Happy Christmas!

Wishing you all...

peace, love and joy!

A Kenyan Christmas

We very much enjoyed the AV Foundation Carol Concert this week. It was wonderful, too, to see AV's co-founder and recently retired Africa director Nigel Warren who once greeted me at Nairobi airport, as he did so many before me and after, with a firm handshake and the words 'Welcome to Africa!'

Almost eight years on... Tuesday's concert was also a chance to meet more alumni and their families, many of whom continue to work with the communities in which they volunteered, and to catch-up with the AVF trustees who have set aside £5,000 for Elimu and whose support we greatly appreciate.

Below is a beautifully written poem that I was asked to read at the service to cast people's minds back to Kenya and at the same time, bring Kenya to life in London:

A Kenyan Christmas

Akinyi sits by the window, watching the short rains fall.

Will the sun come out again?  Will Christmas come at all?

She had helped her mother planting, the sukuma is

growing well.  In the ground is sweet potato, though
nobody can tell.

Pitter pat on mabati roofs and so the rain goes on,

But when the sun comes out again: muddy puddles are
all gone.

Jacarandas are looking bare, hornbills have flown away.

The hot dry season is coming, bringing Christmas on its way.

Would they travel to the village to visit their grandfolks?

With white hair, long stories and often old jokes?

As Christmas Day draws closer – Nairobi is very

still.  Big buses drive upcountry – not a spare seat to fill.

Christmas Mama, Baba and Toto go from house to

house.
Moving along so swiftly and yet quiet as a mouse

Till finally Akinyi’s waiting agony is done.

It is Christmas morning and it's time for lots of fun!

Akinyi and her Mama are already up and out of bed.
There will be many visitors all ready to be fed.

But first a special breakfast of mandazi and sweet chai.

A few songs and stories about Christmas: Where, How and Why?

Akinyi has heard them all before, each time is just as

good.
This is how she likes her Christmas, in her neighbourhood.

Author unknown

Asante sana to The Priory!

Another huge thank you to The Priory whose Christmas Carol Concert this week raised over £300 for Elimu and Lewisham Children's Hospital. The school has raised a fantastic amount for a variety of charities this term alone.

http://www.priory.bromley.sch.uk/News/CHARITY-COLLECTIONS-AUTUMN-TERM-2011/

We had a lovely evening at the Carol Concert which was filled with faces from the school's recent and not-so-recent past.

Jo

Thank you to the 4th Crofton Brownies!

A BIG thank you to the 4th Crofton Brownies in Orpington who have spent this term fundraising for Elimu with cake sales, bring and buy sales, and handmade Christmas decorations which altogether have raised a fantastic £173!



4th Crofton Brownies with their leader Rachel





We will keep in touch with the Brownies and let them know how their efforts have helped in the re-development of Stalion nursery school.

With thanks to Anne Dungan and everyone at 4th Crofton for thinking of us and wishing them all a Happy Christmas,

Jo

A lively prayer for Africa

It is once again the time of year for carol concerts, mulled wine and mince pies... and we have one such occasion coming up next Monday at All Saints Church in Orpington. We have been invited to The Priory's Carol Service, along with many more of the school's former staff, students and friends, at the special request of deputy headteacher Tim Pike who is also an Elimu trustee and who will hang up his lab coat, set down his brief case and board marker, hand over his files and folders, and leave behind memories and imprints in The Priory's every corridor and classroom when he retires in July. The school has not known a life without him.

For Elimu, it will be a reunion of sorts, too, with staff who took part in our October trip and who have since taken on the task of selling Elimu Christmas cards, giving assemblies, and generally talking about their experiences in Kenya and helping to generate more interest and support on our behalf!

We also draw your attention to this year's annual AV Carol Concert to be held in St George's Church, Hanover Square, London, on Tuesday, 20th December at 7pm in support of the AV Foundation. Last year's concert raised a substantial amount for the charities of ex-volunteers, including ours.

AV has asked me to do a reading at the service while our more musically-inclined trustee, James Dwyer, will be sitting down at St George's grand piano for his own contemporary arrangement of 'Walking in the Air'.

If you would like to join us, tickets are on sale here at £12 http://www.aventure.co.uk/The-AV-Foundation-Carol-Service-–-Tickets-on-sale-now!-News.htm

We are very much looking forward to both events.

In the meantime... here is a lovely, lively poem on Africa from the 2010 AV Carol Concert:

'A Prayer for Africa'

Bless the Lord...
And all you people and places,
From Cairo to Cape Town,
From Dar Es Salaam to Lagos.

