Skoler står tomme i dele af det vestlige Kenya.
NYATIKE, 9 February 2012 (IRIN): At a waterlogged gold mine in western Kenya’s Migori District, 14-year-old Jacob, scours the water for glistering flakes, a job he says beats going to school on an empty stomach.
“I would rather work for people here at the mine and at the end of the day they will give me money to spend,” Jacob, one of 15.000 children toiling in the region’s pits, told IRIN.
“Even my parents say what I am doing is right; I can buy my own clothes. What is the point of being in school?” There are few formal job opportunities in the region.
Jacob’s employer for the day – one of many people who rent a section of the mine on a daily basis – will pay him 100 shillings (ca. 6,50 DKR) for his labour. A gram of gold sells for around 55 US dollar (ca. 300 DKR) on the world market.
“We are told those who have employed us are rich, but me, I just want a little money to buy good clothes and food for my mother. I don’t want to be rich,” said another child.
An estimated 15.000 children are working in gold mines in the districts of Nyatike and Migori in western Kenya’s Nyanza province, either in actual extraction or in ancillary services such as selling food, according to the local Children’s Welfare Office. This number rises significantly at weekends and during school holidays.
Some, like Jacob, end up missing school altogether. “When you look at the levels of school drop-outs… the closer a school is to a gold mine, the higher the rates of [decline] in school attendance,” said Geoffrey Cherongis, the Nyanza provincial director of education.
School attendance in the affected areas is about 35 percent of the total school days. “What this means is that in one week a child working at a gold mine will normally attend school for just two days,” said Cherongis.
Poverty factor
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