Rayrus Micah
I am Education Manager, Thorn Tree Scholarship Project
Bold Question: What if all children had access to the resources they need to have a quality education?
Path to Metis: I am Micah Rayrus, born and raised in the remote, densely populated villages of Vihiga county. I undertook my primary school education in Mumias and would cycle to school every morning and back home in the evening for about 7kms. That meant that I had to wake up as early as 0400hrs and it would be even tougher when it was during the rainy season, anyway most parts of Western province receive rains almost all through the year.
I went to a local day school in Vihiga after not being able to raise the required fees to join the fancy boarding high school I had been selected to. Here, I also had to trek for 5kms every morning and evening in order to access the school and quench my thirst for high school education.
Despite the challenges, I was able to score a grade that got me into teachers’ college and that now shaped my career as a teacher. My dream became to provide access to quality education to all children by bridging up the gaps and walls of challenges that I had encountered while studying. Those challenges included lack of books, lack of meals, long walks and treks to school and even lack of school fees.
I was lucky to meet Jane Newman, the founder of the Thorntree Project in Samburu County, just after completing college, who shared the same vision and dreams like me, providing access to quality education. I have been an Education Manager in the project since 2010, and we have been able to build dormitories to host far distant learners, provided meals for them, built libraries with enough reading and course books, employed and trained qualified and motivated teachers and provided for them basic supplies such as school uniforms etc.
We also have a robust girl power program that is trying to help the girls catch up and overcome the challenges that come with the nomadic set up and culture. This has enabled many students to access quality education and as we speak, we now have some of the products of the initiatives having jobs such as nurses, teachers and accountants.
I am currently undertaking my masters at the University of Nairobi in Educational technology. I am hopeful that it will help, together with my interactions at the Metis fellowship, the teachers to incorporate technology in their teaching in order to make it more real and meaningful to the learners.
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