AMAYA, Kenya (AFP) – A rural school in a desolate part of northern Kenya has set out to succeed where truces and forcible disarmament have failed, winnng peace among cattle-rustling tribes that have slaughtered each other for centuries.

Named “Amani”, the Swahili word for “peace,” the school hopes by example and by bringing children together to restore stability among Maasai, Pokot, Samburu and Turkana tribesmen, whose infighting has left tens of thousands dead over the years.

“The purpose is to provide a center for children from all four tribes to access education and live together, appreciate one another and avoid the suspicion that had existed before,” said Stephen Lenayasa, who heads the project for the US-based Christian Children’s Fund (CCF).

CCF founded the school on a dusty, semi-arid erstwhile battleground about 370 kilometres (230 miles) north of Nairobi five years ago, with the help of Pokot and Samburu elders who wanted to encourage peace among their youth.

Local officials later welcomed children from the equally battle-weary Maasai and Turkana tribes, who have clashed repeatedly over livestock and land rights in a constant struggle for honor.

“Most of these children were being taught that a Pokot is an enemy of a Turkana and a Samburu and vice versa, so it became a vicious cycle,” said Lenayasa, himself a Samburu.

“But all that is now changing for the better because we can see the results,” he told AFP.

A white pillar commemorating a much-violated 19th-century truce between the Pokot and Samburu towers high above the entrance gates, serving as a constant reminder of a burgeoning peace.

Inside Amani, children from rival tribes are schooled together in hopes that they will prefer to work together in the future instead of scheming war against one another.

Instructors also offer adult education classes to mollify feuding parents, attempting to erase years of bloody conflict where government-sponsored truces have fallen apart.

Peter Lekolool, a 17-year-old Turkana who once participated in the raids, regrets the tribal rivalry that only became deadlier when warriors replaced their rudimentary arms – spears, clubs and bows and arrows – with automatic weapons.

“I don’t want us to go back to those days when we used to fight every night and many people were killed,” he said. “It’s bad because we used to live in fear and the only thing we used to think about is training for war.”

As a way to erase the animosity inculcated in children, teachers endeavor to keep students so busy with their studies that there is no time for tension to foment.

“These days we make sure that they are very busy,” said Amani’s head teacher James Lekankoo, 40. “During their free time, we encourage them to go join their school clubs and engage in theatrical activities like drama, music and debates.”

For many students, like 13-year-old Maasai pupil Agnes Milanoi, the prospect of peace in a region where their grandparents roamed, looking for the next cattle raid, is a welcome change.

“The school is a good thing because we don’t see war these days and I wish that we just continue staying like people of the same family.” Milanoi said. “This school has made us to do things together and help each other.”