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