“Woman, your daughter is not ready to be in this school.”
“Tafadhali… mpe.. tu.. chance.. ingine” stammered Maria.
“No! Not in my school! Try that elsewhere, in those mediocre schools but not my school! I only give two warnings and the third becomes a straight expulsion! Do you hear me?” roared the school headmistress madam Judy.
Maria nodded in response, her body was shaking. She looked straight at Nicole, her boss’ firstborn child who was now shading crocodile tears. She held her by her hands as they left the principal’s office.
“Wait! As a school policy, you are required to pay Ksh. 12,000 to carter for the fence repairs before you leave.” Madam Judy barked once again. The voice was so loud that captured the attention of other students in class.
“I.am.. sio mamayake” Maria fumbled to answer. She meant, “I am not Nicole’s mother”.
“Then who are you?”
“The house help”
“Go tell the parents of that disrespectful “maggot” to pay us Kshs. 12,000”
“Yes Madam! “Maria answered as they walked out of office.
This is the third expulsion that Nicole was getting from three different schools in less than a year. This time round the mistake being, sneaking out of school at night to the nearest boys’ school to visit her boyfriend. Her tycoon father was in Amsterdam for a business meeting and her mother was in South Africa for a vacation. Maria the house help played both the role of the mother and the father of the house. It was now eight months since the parents had left the country.
Nicole was not only growing up rude, with lack of morals and bossy but was also performing poorly in class. But who was to blame for all these? Was it Maria herself? Was it her mother? Was it her father? Or was it her teachers at school? She had never had a one on one talk with her parents for almost one year now.
A great philosopher once argued that teenagers need helpful attention rather than protective attention. They need someone to be by their side to show them direction, love, support and encouragement. They need a sense of recognition and should be treated with a lot of care. This is what most parents and guardians have failed to provide to their teens.
Teenagers are exposed to many risk factors. When no direction is provided, this can have a negative effect on their mental health. Some of the risk factors include but are not limited to: pressure of materialism, exploration of sexuality identity, abuse of drugs and wide access to use of technology among many others.
At TRANSOLUTION SERVICES we are passionate about the future of Africa and our mission is to nurture the next generation of African leaders hence the creation of the Shifting Landscape (SL) program. Designed for young people between the ages of 14 to 20, the Shifting Landscape program provides them the right foundation to develop their full potential.