picture of the marriage issue where the bride was Juliet. He told me, “If you’re not careful, this family will keep on pressuring you about marriage till either someone marries her or you get out of the village.”

I made the attempt to convince Juliet about the reasons why I acted the way I did. She just said, “I thought you were sending me to school because you wanted to marry me eventually I mean, If you don’t marry me then I have to go to the city to get a job.” I inquired from her, “What about your schooling? Isn’t it the fact that you aspire to be a great person in the future? Don’t you want to continue schooling?” She answered, “No, I don’t want to continue schooling anymore. I want to work and help my parents. They will be very sad if I don’t. I will be a loser because I am the firstborn.”

Hearing Juliet envision her future was the first time I ever felt like a loser. I thought I was contributing to the process of her getting a better life. He was my private project, something I had in mind to grant me the future blessings. Finally, I handed Ksh700 to her mother and father saying it was for the start of something good for them, wishing they would now leave me in peace.

After two years, I quit the village. But before I left, I had one more sight of Juliet. She was very much expecting and the father was a mystery. In her need to get a partner, she had been taken in by the most unsuitable among those who were interested and in the end, the unborn child could not be traced to any of the three fathers since she was having relations with them at the same time. The children's future through her was dark. She darkness of her village. I did my best. 

—Andy

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