Bless all you BIG things...
Mount Kilimanjaro and the River Nile,
The Rift Valley and the Serengeti Plains,
All eucalyptus and tamarind trees,
You hippos and giraffes and elephants

And all you TINY things...
Busy black ants and hopping fleas,
Wriggling tadpoles and mosquito larvae,
Flying locusts and water drops,
Pollen dust and tsetse flies,
Millet seeds and dried dagaa

Bless all you SWEET things...
Wild honey and papaws and coconut milk,
Pineapples and sugar cane and sun-dried dates,
Slow roasted yams and banana juice

And all you BITTER things...
Quinine and blue soap,
Sour milk and maize beer

Bless all you SWIFT things...
Wild goats and honking matatus,
Frightened centipedes and lightening flashes

And all you SLOW things...
Curious giraffes and old bony cows,
Brown humped camels, grass munching sheep

Bless all you LOUD things...
Monsoon rains on aluminium roofs,
Midnight hyenas and feast day drums,
Train stations and busy bus stops

And all you QUIET things...
Candle flames and just sown furrow,
Heaps of clouds and sunny libraries,
The Pyramids and Sahara Desert,
Land snails and crawling turtles,
Grazing zebras and stalking lions.



Jo

Celebrating AV

As many of you will know by now, my forays into Africa began with the volunteering organisation Africa & Asia Venture, in 2004. AV, as it is known, is part of my history and of Elimu's, too. If Elimu aims to sow a few seeds with the work we are doing now with school students and teachers, weaving together parts of Africa and the UK, the charity's own seeds were sown by AV.

AV selects university students and graduates to volunteer on teaching and community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 'AV' has become a by-word in Nandi Hills, as no doubt it has in many other places, for a respected, community-minded international organisation with well orientated volunteers. AV works with local governments and community members.

The organisation's charitable wing, the AV Foundation, continues to invest in these communities by helping to fund the work of former volunteers who have gone onto establish their own projects there with a focuse on educational infrastructure. The foundation has pledged £5,000 to Elimu for the re-development of Stalion school.

We are proud to be associated with AV and to be part of its 18th birthday celebrations.

To mark this occasion and the legacies it has created from being the first organisation of its kind back in 1993 to a network of charities run by ex-volunteers, AV is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for anyone aged 18 to 25 to join one of their projects, for free!

Projects range from 5 weeks to 5 months and include teaching, sports coaching and community work. Included in the prize is all pre-departure information and support, an in-country induction course, accommodation and meals during the project phase, 24/7 in-country back-up and a donation to the school or community. The offer does not include flights, visas, or travel insurance.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in applying, particularly our own growing alumni, all you have to do is complete the following sentence in no more than 100 words:
"I would like to volunteer in the developing world with Africa & Asia Venture because..." and email your answer to av@aventure.co.uk together with your name, date of birth, country of residence and how you heard of the competition.

More details about the competition and about AV can be found here http://www.aventure.co.uk/AVs-18th-Birthday-Competition-win-an-AV-project%21.html

AV was in many ways a prelude and a springboard to Elimu, and part of our work is designed to expose sixth form students to wider opportunities and possibilities. One day we might even go full circle if some of them decide to turn their experiences with us into a chance to return to Africa, or experience somewhere new, with AV.

You never know where it could take you.


Jo

Elimu Christmas cards!

We are feeling very Christmassy at Elimu which may have something to do with the unveiling of our special Christmas cards!

These are charity cards with a difference. They have been designed exclusively for Elimu by talented artist Lucy Strutt who was inspired by our recent visit to Kenya and by Harry Sankey's now familiar logo design. Incidentally, Elimu's logo was inspired by a photograph showing a group of Kenyan children dancing and holding hands at playtime.

Orders are already coming in so if you would like to buy any or even sell a few on our behalf, please email joanne@elimufoundation.org.uk

To contact Lucy to find out more about her work and commissions, please email struttyastuff@hotmail.com

With thanks,

Jo

'A Week in the Life': Mercy and Brian

Earlier this term, we introduced the idea behind Elimu's new 'Week in the Life' project. Two of our Kenyan students, Mercy and Brian, were given disposable cameras to photograph and record aspects of their lives over the course of a week, the results of which are shared here.

Mercy

Mercy is 14-years-old, a Standard 8 student and a former head girl at Kipriria Academy. She is a border at the school. The eldest of three children, her close family includes her mother, younger brothers, aunts and cousins. Mercy recently sat her KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) examinations which she hopes will allow her to go to secondary school either in Nairobi or in nearby Eldoret. Mercy loves English and wants to be a journalist.

Mercy and her class

My Diary
Wednesday, 12th October 2011
I did internal exams which were Science and Kiswahili. I finished the exams at 3.40pm. I went back to class for revision for Social Studies and Christian Religious Education. Then I went to the field for games and exercises.

I revised up to night.

Thursday, 13th October 2011
At around 8am, I sat exams for Social Studies and Christian Religious Education. I finished at around 10am and went to the field for games.

Friday, 14th October 2011
I attended lessons throughout the day. I went for an assembly and came back for another lesson. I sang, read a verse and took photos with my classmates.
 

