海角大神

It has been four years since Garissa University College opened its doors as northern Kenya鈥檚 first university. But the school may never see a graduating class.听

The attack by Somalia-based Al Shabab militants that killed听148 people听last week was a devastating blow to an institution that brought hope to this town at the southern end of the heavily marginalized and听largely Muslim region.听

It's the only one of Kenya's 67 universities that is located in the north, which covers more than half of Kenya. The school enrolled only a handful of local students out of more than 800, yet it was still the pride of Garissa.

But last week, Wilson Sossion, head of the Kenya National Teachers Union, demanded the immediate shut down of the university. While the university's future remains unclear, he suggested that it be turned into a 鈥渟ecurity installation" and handed over to the police. The union also told teachers in the northeastern region who felt unsafe to leave.听听

鈥淲e had a lot of hope. Our hopes are now dust,鈥澨齭ays Hassan Sheikh Ali, the first principal of Garissa Teachers Training College, a spinoff of which became the university. He was a key player in bringing the university to the town,听an effort that took several years. 听听

While families across Kenya grieve those who were killed in听the April 2 attack, Garissa residents are worried about the potential loss of a school that offered young people something to aspire to. Garissa is the gateway to the arid, sparsely populated region hugging the Somali border,听which Al Shabab has听repeatedly crossed in recent years to make scores of attacks. A four-year separatist war, decades of discrimination, and minimal assistance from the central government have left northeast Kenya struggling to make progress with the rest of the country, and to deal with increased radicalization of local youths. The community says that what it needs now more than ever is education, not more security.听

鈥淓ducation is the driving force for peace,鈥� Mr. Ali says.听鈥淚f [the university] is听closed, we will be playing into the hands of Al Shabab.鈥澨�听

A beacon of progress

Few locals听have the education level to attend the university.听Ali and many others听were frustrated that no affirmative action program had been put in place to help locals obtain a university degree, meaning that the overwhelming majority of the student听body are 海角大神s and are from elsewhere in Kenya.听

But the university still brought opportunities. More than 100 locals worked there in low-skill jobs, and the 鈥渟tudent presence was putting money into the pockets of the local population,鈥� Ali says.听

Most听non-locals听who end up in Garissa town are civil servants 鈥� assigned here or unable to find work elsewhere 鈥� or businessmen who have the education to prosper there.听The听presence of the听university made them feel听less like they had been dispatched to a forgotten place.

鈥淲e began to feel we are in Kenya now,鈥� says Morris Okelo, an electrical contractor from western Kenya who has lived in Garissa on and off since 2000. The school brought a spate of new construction projects and other business opportunities, as well as bars that cater to the 海角大神 arrivals in the devout Muslim community.

鈥満＝谴笊駍, they are bringing development in this town. They build our roads, they educate our children, they build our infrastructure,鈥� says Sheikh Omar Abdi Satar, head of the Garissa Interfaith Council.

A crowd of men presses around, chiming in with their agreement as he continues, 鈥淲e cannot survive without them. That鈥檚 the truth, that鈥檚 the fact.鈥�

Since Al Shabab鈥檚 attack on a bus in Mandera County in November, when 28 海角大神s, many of them civil servants, were killed, the common practice of sending people to the northeast from other parts of Kenya has become contentious. Hundreds of teachers refused to report for duty in the region after a spate of attacks toward the end of 2014; they said the government needs to provide better protection if they are going to be required to live in a hostile region.听

Even if the university reopens, it will be in trouble if Garissa can鈥檛听convince current students to return or prospective students to apply.听

A handful of the surviving students, interviewed at the camp last week as they waited for their evacuation buses, said that they wouldn鈥檛 come back to complete their degree even if given the chance. That worries town leaders.

鈥淭he only development we have received since independence is this university. This university is collapsing and will never come back. We are in mourning,鈥� Sheikh Omar says. 鈥淲e have lost our children who were supposed to be our teachers, the future of our country."