A Day in the Life of Emily Adhiambo Onyango

As told to Loyce Ong’udi & Eric Otieno Ayanga

Emily Adhiambo Onyango (10) is a fifth-grade student at the Mwanzo Education Center (MEC) in Rabuor. Emily dreams of attending university and becoming a lawyer. Her teacher, Eric Otieno Ayanga, expresses that Emily’s parents have very limited resources and work as day laborers for a daily combined income of $4.80 USD. Yet, they sacrifice what they can so their children can attend school. In addition to paying partial tuition for their three oldest children, Emily’s parents donate grains for MEC’s school feeding program.

Emily lives in the village of Gee with her parents and three brothers, ages 2, 8, and 13. The family lives in a three-room house with dirt floors and a corrugated iron roof. On school days, Emily rises at 6 AM to wash dishes from the previous evening, bathe, and prepare her brothers for school. By 6:30, Emily and two of her brothers embark on the hour-long walk to MEC. “We leave without breakfast because what we have, we leave for our small brother,” Emily says. “Our first meal on school days is the break time food at Mwanzo.”

On weekends and school breaks, Emily wakes at 7 to light the wood stove, cook breakfast, and sweep the ground outside of her house. After her mother leaves for work, Emily feeds her brothers then travels to the river to fetch water for dishwashing and bathing. While her older brother bathes the younger children, Emily collects firewood. At 3 PM, Emily and her brothers play while their mother buys food at the market. Emily helps her mother cook and serve dinner so that the family can eat quickly while there is still daylight. The family uses kerosene lamps for light but preserves fuel by going to sleep early, with hope in their hearts, at 7:30 PM.