Mercy and two of her best friends with the Rift Valley in the distance beyond

Saturday, 15th October 2011

Today, I did Cleanliness. I washed my class and dormitory. I also attended lessons.

Sunday, 16th October 2011
I attended a church service. Then I went for a trip to 'Morobi' and Kapsimotwa gardens with my friends. In Kapsimotwa gardens there was a fish pond and various types of flowers.

Kipriria's Standard 8 class

At Kapsimotwa gardens



Lunchtime




Mercy on her day of relaxation



We went to Moi's daughter's house near Kapismotwa. Moi is the former president. His daughter's name is Chemutia. Her husband is Stephen Kasitany. The husband has passed on. Chemutia isn't living there for the moment, she lives in Nakuru.

The house is guarded. The house is extremely beautiful.

Brian
Brian is also 14-years-old and coming to the end of his primary education at Kipsamo School. He lives in one of the surrounding villages with his family, including his parents and his brothers and sisters. Like Mercy, Brian is awaiting his KCPE results which will be released on 27th December. Brian hopes to go onto secondary school.

My Dairy
Monday, 10th October 2011
I woke up early in the morning and went to school. I found my fellow classmates already in class. We had our morning preps from 7am to 8am and then we went for assembly and then back to class for regular lessons. The first lesson was English followed by Maths and then we went for break.

Standard 8 using the dictionaries donated to them by Charles Darwin School

After 20 minutes when break ended, Kiswahili teacher Mr Philomon Chemuntoi came in. After Kiswahili, we went for our second break.

Our Social Studies teacher Mr Kerich, the headteacher, came in for Social Studies. After that, we went for lunch. After lunch, we had a Science lesson and a test paper to do for our mid-term exams. We finished and our Christian Religious Education teacher came in.

Breaktime

The bell rang for games and after 35 minutes, we went in for evening prep. After prep, which took 45 minutes, we went to assembly and then we went to our homes.

Thursday, 13th October 2011
That was day three of our mid-terms and we had passed them all. Our English teacher, Madam Sally Sang, told us that in English everybody had scored 60% and above. We revised for some minutes more and then we went for lunch. Within the shortest time, we were back in class.  

Friday, 14th October 2011
The day started very good in the morning. More revision was going on. Nobody was loitering during the morning preps. Everybody was busy doing the areas they were not familiar with whilst others waited eagerly for the teachers to get in for revision. In our class, Standard 8, everyone said they would not surrender until the last minute when they were going to do their national exams.


Tending to the school's maize crop

Tea pickers at work in the surrounding tea estate


Very important people in my life

My parents are important people in my life. They took care of me when I was young and now they are still considering me. They provide me with all my needs. I really appreciate what my parents have been doing for me since I was young. They took me to school to learn.

Sally Sang and Madam Sharon Maiyo in town

Some teachers are also important in my life. One of the teachers is Madam Sally Sang. She teaches me English. If there was any other teacher teaching English, I could not understand it as well as Madam Sally teaches me.

Another teacher is Mr Kerich. He teaches me Social Studies and has helped me from Standard 1 to 8 in many ways.

Mr Kerich, Kipsamo's headteacher

                                    



Lunchtime in the staffroom

Brian's friend, Elvis Presley, the 12-year-old son of Sally Sang

My fellow classmates are also important. I could not learn alone in the classroom without anyone. It would be too boring to learn lonely. Also among classmates, you could find a best friend.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

With thanks to Mercy and Brian. We wish them and their classmates luck and happiness in everything they do and look forward to hearing more. We will be with them in spirit.

Part 2 of our report - special educational needs and the joy of new-found internet access

Post-Kenya blues have set in since our recent visit although the next one is at least in sight. It was a very enlightening trip both for our schools and for the supporters who came with us, many of whom work in Special Educational Needs, a relatively new area in Africa's education systems (Rwanda is paving the way with an inclusion policy that aims to include all educationally vulnerable children in mainstream schools http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/aug/30/rwandan-schools-open-up-disabled?INTCMP=SRCH).

Nandi Hills Township is Elimu's newest partner school in Kenya which we aim to link with the UK in the near future - and a growing champion of Special Educational Needs. It is the largest public school in the area and has one dedicated SEN teacher. The school works to identify and, therefore, to accommodate SEN children in class and with exams and ensures they have access to a counseller. This is also the case where parental output is low and for vulnerable older girls who are at risk of falling away. Children are kept in school as much as possible while teachers have been known to dip into their own pockets to pay for new uniforms and text books.

Whilst schools in Kenya tend to be very community-centric with active Parent Teacher Associations, Nandi Hills Township has made significant strides in involving parents in their children's education and in helping to educate them, too. All of which prompted some interesting discussions between the Township teachers and our visitors who found a lot of common ground and learnt quite a bit.

Elimu is involving Nandi Hills Township in the beginnings of an Elimu Support Network for the schools we work with so that they remain connected and can share ideas with one another as well as with UK schools.

