Ready to Shine

Thomas Bwire is a Kibera resident and a radio journalist.  He currently works with a local FM station called Pamoja FM based in Kibera as a News editor. He joined the station in September 2007.  He has also had some extensive training in Holland with an international training in broadcasting journalism from Radio Nederland Training Center and Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) based in the Hague.

Thomas has recently joined the Uweza team to initiate a journalism club for youth. The journalism club will provide youth from Kibera the chance to learn valuable skills such as research, writing and photography.  They will be researching and writing pieces for their own periodic newsletter, which will provide them with a platform to learn and speak about issues and topics that are important to them. 

Thomas will also be a regular contributor to the Uweza blog.  Below is his first post about the first meeting of the Uweza journalism club.

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The afternoon weather was hot as I arrived at the Uweza Foundation gate at 2.45pm, with a mission to kick start the journalism class at the center. The center located at Karanja Road, shone with its blue colors painted on the walls. To welcome me was Mr.Moi the Program Manager in charge of the center, and as I sat in his office, we got to exchange greetings and catch up on how the day had been earlier.

Not later, some of the pupils started trickling into the compound some in pairs, while some came on their own. In no time, I headed to one of the classes and met my pupils eagerly waiting to hear from me.

First things first, I did start by greeting them and telling them a little bit about myself and this was followed by a simple exercise of knowing each other.  This is how it was done, pupils paired into two and asked their partner about themselves on issues ranging from their names, likes, dislikes and what they expect to learn while with the club. The response was amazing as the whole class got to know a new person that they had never known before. Some of them said how they love to eat fish, some love to travel and some wanted to be journalists and to read news while they finish school. "Amazing sentiments there," I thought to myself as we moved on.  The class had a total of 15 pupils ranging from ages 12 to 15years old.

After getting to know each other, suggestions for in house rules were put across and all agreed to abide by them, Here are some of the house keeping rules, perhaps to give you the better feel of things here in Kibera, "be patient, respect to people’s property, obey your teacher, co-operate, no chewing, no gossiping" and the one that stood out was "listening to each other."

Very insightful there as proposal to set the rules came from the participants themselves, and hopefully they will be followed to the latter. Day one presented the participants to get to know what news is with the following elements in storytelling,” who, what, why, when, where and how,” with practical example from one of the local daily newspaper as we read through each line to identify these elements.

  To close the day’s session, each participant had an opportunity to read one story to help to identify how the key news elements were used in stories. Time  flew so fast and as we winded up, many of the kids were reluctant to leave, but before they left, a simple assignment was given out, and here it comes, "write a simple story with not more than 100 words, but include the key news elements."

Look out for our next blog next week where we shall post some of the first ever written stories done by our Uweza Journalism Club.

milk & honey shoes for Uweza

Kate Mara has created a shoe for milk & honey and ALL of the proceeds from the sales of the shoes will go Uweza.  We are so excited and grateful to Kate for selecting us as her charity recipient and hope you will check out (and buy) her beautifully designed shoes!

Check out the shoes on milk & honey's website : http://www.milkandhoneyshoes.com/signature-collection/kate-uweza.html. 

Intern Blogging - Week 1

William Ochieng, is a Kenyan college student, studying Community Development at  The Kenya Polytechnic University College in Nairobi.   As part of his studies, he must complete an internship with an organization working on community development.

William started interning with Uweza two weeks ago.  We have been doing our best to keep him busy with interesting work and he has been a big help to us.  As part of the internship,  he will be writing weekly blog posts detailing his work and what he is learning.

Feel free to leave any questions, comments, or words of encouragement for William in the comments section!
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It has been a busy schedule for the last 2 weeks at Uweza Foundation. I have been able to interact with Kibera Agenda 4 Business Savings group members. It comprises of persons with integrity who are business oriented. The group deals with savings and loaning of funds to the group members. It is through loaning and savings that they are able to uplift their level of living standards through businesses to a comfortable life. In the group activities I was involved in calculating the total savings each person has saved and total loan given out.

I also met the parents of the sponsored children in the Uweza Sponsorship Program. The staff of the organization emphasized on the cleanliness of the children sponsored by the organization when going to school.  When the children are clean, they perform well in class and help the organization get a good reputation in the society at large. At the meeting I took minutes of the agenda which was a bit hectic because I couldn't memorize the parent's children's names.

