Growing up, we were told that getting an education would automatically mean a job and a good salary. However, the reality doesn’t quite match up. I mean, a good education is still key but it is still not everything in these times. It won’t guarantee you a good job that pays well. Also, sometimes the pay seems enough but when you deduct the bills, you end up with nothing.
Take for instance the case of a lecturer who has a PhD with has a family and earns Ksh. 153,000 gross. Despite being educated and working hard, life is really hard for him. You can then imagine how many others like him are suffering. His story was shared in the thread below that is a must read.
1. To understand just how poverty is a reality to even so-called ‘well-off’ Kenyans, I did some mathematics using a colleague’s salary…
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
2. My colleague is a lecturer, having passed his PhD recently. He earns about KES 153,000 gross (inclusive H.A, transport etc).
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
((let us take a moment and reflect on how an entry-level lecturer in Kenya with a PhD is paid the above salary)). Moving on.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
3. After PAYE and SACCO loan deductions (which he took to complete his fees + family needs), he gets KES 89,000 in his account.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
4. He lives in Syokimau in a rented house with hopes of “building” soon. He lives with his wife + 3 kids, a house-help and a couple of relaz
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
5. Rent in his 3 bed with SQ is 30k, a lucky draw, he thinks. Take that out and he’s left with 59k. His wife is a nurse at KNH…
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
6. (He refused to discuss her pay, respectfully. But we can deduce how much her take-home is in this economy.) Moving on.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
7. He long-ago gave up the ghost of his car towards the end of his PhD. He hikes a lift some mornings to Syokimau train station. Lucky draw.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
8. His wife takes care of the DM’s salo, he takes the lion share of food expenses in the home, as well as fees for his kids. He’s a good man
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
9. After elec and water bills, and Zuku (he long since ditched DSTV), he is usually in the negative figures….
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
10. He teaches in a public campo which has virtually zero current books. He says Zuku is integral in helping him find material 4his students
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
11. But like a true Kenyan, he has a side-hustle. Lazima, he says. So he “moonlights” in various colleges and even another campo.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
12. Despite sporadic payments (some campos pay him 4-5 months after the fact), he feels he can balance, support his family & those in ocha.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
13. This year, however, he has been unable to afford private insurance, and his employer offers no medical cover. He prays daily that…
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
14. Neither he nor his family falls ill with a serious sickness, or else his goose will be cooked. He admits this with some shame. After all
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
15…he is now “Daktari”. He knows better than not to have medical insurance! Yes, he has NHIF and it does help. But he knows he needs more.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
16. Month-to-month, he “manages”. If a relative falls sick upcountry, he sometimes goes “underground”, because he can’t afford to send $$.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
17. His dad passed. His mum and in-laws usually rely on him to help them. Si ni Daktari jamani? A university Don they speak of with pride?
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
18. He says, sotto voce, that he almost clashed with the wife upon suggesting she goes upcountry, where life should be cheaper. She said no.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
19. Just last month, he got in trouble after “cooking marks” with one undergrad class. He says it was a large class. He has no idea where…
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
20…the CAT papers went. In between his moonlighting, he kinda lost them. Maybe he dozed off and left them on the train, he doesn’t know…
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
21. So he “cooked”. He is not proud of the fact. It embarrasses his coz that’s the one thing he swore he’d never do. Ever. But he did.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
22. (At this juncture I don’t even bother to ask him if cooking is prevalent.)
But he still says it- not all the time. We try our best— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
23. This is uncomfortable for me, and for him. My class last semester had 27 kids- easy to mark and do one-on-ones. His had 103.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
24. So I try not to judge. He is a proud Don. A Mwalimu like his late father. And he cooked marks coz he had lost CAT papers from all the…
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
25…moonlighting he is doing to make ends meet. From the work, commute, moonlighting, he does, sometimes, 60+ hour weeks. He is broke.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
26…and frustrated. Ever the philosopher, he says his life is like that of Sisyphus. He talks like an existentialist. Over a beer, he even
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
27…questions why the heck he bothered with the mountain-climbing experience that was getting a PhD. Should have become a banker, he muses.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
28. But he also admits that he is among the lucky. He believes he is in a top percentile in terms of the salary & opportunities he gets.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
29. Imagine what poorer people are going through right now, he says. Kerosene has even gone up. Food is expensive. How are people making it?
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
30. He shakes his head, knowing he is surrounded by “luxuries” like Zuku and internet and things, even though his big flat-screen…
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
31…which he had acquired just before Baby #3 got “nicked” in a home invasion (which made him move from Eastlands to Syoks, he claims).
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
32. On good days, he waxes philosophical about the theft. On broke days, he laments how fellow Kenyans can take you back to Square Zero.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
33. He has thought of looking for a “PostDoc” and just migrating to Canada or something, & never coming back. But that’s hard. This.Is.Home.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
34. Wewe, you should be Oprah. I think he is embarrassed he talked, though he says, this is the reality with most people in Kenya anyway.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
35. He has said many other things, but that is the crux of it.
The issue is- how are people surviving in this economic climate, esp the…— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
36…poor? We have created systems (from education to health, to the economy, etc) that are only creating poverty for the majority.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
37. Some of us become “clever” and play with stocks and other investments. The majority do not. Our major investment is Education…
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
38…but the investment field itself is a shambles, if dons live like this. I imagine it is the same most places, e.g. medicine
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
39. My colleague want to build. Perhaps a pipe dream for now. He wants to quit and join the NGO world. Or something. He seems conflicted.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
40. Or is it confused? He says the 60+hrs a week cannot much go on. But cutting down hours=less $$. We shall keep going tu. But where?
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
Ory has a saying: The natives are restless. Yes, even the middle-class/highly educated ones. The Kenyan Dream is evaporating into futility.
— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016
41. The Kenyan Dream of 1 wife, 2…he cuts me off with a smile. Tuachie hapo sasa. Gotta go home to the kids.
He leaves me thinking.— Queen Nandi (@DrCarrieM) July 15, 2016