The trip also included a visit to Greenfields, a sister school to Kipriria whose UK partner we will be announcing soon, and a catch-up with Stalion whose re-development needs as much support as we can muster!

Events are currently being planned, including a party in early March, while Lucy Strutt, an artist who also photographed our latest trip, is designing Elimu Christmas cards. These designs will be unveiled here later this week. All proceeds will go to Stalion so if you would like to buy any or even sell some on our behalf, please contact joanne@elimufoundation.org.uk

And finally... another big thank you to The Priory. The school donated 10 laptops that it no longer needs for use in our Kenyan schools. Kipsamo School was the first delighted receipient last month and is now in the process of connecting itself up to the internet. It is just waiting for our rep. Sally Sang's technologically-savvy daughter to return from university and install a modem!

This will be the first time the school has had a computer and internet access, both of which mean a great deal.

Please keep an eye out for more news in the next few days.

Jo

A report on Elimu's school partnerships so far - part 1

Elimu returned two days ago from a very fruitful visit to our Kenyan partner schools accompanied by a small group of supporters. They thoroughly enjoyed their time in Kenya and finding out more about what we do.

The trip's official photographer was Lucy Strutt, an artist based in Sheffield who lived in Kenya in 2004.

Below is a selection of some of Lucy's photographs:

Kipriria Academy was thrilled to recieve 22 sports kits from its link school, The Priory, which the headteacher, Jared Nyakundi, gave to selected boys and girls. Kenya's new constitution states that women must make up at least 30% of personnel in both public and private institutions. Kipriria went for 50% for its new football team.

Interschool football matches for schools who never normally meet is fast becoming an Elimu trademark and Kipsamo School once again played host to a seven-a-side - mixed teams only! The match was refereed by Elimu advisor Andy Cooper.

All the schools played extremely well, with Kipsamo crowned the winning team!

The trip provided an opportunity for Elimu to begin to assess what impact our school link programmes - and specifically, visits from our UK schools - may be having.

A meeting with Kipsamo's headteacher, Julius Kerich, which was also attended by senior staff and PTA members, revealed that the school has seen a dramatic improvement in its English Language scores since Charles Darwin donated several dictionaries and thesaurases in July which are already showing signs of frequent use. Kipsamo, whose student population is over 450, had only one dictionary before.

Mr Kerich produced data showing that in the space of four months, the average English test score for Standard 8 (Year 9) students has risen from 34-40% to 60%. This is unprecedented in the school's history and has helped place Kipsamo in the top 12 schools in the district for the first time. Mr Kerich firmly believes that something so seemingly straightforward as having enough dictionaries for nearly a whole class is having a hugely postive effect.

Kipsamo is a government school with few resources and until now, little contact with visitors from within Nandi Hills, least of all a school in the UK. Students in Kipsamo and Charles Darwin have been writing letters to each other and sharing samples of their work.

The meeting included a discussion on the different teaching styles the school saw in July, in a country where
such exposure is rare and opportunities for professional development are few, and the inspiration one teacher in particular has taken from this.

To encourage her students to read poetry for meaning as well as memorising it, Sally Sang decided to write her own poem telling the story of some of the lives lived, and challenges faced, by Kipsamo's children which her Standard 8s subsequently performed. The poem is reproduced below with Sally's permission:

Very early in the morning,
I take my bag and dust it
Put on my tattered uniform
Then off to school I go

With an empty stomach
I ran for ten kilometres
As usual I was late
The cruel teacher met me
'Why are you late, you naughty boy?'
He shouts
I start trembling and sweating all over
He doesn't sympathise

With my tattered uniform,
Incomplete fees*
The headteacher sends me back home
After two weeks I went back to school
The class was four topics ahead

Concentation is my major problem,
My stomach starts rumbling again
Oh! The leftovers I ate last night.
'Excuse me, Sir, may I go out?'
'No! No! This time you're not going out.'
The teacher orders me to sit

I try to sleep
But the mosquito wants a share of my blood
Though this won't deny me a chance of going to Precious Blood**
'Ruiruta'
Several rats jump over me as I freeze in my bed. But nothing
Seems to worry me anymore except academic excellence,
I repeat again
Academic excellence.

Part 2 of our report on Greenfields, Nandi Hills Township and Stalion schools to follow in the coming days - along with an update on our 'Week in the Life' project!

Asante sana to those came with us to Kenya,

Jo

*Government schools often recruit contract teachers through the PTA to help reduce the student-teacher ratio. As these teachers are employed directly by the school however, rather than centrally, each family must pay a monthly fee of 100Ksh (70p) to cover the cost of their salaries.