During the Uweza Football team party, I took some photographs which was a fantastic day.  The team was position 1 at the Amani tournament.  Also I did some office work like arranging and filing of documents.

I have learned a lot of many things in the organization. First of all, people should join hands to form a large pool of resources in the Kibera microfinance through the Kibera Agenda 4 Business Savings to facilitate in the actualization of its dream.

Second, the organization is working to its level best to uplift the status of children by offering evening tuitions. This enables the children to ask questions to their tutors about what they didn't understand in the classroom.

There is also a good working relationship among the Uweza staff as all of them give time to express their news.

The organization responds immediately without hesitation to child's health and tuition fees. This is taking the child to hospital/chemist for medication.

I have also learned that children need to be given time to realize their talents through soccer and activities like drawing.

Trip to Korogocho

With all the media attention and thousands of NGOs, it is easy to forget that Kibera is not the only slum in Nairobi.  Korogocho, which means "crowded shoulder to shoulder" in Kiswahili is estimated to be the third or fourth largest slum in Kenya with a population of 150,000 to 200,000 people living in 1-1.5 square kilometers. It is located about 11 kilometers northeast of Nairobi.  

The slum directly borders Dandora, Nairobi's principal dumping site, which presents concerns of health issues and human rights violations for the slum's residents.  A study by the United Nationals Environment Programme of 328 children and adolescents living and schooling near Dandora found that around 50% had respiratory problems and 30% of them had blood abnormalities that indicated high exposure to heavy-metal poisoning. 

At the same time the dumping site creates opportunities for income generations as both children and adults living nearby scavenge for and resell garbage for a living.

(image source: lightstalkers.org/caroline_kaminju) 

Yesterday was a national holiday in Kenya and children had the day off school so our coaches arranged for all Uweza teams to travel to play with teams from Korogocho.  

The kids, as always, had a great time. The day of matches was a great opportunity for them to get out of Kibera  and it also kept all the kids occupied and busy on their day off from school.

Good Luck on KCSE!!

We want to recognize Dennis Odhiambo (left) and Johnson Musyoka (right), two very dedicated and studious Uweza football players that started their Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E) exams today and will be taking them for the next three weeks. Scores on KCSE play a huge role in determining whether or not a student will be able to continue on to university, which school they can attend, and if they will be able to get loans/scholarships.

Good Luck Dennis and Johnson!

Two Uweza teams bring home trophies!!

Today has been a great day for the Uweza Soccer Program as two of our teams have, for the first time in Uweza history, won first place in a tournament! Three Uweza teams, Under-16 girls, Under-15 boys, and Under-13 boys competed in the annual peace tournament held by Amani Kibera. Amani means peace in Kiswahili and according to their website: "this unique initiative continues to engage young people of different ages, ethnic and religious backgrounds to utilize their diverse sporting and cultural talents to promote peace and inculcate a culture of non-violence." In 2009, Uweza's Under-10 team won third place in the Amani tournament.

Uweza's girls team played great defense and did not allow any goals to be scored against them. They won their final match 1-0. The Uweza Under-15 boys team also played great defense and won every single match they played in penalty kicks. The Under-13 team played great as well but were unfortunately defeated in the semi-finals.



In reward for their victories, both teams won large trophies, 7 pairs of shin guards (an Uweza first!), jerseys for their coaches, and new soccer balls.



The kids were so excited and are preparing tomorrow for a victory parade where they will cheer and carry the trophy from their training ground to the Community Center.

Congratulations Uweza teams!!



More photos from tournament have been posted here: http://uweza.org/gallery/amanitournament.html

Kibera Connection Project - Hawaiian and Kenyan pen pals

As part of our Kibera Connection Project, students that study at the Uweza Community Center have been exchanging letters with students in 7th grade at Punahou School in Hawaii. Both groups are really excited to have pen pals so far away and are learning a lot about each other and their respective countries!


