Samburu, Kenya: It is exactly 6:48pm and Thomas Lelelit makes his way into the classroom of a night school in Samburu County.
At this time, other pupils would be trekking for miles back to their homes after regular classes but Lelelit, 16, turns the clock to his benefit.
He arrives home after a whole day of herding before he walks here for the evening classes, which give him the opportunity to learn like others.
As he settles down for the lessons, more than 100 pupils are also getting ready for the teacher.
These pupils want to learn to read and write.
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"I want to learn like others. My aim is to be a pilot. I drive animals to long distances in search of pasture and water. When come back home in the evening, I hand over the animals to my parents and join other pupils in this class. We are all pastoralists," says Lelelit.
Faith Lamu, 14, is another pupil enthusiastic about learning.
Her dream is to become a teacher. She takes her classes seriously in a bid to recapture her lost academic baton.
However, she has one plea.
"I wish my parents would not marry me off just yet. I have seen other girls get married at an early age and have their lives and possible careers wasted just because our fathers do not value our education. I really want to be a teacher."
Lelelit, Faith and the rest of the class face heavy odds just to be able to study. They walk long distances to reach the school and have defied all the threats of insecurity in the bandit-infested county.
Although they are in different classes, they all use one class to learn under a single teacher, a trained early childhood development graduate.
In Samburu, such classes - aimed at capturing child herders from pastoralist families - are giving back hope that was once lost to thousands.
Most of these learners are later integrated into regular classes.
According to Sarafina Samuel, the district examination officer for Samburu Sub-County, these classes are giving learners a lifeline.
"This programme has helped us boost the numbers in classes. Although they start as an irregular system, they later join the regular classes. We are looking at this programme to enable learners enter and remain in class. But a major achievement is that girls have registered a renewed passion to learn and escape early marriages."
Another advantage of these evening classes is that they have helped morans change their perception of girls’ education, female genital mutilation and early marriage.
This, according to Nicholas Lenainyasa, the education officer in charge of primary school education in Samburu Central, is a new facet in tackling these vices in the county.
"Most of those who attend the classes are morans. They mix with the girls that society expects them to marry after they are circumcised, at an early age. They are now appreciating that the girls, who are their classmates, deserve a chance to be in class and go on to excel in the careers of their choice. The girls who are coming to class and going the full cycle are becoming role models in this community," says Lenainyasa.
One of the beneficiaries of this programme sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams last year and scored 355 marks, gaining entry into a top national school.
