How hard it is to follow what the Romans do when you are not a Roman, am sure many of us at one point did not like some rules in our new surrounding and had to fight them to survive.
This is the story of a form one student was chased away from school over her dreadlocks a day after being admitted.
Makeda Ndinda, who was granted admission to Olympic Secondary School in Kibra, had her education disrupted when the institution’s management called her out over her Rastafarian faith.
Speaking to reporters, Ndinda narrated how the deputy principal summoned her over the lunch hour period and asked her to choose to cut her hair or leave the school.
“I was called by the deputy principal over lunch hour where she ordered I remove my headscarf stating that only Muslims are allowed to cover their hair.
“I feel bad because other students are in class learning and I am not,” she recalled.
Her parents were in dismay having fulfilled all the requirements for their daughter to go to school including paying Kshs 12,000 for school fees.
Ndinda was even issued with uniforms and exercise books and attended classes where she studied English and Geography on her first day.
The mother stated that when filling the admission forms they indicated that the girl was of the Rastafarian faith.
On his part, John Mwendwa (the girl’s father) stated that being a Kenyan citizen, he was entitled to access services offered by the government and his faith should not deny his children the right to education and healthcare.
They are asking the Ministry of Education to intervene in the case.
Rastafarians do not cut their hair. Instead, they wear dreadlocks, thick yarns of hair fibers twisted together to create strong, long strands of hair.
The use of dreadlocks represents the African roots of Rastafarians and represent the main of the Lion of Judah.