Magaga Enos reflects on J‑term fieldwork in rural Kenyan schools, supported by the Harvard Center for International Development and the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. His inquiry focused on understanding how rural schooling can foster both unity and justice in communities, rather than merely advancing individual academic mobility. Enos connects this question to his personal history, recounting his mother’s interrupted schooling due to gender norms and economic hardship, and his own experiences navigating exclusion and marginalization in his community.
Enos describes a local “ecology of resilience” observed in his community high school in Muhoroni constituency, where modest resources were paired with robust social support. Teachers, school administrators, village elders, churches, and families collaborated to ensure that all children, including girls and vulnerable students, could continue learning despite economic or social challenges. This system provided tangible support, such as flexible fee arrangements, guidance for at-risk students, and reintegration of young mothers after childbirth, demonstrating how community norms and relationships can bolster educational resilience.
Drawing on over a decade of work in girls’ education and women’s empowerment, Enos notes a tension between educational outputs—such as enrollments, exam scores, and scholarships—and long-term social impact. While philanthropic initiatives and government programs improved access and resources, interruptions from donor visits, rigid scholarship conditions, and uneven post-graduation support revealed that resilience requires more than academic success. Enos highlights the importance of measuring outcomes that reflect sustainable livelihoods, social cohesion, and dignity, rather than focusing solely on short-term indicators.
The reflection emphasizes three critical dimensions of rural schooling as resilience hubs: time, power, and truth. Respecting students’ time by minimizing disruptions strengthens stability; scholarship structures that accommodate setbacks empower students during moments of vulnerability; and truthful reporting that goes beyond impressive outputs builds trust and ensures that programs are aligned with genuine community needs.
Enos concludes that his future research will explore how different governance models in rural, philanthropically supported schools influence the use of time, crisis response, and the life trajectories of students. He aims to center community definitions of “doing well” and to inform school policies that reinforce local ecologies of resilience, ensuring that unity and justice are tangible in daily educational experiences, not just in donor reports.
