STANLEY MOROYAN LEMUKUT
Sunrise - 1949 Sunset - September 12, 2021
Our dear friend Stanley Lemukut passed away unexpectedly on September 12, 2021 due to complications from leukemia. At 72, Stanley was a respected elder in the communities at Lake Baringo, where he had been a teacher and strong supporter of education in the Rift Valley Region. He served as the chairman of the school boards in 3 communities, and he was a founder of the Longicharo Primary School in 2004.
Stanley was born in 1949 in Ilmekuri Village on Kokwa Island and was the eldest of his parents’ 19 children. With his 3 wives, he had 14 children of his own. We met Stanley in 2004 when Mike Lawrence, our partner at the time, took us to Longicharo Village to begin construction on a school Stanley wished to build for the children who lived in the village. Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife provided the funding for the one-room school that would later become the Kirepari Primary School on Kokwa Island after the community was forced to move from Longicharo because of insecurity in the area. Today, the Kirepari Primary School has an attendance of over 150 children in nursery through Class 6 and is registered with the Kenyan Government Ministryof Education. There are 6 teachers.
Stanley was committed to peacebuilding at Baringo and in 2008, helped to create the Ruko Conservancy which was formed by the Il Chamus and Pokot communities to promote peace and help the local communities achieve development and resilient livelihoods through sustainable use of the land. The Conservancy was recently involved in removing endangered Rothschild’s Giraffes from Longicharo due to flooding at Lake Baringo.
Mike Lawrence and Stanley discuss the construction of the Longicharo School in 2004
Stanley loved his small herd of cows whose milk he shared with people in need. His children’s words below are a tribute to his kindness and concern for others:
“Daddy, thank you for your generosity when you were blessed with the herd at Longicharo. All who had no animals enjoyed the privilege of milking as well as owning your cattle both as family and village. We grew up knowing that both cattle and goats you had were meant to help all.”
Stanley listens to post election violence news on the radio in 2008
Stanley’s wisdom, his vision for the children in his community, most of whose parents had not been to school, and his commitment to their education was a great gift to them. For us, to have known and worked with Stanley over the past 17 years was also a great gift. We will miss his calm presence, his smile, and his wonderful laugh each time we visit Kokwa Island. And we’ll remember him with great affection.