**Precious Blood is a high performing secondary school which many students aspire to

A most gracious host

As Elimu and a small band of supporters prepare to fly out of London next week to visit our schools in Kenya... we thought we would just highlight the lovely Nandi Hills:

Below is a rough ariel map of the town itself showing where the schools are in relation to one another and places such as Tea Planters Inn, a beautiful guest house owned by Titus Kipyab, Chairman of the Kenya Tea Board and a most gracious host who, last July, moved out of his own, newly renovated home to accommodate everyone on our sixth form visit. Tea Planters feels like home to all who stay there.

Please check back from the 21st onwards for new updates from Kenya. This will include the thoughts and photo diaries of two Kenyan students, one from Kipriria and one from Kipsamo, who have been using disposable cameras sent all the way from the UK to record aspects of their lives for our new 'Week in the Life' project. The idea is to present a mix of different voices and to develop our school linking programmes.

More on that to follow - along with news from our UK partners!

And finally... we would like to say a huge thank you to ex-sixth former Kathleen Dungan, her mother Anne and the 4th Crofton Brownies. Kathleen, who is now a student at Loughborough University, took part in The Priory's visit to Kenya earlier this year and she and Anne have kindly organised for their local Brownie group to raise funds for Stalion this term. Stalion, as many of you will know, is a nursery school in Nandi Hills and Elimu's current development project. 4th Crofton Brownies raised just over £40 from a cake sale last Sunday and plan to raise some more with a bring and buy sale next month. Over the next few weeks, they will also be making Christmas decorations to sell!

We will be discussing with the school's founder next week what specifically these fundraisers should go towards.

With thanks,

Jo

FCO travel advice - not affecting us

In view of recent events along Kenya's coastline near the border with Somalia, with two Westerners kidnapped and one murdered, Elimu wishes to clarify what the Foreign Office advises and to reassure everyone of where Nandi Hills is in relation to this.

The FCO states on Saturday, 1 October:

"We now advise against all but essential travel to within 93 miles [previously 55 miles] of the Kenya-Somalia border, including along the coast strip north of Pate Island towards Somali waters.

"Both attacks were on beach-front properties. Beach-front accommodation in that area and boats off the coast are vulnerable.

"The advice is kept under constant review in the light of the situation on the ground."

The coastal area and particularly Lamu, one of a number of archipelago islands off the coast of northern Kenya where these attacks took place, is known to me from my own personal travels. Nandi Hills, where our schools are, is in the highlands of mainland western Kenya, the opposite side of the country and around 800 miles from the coast. It is at least two days' travel from here.

Elimu is subscribed to FCO updates on the East African region.

Moving onto lighter news... Elimu is pleased to announce a development in our partnership with STAR4Africa. The charity has asked me to take on the role of Consultant Programme Manager for 8 -10 hours per week to oversee their projects and to ensure that all involved are communicating with one another.

STAR4Africa will be paying a small monthly grant to Elimu in lieu of my services. Elimu has so far been run voluntarily, it is only our staff in Kenya whose expenses are paid, and our trustees have decided that half of this amount should be transfered to me.

The arrangement with STAR4Africa is for a trial period only until December.

More about STAR4Africa can be found here http://star4africa.org/

Jo

Social networking, teacher strikes, and banana trees

As schools in the UK opened this month for the start of another year, the first half of September brought teacher strikes and school closures across Kenya. This was over the chronic teacher shortages, an issue Elimu has seen in the schools we work with. Teaching unions had been pushing for permanent and pensionable contracts for the country's 18,000 contract teachers and the employment of 10,000 more. The Free Primary Education Act of 2003, which was followed in 2008 by the Free Secondary Education Act, resulted in a huge increase in school enrolment numbers but not enough teachers.

The strike ended when the government agreed to absorb the 18,000 contract teachers and to employ a further 5,000 from January. It also pledged to make provisions for teacher promotions which are currently not compensated for.

If the government follows through on its agreement, the strike will have been one of the most successful in Kenya's history.

Schools have now re-opened and our partner schools are gearing up for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations. Students sit the KCPE at 14-years-old to mark the end of primary education and to determine their eligibility for secondary school. The stakes for them are very high.

Elimu will be in Kenya in October with a small group of supporters (and would-be supporters, hopefully!) who include several staff from our long-time partner school, The Priory. The group will have a chance to find out more about our work and to spend time in Kipriria, Kipsamo and Stalion schools as well as two new schools who are keen to establish links with the UK. They are: Greenfields, Kipriria's sister school, and Nandi Hills Township, the largest public school in the area.

We will be bringing back updated reports on each of the schools, similar to the one posted here in August on Stalion, as well as a short documenary film which will include interviews with staff and students and offer more of an insight into life in Nandi Hills.

Back in the UK... An interesting and productive trustees' meeting led to some exciting fundraising ideas. These plans will be revealed shortly.

