Barely a week when the class eight candidates sat their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams, parents in Kibera have started early preparations for their children set to join high school.
The pupils are expected to start joining secondary schools in mid January 2016, and their parents are not taking chances.
They have started buying metallic boxes for for their kids to keep their wares while in boarding schools.
The boxes are mostly brought in the slum from the city but some innovative youths at Kichinjio village in Kibera have ventured into the trade to eke out a living.
The youths now sell the boxes at affordable prices which makes parents prefer them to those brought from town.
Dorris Mulati said she has decided to buy boxes for her twin boys since the prices are still low.
“In January, most people will be rushing to buy them so their prices will definitely rise. Also, I don’t want to be involved in last minute rushes and that is why I am doing this now,” she said.
James Austin said he prefers buying the boxes at this point because there is enough time to correct the errors made.
“When customers are many, the artisans usually do not do a perfect job. Most of the metallic boxes are not painted well therefore they can easily rust. By buying a box now, one has enough time to correct such errors because the customers are not many.”