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.

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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