Crusader for African values in the U.S

As a devoted academician at a leading university in the United States, Peninah Nduta Njuguna was concerned with helping her mature students think critically. But a research on African families living in the US prompted her make a career change that baffled her colleagues.

Njuguna, a Kiswahili and culture lecturer at South Carolina University, left the job she had held for six years to become a kindergarten teacher.

Many people could not understand how she could “slide back” to dealing with five-year-olds with her high academic qualifications.

“When I quit my university job in 2001 to teach in a kindergarten, many people thought I was crazy. Some professors felt I was wasting my education,” Njuguna says.

But, Njuguna, author of a children’s book titled Fatuma, the Girl Who Wanted to be a Star, says she was prompted to make the move after interacting with children aged five years and below during her two years as a research fellow at university.

Her research was on the transition dilemma of African families in the US.

“I realised this was a critical age in human development where children need maximum attention and a proper foundation. The transition from Africa to America is really a big deal,” Njuguna said during a visit to Nairobi in July/August this year.

She was in the country to visit her son, who goes to a school in the city, and also participate in the Bicycles-for-Pastors Project, which aims to help religious ministers in remote areas reach their followers and spread the word of God.

“The American system does not meet the needs of the black community. Parents work very long hours and leave their children at daycare centres. They have very little time for their children. We have no house-helps because we simply cannot afford such a luxury,” says Njuguna, a graduate of business education from the University of Nairobi.

Although she and her husband, Dr Njuguna Nagi, a marriage counsellor and therapist, acquired US citizenship after settling there in 1986, they decided to put their children through the Kenyan secondary education system before they settled in the US.

They say this helped the children — Zawadi, Tumaini and Baraka — get a sense of community, “which is lacking in the US”.

Zawadi (gift), the first-born and only daughter, has established a scholarship that enables Kenyans to attend Bible colleges in the country. The first beneficiary of the scholarship is a graduate of Moffat Bible College in Kijabe.

Their older son, Tumaini (hope), is a movie production student at a US college, while the last-born, Baraka (blessings), is a student at St Christopher’s School in Nairobi.

“Zawadi”, Njuguna explains, “symbolises the many gifts God has given us Africans. We should exploit these gifts. We should not look so much to the West for help.

No hopeless situation

“Tumaini,” she continues, “means there is no hopeless situation in mankind, while Baraka represents people’s capability to help one another. Each one of us deserves to be successful. We all deserve to make it in life. Every person can give hope and encourage others to give. Giving is not just about money. We need to restore hope to our people, one person at a time.”

Says Njuguna, a trustee of the Kenya Christian Fellowship in the US, whose aim includes strengthening social culture and race among Kenyans in the US: “Many children in the US are left to video games and television. In fact, they are left to bring themselves up. Fathers have little time for their sons. But they are good dads working to earn a living for their families.”

The former student of Kapsabet Girls’ High School and former member of the ACK Kirangari Church choir argues that migrating to the US or any other developed country is not reason enough for one to discard one’s African values and cultures.

“We have to understand ourselves and our culture. Even the “modern” African woman needs to become an innovator rather than a consumer of Western culture. Usually, women adopt Western culture much faster than men. We have become consumers of Western culture, and this has really messed up families. We have lost our identity. We should not adopt the Western culture so blindly. We cannot raise our daughters when we have lost our identity,” says Njuguna, the middle child in a family of six girls and one boy.

She recalls that her parents, Emily Ngina and Wilfred Gatura, brought up the large family as God-loving unit.

Quality education

“My mother was prayerful and she taught us how to pray. My father encouraged us to grow in the church, go to school and get a quality education. He told me that a girl could become anything she wanted,” she recalled.

The don-turned-kindergarten-teacher, who has a master’s degree in adult education and agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin, a doctorate in curriculum and institution development from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in early childhood education from the same institution, is now a teacher at Seven Oaks Elementary School in Columbia.

She first taught at Lower Lee Elementary School, also in South Carolina, where she and her pupils produced a CD with 10 songs, including a track in Gikuyu called Undekere (forgive me).

At Seven Oaks, she has a class of 18 pupils. And although she has yet to meet a former university colleague who thinks she made the right decision, Njuguna says she is proud to be part of a team of highly-qualified kindergarten teachers.

“Nobody has applauded me for teaching five-year-olds. Many think something is wrong. It is not that I cannot work anywhere. I am highly-qualified. But I chose to teach five-year-old kids and help give such children the right foundation. These are the most critical years in a child’s life,” says Njuguna, a former Kenya High School student.

Basic requirement

Seven Oaks is one of the 12 public elementary schools in District Five of the Lexington and Richland Counties.

A basic requirement is that every teacher must have a website that gives details of her class. A visit to Njuguna’s site finds her simple introduction: “Welcome to Dr Njuguna and Mrs Lawson’s home page. I am a native of Kenya. Currently, I am a kindergarten teacher at Seven Oaks Elementary School. Welcome to our village. Hope you can learn with us as we explore our world.”

Apart from teaching little children, the Kirangari-born Njuguna has teamed up with Lucy wa Ngunjiri, a presenter with Kameme FM, in the Bicycles-for-Pastors project.

She founded the US-based, non-profit organisation, Hands or Hope and Help International, in 2006 after a chat with visiting African Inland Church (AIC) bishop Silas Yego. Her initial donation of 10 bicycles was to the AIC for its clerics in Marsabit.

The organisation has teamed up with wa Ngunjiri’s Prayers Beyond Boundaries Ministries, to which they have since donated around 2,000 bicycles, including mountain bikes, to preachers in remote areas, irrespective of religious affiliations.

“With time and funds, we expect to start donating motorcycles,” said Njuguna.

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