While the process of organising the 2012 sixth form trips began almost as soon as the last one ended, those who participated in July's trip have given short presentations about their experiences - and encouraged others in their schools to think about some of the ways in which their daily lives impact on people in Africa and how they can make a positive difference. After visiting a tea factory and a banana tree plantation and spending time with the people whose livelihoods depend on them, the issue of fair trade can take on a new meaning. This was the focus of a presentation to current sixth form students in Charles Darwin School by accompanying teacher Alison Roberts. Incidentally, the school's new headteacher was born in Kenya!

We look forward to having further discussions like this, to working with each of our schools and to faciliating their own growing partnerships.

Meanwhile... Elimu has now branched into the world of 'tweets' and, if we are lucky, 're-tweets', with a Twitter account. You can follow us here https://twitter.com/#!/ElimuforAfrica

Alternatively, we are also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Elimu-Foundation/173069492728547

With thanks,

Jo

Elimu for Africa!

It has been a very busy summer for Elimu. We are pleased and excited to announce that Elimu has now graduated to registered charity status; our full, official name is the Elimu Foundation for Africa. 

There has also been some local press publicity regarding our recent trip to Kenya, while new partnerships have been established with three more like-minded organisations.

The first of these is STAR4Africa which works with isolated communities in Ghana, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya and has recently expanded its activities to include school linking. The charity 

approached us with the idea of potentially working together on parts of our school linking programmes. This includes marking international events such as World Environment Day, World Food Day, and the Day of the African Child.

We are also working with the Kakamega Environmental Education Programme (KEEP), a grassroots organisation working to save the last remaining section of tropical rainforest in East Africa through environmental education, raising awareness in local communities, and developing economic alternatives to the use of forest reserves. Our sixth form trips to Kenya include a guided walk in Kakamega (led by the extremely knowledgeable Abraham), and from 2012, an overnight stay in the forest in KEEP's eco-friendly accommodation. All proceeds go towards KEEP's environmental education programmes in local schools.

Elimu recently became a member of Think Global which helps people learn about issues of global justice and development and to make connections between these things and their own lives. This is the main principle behind Elimu's school linking programmes.

Links to all our partner organisations can be found on our main website http://www.elimufoundation.org.uk/

We would like to thank both The Priory and Charles Darwin for supplying additional teaching resources and sports equipment to their link schools, Kipriria Academy and Kipsamo School. They have also been fundraising for new text books as part of an ongoing initiative for our UK schools to help stock brand new, first time libraries in the Kenyan schools. Kipsamo now has 22, rapturously recieved dictionaries and thesaureses where it had only one before. The Priory's Ann-Marie Bradley, who has now completed her A-Levels and a second trip to Kenya, presented Kipriria's staff and students with several new story books as a gift to the school from her family.

Below is a report on Stalion nursery and infants school detailing more about the school, its character, management, and hopes for the future.

Stalion will be re-developed in stages. Stage 1 will lay the foundations for the new school up to the window level at a cost of £5,000. Builders have been found in Nandi Hills and Elimu's fundraising efforts for the next several months will be concentrated on this project so that work can begin on the new building as soon as possible.

If you would like to help, or if you have any suggestions, please contact us via our website - and keep an eye out for our next fundraiser.

And finally... thank you to Rob Probin who has worked with us from the very early days of a one-off project which grew into Elimu and who came on two trips to Kenya, before retiring from The Priory School this past July. After 32 years, Rob is now moving onto new things and we wish him well with all of them.

Best wishes to all our partner schools for a peaceful and productive new term,

Jo

In the Nandi, the mighty Nandi...

Colobus monkeys, epic traffic jams on dusty roads, songs on tap, excited children, playground games and nine-a-side, Kiswahili lessons with the headmaster, teaching, tea factories and tree planting... These were things which characterised Elimu's latest trip to Kenya with sixth form students and teachers from The Priory School, in Orpington, Kent, and Charles Darwin School in nearby Biggin Hill.

They were greeted warmly by their partner schools, Kipriria and Kipsamo, and by the people of Nandi Hills. Lively exchanges took place in the market stalls in town, with impromptu Q&A sessions all about England, and, at one point, a young mother's tongue-in-cheek offer to hand over her two-year-old, free of charge.

Prior to our arrival, Elimu's enterprising in-country rep., Sally Sang, had enquired about the possibility of tree planting which led the Ministry for Forestry to very generously donate 1000 seedlings as part of Kenya's conservation drive and to help mark our visit. The idea of planting a few trees having taken on a new meaning, 51 eucalyptus, cypress and indigineous trees were planted in the grounds of Kipsamo School by our party of 20 together with Elimu staff, Kipsamo teachers and local elders. The remaining seedlings will go to other schools in Nandi Hills.

Our visit to Kipsamo generated much interest among the school's teaching staff and also local educationalists who were keen to observe our teachers and to find out about education in the UK. The day's events, organised by Sally to introduce Charles Darwin and Kipsamo for the first time, included an inter-schools football match. All of which was captured on film by our own cameraman, Rob Probin of The Priory School, and by a television news reporter. A special news feature was subsequently beamed across Kenya's Rift Valley.

