A team of four staff members from the Bible Society of Kenya travelled to Samburu East Sub-county, Samburu County, to distribute Scriptures to children and youth in the region.

The exercise, which took place for six days in the areas of Archers post and Wamba areas would bring positive transformation to the lives of many children and youth in the schools and community in general.

This is in line with our mission, to innovatively translate, publish and advocate for the widest engagement with the Holy Scriptures. A total of 33 schools were visited, and every child received a Scripture.

About 80% of Samburu is mostly covered by conservation, mountains and poor road infrastructure. Wild animals pass through the villages, deeming them volatile to invasion among the human population. The schools are in dilapidating state, some classes are at the brink of collapse as the buildings were largely built during colonial times, while others have poor foundational structures.

The Samburu community faced several challenges, including Illiteracy which is estimated that 79% of the population being illiterate; therefore, they don’t find value in education. Harmful cultural practices, early teenage pregnancies and early marriages, gender-based violence, among others.

Different schools had their unique challenges which contributed to poor performance of CRE as a subject, For instance learners depend on the teachers reading for them the Bible, children are perceived to belong to the school, therefore parents care less of them, gender imbalance where boys in the schools are the majority as compared to girls, girls are married off early and removed from school, and some children lack of school uniforms.

Many parents can’t afford to buy Bibles; the majority come from very humble backgrounds. The Bibles they received from BSK will go a long way in helping the children establish a structured Bible study club in the school; they will also read to their parents, since most of them are illiterate, and help the children to improve their reading culture.

Other challenges include increased bandit attacks, which renders the learners to be on high alert and affect the class concentration span. Also, education is not a priority for many of the residents.

We observed that the schools still need a lot of support, including training on how to Programme for Pastoral Instruction (PPI), since the majority of them don’t have a structured way of teaching in school.

The children were excited to receive the Bibles and look forward to reading them with their families. The teachers are looking forward to the Bible helping to change the children’s way of living and their perception of life, and finding hope in the word.

We thank our donors and partners for ensuring that children in Samburu receive Bibles. May the word of God bring transformation to the lives of every child who receives the word.