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