Our sixth form students experienced life at the front of the classroom, too, and did an excellent job of teaching Kipriria's students playground games with educational messages which encourage teamwork, reflection and real-life application. These games were inspired by the organisation Right to Play and taught to the sixth formers during orientation. Kipriria's headteacher, Jared Nyakundi, held daily Kiswahili lessons with them which went down so well that by the end they were composing songs using both Kiswahili and English, including a reworking of the 'Lion King' song, this time with the line:

'In the Nandi, the mighty Nandi, Elimu rips it up!'

We thank everyone involved in this trip: our many hosts, the sixth formers and their teachers, Alison, Hazel, Kerim and Rob, who shared their own unique styles of teaching. Also, our headteachers, 
Jared Nyakundi (Kipriria), Julius Kerich (Kipsamo), Nick Ware (The Priory School) and Rob Higgins (newly retired from Charles Darwin) as well as Kipriria's director, David Yego, for his unending hospitality and the use of his school bus! We have been involved with Kipriria and The Priory in different ways for a long time.

Elimu has a lot of work ahead with each of the schools to ensure that their links with one another, and with other local schools who may benefit from coming together more often, are worthwhile both in the moment and in the longer term. Our fundraising plans for the next year are focused on Stalion nursery and infants school.

In the meantime... please consider donating to the Red Cross' East Africa Food Crisis appeal for the people affected by the famine in the Horn of Africa, the worst it has seen for 60 years. This includes north-west Kenya. Ordinary Kenyans have so far contributed 100 million Ksh. (around £700,000) to the relief effort through the Kenyans for Kenya initiative.

Food costs in the rest of the country have more than doubled since January. We saw during our visit to Nandi Hills that this has resulted in an increase in school fees as schools will otherwise be unable to continue feeding children.

What has happened, and is happening now, is a complex situation but we emphasise the importance of joining Kenyan people in giving to the Red Cross appeal to help where it can with the current crisis: 
http://www.redcross.org.uk/foodcrisis/?approachcode=68764_heroEAfrFood

The Independent has a report on the situation in north-west Kenya available on its website

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/kenya-is-on-the-brink-of-its-own-disaster-2329287.html While the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), a non-profit organisation whose Flying Doctor Service we sign-up to for our school trips, has further insights and updates http://www.amref.org/news/update-on-amref-drought-response/

Asante sana,

Jo

Music for Stalion

With less than two months to go before our second school group makes its way through the arrivals hall of Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport, out into the city's cool nightime air and up to the suburbs of Langata... and on the next day to Naivasha to walk with zebra, antelope and giraffe and through the Rift Valley to the green and glorious Nandi Hills... our thoughts are very much on Kenya.

In the meantime, we have a parents' meeting and an itinerary to present and run through and on Wednesday, 25th May, a music concert in support of our soon-to-be-built nursery school, Stalion. This is Elimu's first organised fundraiser. James Dwyer, an Elimu trustee and a talented pianist who has played by ear since the age of four, will be playing a selection of modern and contemporary music on the piano at the Ripley Arts Centre in Bromley.

Wine and refreshments will be provided and all are welcome to come along for a relaxed Summer's evening of good company and fine entertainment. There will also be a chance to meet a few more of the Elimu team, with a short presentation from one of our advisors and former Kenya volunteer Andy Cooper, as well as our current and upcoming school partners.

We hope to see as many people as possible so please do spread the word (please see previous posts for photographs of Stalion school in its current form and why it has become our first project). July's trip to Kenya will include a visit to Stalion and according to the headteacher and Elimu rep. Sally Sang, a specially arranged evening meal in the school. They are very much looking forward to welcoming a few visitors.  

With thanks,

Jo

Walking, talking and building a future

The next chapter in the life of Elimu involves traipsing across a small section of the Kent countryside, interspersed with over-friendly horses, runaway miniature dogs and a fair amount of mud, followed by long stretches of pavement, and finally, exhaustion, relief, and aching limbs. Such was our 21 mile sponsored walk from outside the gates of our two Bromley schools, The Priory and Charles Darwin, on a sunny Sunday morning all the way to the Kenyan Embassy past Oxford Circus and the BBC's Bush House.

The walk served multiple purposes. It allowed the sixth formers to fundraise for their upcoming trip to Kenya, their teachers to fundraise towards the cost of building new libraries in their Kenyan schools, and Elimu to raise awareness and support for our work overall. There was also plenty of time for some team bonding when the two schools converged around two hours in. We started at 7.30am (the day after the clocks went forward) and after a few stops and sit-downs along the way, our party of 21 (including Milly, our four-legged mascot) finished up in Portland Place at 3.50pm. It's fair to say a few of us had trouble moving the next day.

Well done to everyone who took part and thank you very much to all those who sponsored us.

Photos and video montage to come!

