Population

A national population census was carried out in Kenya in August. The Daily Nation (a national newspaper) just announced in an article today that the current population of Kenya is 39 million and that the population is increasing by 1 million people per year.

This last week I have been the teacher on duty and have permitted around 8 different students to attend burials. This strikes me as being a higher rate than a similarly sized high school in America. If this many people are dying every week, and every year, how many babies are born every year to increase the total population by one million?

Kenya is probably smaller geographically than Oregon and Washington put together. Also, Kenya was rated the second or third most water poor country in the world per capita. The average Kenyan does not have access to a surplus of resources. Each generation the plot of land gets divided into two or three pieces in order to give each son an opportunity to plant food and build a house. Most of these pieces of land are now less than an acre, and agriculture is the main source of lively hood. Where do these additional 1 million Kenyans per year make their living? How will development occur and how will the income of the average Kenyan increase if their opportunity to make a living is increasing divided?

No issue stands alone. Compounding the issue of population increase is the drought, which seems to be continuing this year even though the papers reported that El Nino was coming and that the country would have a bumper harvest. Additionally, AIDS, TB, and Malaria continue to ravage peoples well being and decimate families.

What is the way forward? Aid from developed countries is not the answer, but neither is isolation. Religion is not the answer, but neither is agnosticism. Education is probably helpful, but only if is focuses heavily on discussing these country wide issues. Currently the education system does not emphasize this at all. There is a “life skills” syllabus, but there is no national test on it, which means that 95% of schools do not teach it.

If I do anything in Kenya, I need to lead debates and discussions with my students on these issues. It requires a lot of courage to discuss these issues with the students though, because they are taboo issues, especially AIDS. Around 7 percent of Kenyans have AIDS, but it is only talked about in whispers.

There are students in almost every school in Kenya that have AIDS, but most of these students do not know that they carry the disease.

By the way, did you know that more than one million babies are born each year in Kenya?