In other news, we are excited to reveal these intricately drawn floor plans in the re-construction of Stalion nursery and infants school, in Nandi Hills. The school is currently housed in a small corrugated iron hut; the new building has been designed in collaboration with the founding headteacher, Sally.

It will go a long way towards securing an early-years education in a quality learning environment for some of Nandi Hills' poorest children and their families. More updates to follow soon.

On Saturday, 2nd April I presented on Elimu's work and the challenges associated with school linking at a conference entitled 'Education for a Better Future: Education for Peace' at the Institute of Education. This event was organised by ICED - International Connections in Education and Development - and supported by the IoE and the British Association for International & Comparative Education (BAICE) to bring together students, researchers and professionals working in the field. The paper is available to be downloaded here along with some responses from the Q&A session which offer further insights into what we do http://icedglobal.weebly.com/resources.html 


Another conference of sorts taking place this week is a session which Elimu is holding in Charles Darwin School with the four teachers who will be accompanying, and participating in, July's trip to Kenya. The session is to prepare them more for life in a Kenyan classroom. As well as spending some time teaching (and looking after their students!), they will also be able to share experiences and ideas with colleagues in their partner schools, and hopefully, with their own schools when they return.

As we look forward to July, honking matatus, dusty roads, playground games, and rain, watch this space for details on Elimu's first organised fundraiser... and where celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's ideas and international charity Right to Play fit with our work. 'Pass it on' is our emerging theme.

With thanks and best wishes for a Happy Easter,

Jo 

A clear vision for a new year

A new year brings many new things for Elimu. 2011 will be the year we become fully established.

We are continuing the work we started in part more than two years ago and moving forward with a clear vision for Elimu’s future.

Our work combines the practical with first-hand interactions and experiences.

By the close of 2010, Elimu was establishing its second school link, this time between Charles Darwin School in Biggin Hill, Kent, and Kipsamo School in Nandi Hills, Kenya. With a focus on raising aspirations and cultural awareness and understanding through learning about each other’s countries and communities, these links are developed by the schools and supported by us. We help to facilitate them.  

Kipsamo's headteacher, Julius Kerich, along with other headteachers in Nandi, had expressed an interest last year in partnering a school in the UK and we are slowly but surely responding and setting-up more of them.

It was Jared Nyakundi, the head of Kipriria Academy, a school I have been involved with now for seven years and whose link with The Priory marked the start of all of this, who suggested the name ‘elimu’, which translates as ‘education’ in Kiswahili.

The Priory is returning to Kenya with Elimu in July following the success of its first visit last year. Another group of sixth form students, along with accompanying members of staff, will be welcomed into the Nandi Hills community whilst volunteering their time and skills in Kipriria. They include a teacher and two students from Charles Darwin. This is to introduce Charles Darwin to the charity’s work in Kenya and to enable them to visit Kipsamo as well (we will most likely be there with Kipriria for another World Cup style football match and certainly, for some tea!) whilst connecting a total of four ‘Elimu schools.’

The support that schools can give to one another, especially in Africa’s challenged rural areas where they often don’t have a chance to meet, is not to be overlooked.

No less intricate, but in some ways more apparent and easier to measure, are the practical projects we are supporting to improve educational quality and provision.

Our UK schools are fundraising to build new libraries in their Kenyan partner schools, the first of the small-medium scale projects we have collectively identified as ones they will help to support in their partner schools and which Elimu will oversee.

Meanwhile, our own initial designated project, to re-build Stalion nursery and infants school, is set to begin in the coming months. Stalion was one of several schools I visited in Kenya in May 2010, and possibly the most basic. The school had opened five months previously (the first nursery school in Nandi Hills) in a hut made from corrugated iron with no lighting, three classrooms each separated by a doorway but no doors, old cardboard boxes lining the walls, three teachers, and very few resources. The school currently has 50 children aged from three to five-years-old.

 

Stalion was founded by a local teacher and former headteacher, Sally Sang, who wanted the school to be 'a model learning centre for the little ones.' During a recent correspondence, she said: 'At the beginning of this year, many more parents came to ask for a chance for their children to come here but unfortunately, we could not admit them because the school does not have enough facilities and we cannot ask parents to buy them. The school is situated in town where there are many slums around and most parents are poor, so many children are at home, and that is why I started this nursery. My main objective was to offer basic education to these children who are likely to miss education in their lives.'*

It is an ambitious project costing £15,000 but one which will benefit the children who attend the school now and the many more who, if we make this a reality, will do so in the future, and for longer. Sally's hope, and ours, is to expand the school to offer more infant classes, starting with a Year 1 class.

If you feel inspired in any way and would like to help us, please do spread the word or visit the Supporting Us page on our website http://www.elimufoundation.org.uk/ where you can also find out more about our work and approach.

We thank our friends and supporters so far and are grateful to all our partner schools.

Best wishes for the New Year,

Jo

*http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6068605