Here are some examples of the letters the students have written:

Teava, Ke’ala, and Alana from Punahou School, Hawaii


Hello, we are your new pen-pals from Hawai’i! Aloha means hello in Hawaiian. Our names are Teava, Ke’ala, and Alana. We are 7th graders from Punahou School. We are extremely excited about being your pen-pals for the coming months and we have many questions. We look forward to learning a lot from you!

Keʻala is 13 years old, and loves to play American football, basketball and volleyball. He also enjoys going to the beach. He has an older sister. His favorite subject in school is P.E and he would like to be an engineer when he grows up. His favorite food is hamburgers. Alana is 12 years old and likes to go to the beach, read, and horseback ride. She has a older sister and her favorite subject in school is science. She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. Teava is 12 years old and his favorite hobbies are swimming, reading, and playing video games. He has a younger brother. His favorite subject in school in improvisation and he hopes to be an actor when he gets older. His favorite food is Sicilian pizza and he wants to live in Italy one day.

Hawai’i is an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean that is part of the United States of America. Our state is known for our beautiful beaches, many tourist attractions, and unique Hawaiian cuisine such as plate lunches, loco mocos (hamburger with rice and gravy) . A popular hobby many Hawaiians have is going to the beach and doing things that take advantage of the fact that we are surrounded by water such as swimming, surfing, or getting a tan. Surfing is an ancient Hawaiian sport where you stand on a board and ride a wave.

America is a large country on the equator with 50 states. Our president is Barack Obama and our capital is Washington DC. We use dollars and cents and inches and feet for money and measurement. Some things many Americans love doing are playing sports, watching TV, and eating. America is known for freedom, football, and food. Some foods America is know for are hot-dogs, hamburgers, and pizza. America has also pioneered the film and fast food industries in the 1900s. We look forward to learning more about Kibera from you.

We had a great time writing this letter and sharing with you. We do have a couple of questions for you. How old are you? Are you a boy or girl? What are your favorite hobbies? What is your favorite food? We thank you for your time and we canʻt wait to hear back from you!

Sincerely,
Ke’ala, Teava, and Alana

David Johnson from Uweza Community Center, Kibera

Dear friends Keala, Alana, and Teava,

I am greeting you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. How are you all. I hope you are all fine. My name is called DAVID MUTHUWI JOHNSON. The main purpose for writing this letter is to appreciate your letter that you sent to us.

Furthermore, am so happy to know your names and how life is in your country. I would also like to inform you how life is in our country Kenya. Here is full of happiness, full of joy and also peaceful. This is because every body here is allowed to do his/her commitments and hobbies in peace.

First, I would like to introduce my hobby to you before telling you any other thing else. My hobby is to watch cartoon and practice my favorite subject maths. I also like eating chicken which is my favorite food too.

In our country, we have got so many interesting things e.g. wildlife and also cultural ceremonies. These are the most leading producers of government revenue. In our country, we also have cool and hot climate which can also be good for you too. For more information, you are invited to our country in order for you to see the big five which are also part of the wildlife. You will also be able to see the lakes with hot springs e.g. Lake Bongoria.

Yours Lovely,
David M. Johnson

Counseling Program at the Center

Students in Kibera were on break from school for the month of August and we took this opportunity to launch a daily counseling program for youth at the Community Center. Many of the participants were players from the Uweza soccer team. The program lasted for three weeks and was lead by Becky, Uweza's Counseling Manager and Joyce, Uweza's Girls Soccer Coach. We hope to continue this program once or twice a week for the rest of the schooly ear.

Below is a blog post written by Becky about the program.

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This was an am amazing moment to relate with sponsored children as we talk heart to heart matter of life.

From day one we created a rapport where started by setting the ground rules of journey we walk together.

The aim of this counselling program was to help the young people deal with the difficult situation they face in their lives as they grow up. Beside soccer program the management of Uweza came up with this educating counselling program so that they can be all rounded teenager/ youth.

However, there was a lot of relationship with the soccer and counselling where kids could identify with e.g discipline in life and in the field, focus in life, books, and in the field, friendship among others attribute we were learning. Both boy and girls did topics together which was very interactive and healthy.

During this learning lesson I provided them with a supportive environment that will help them build their self confidence, acquire knowledge, dispel myths, develop positive values and attitudes , and adopt responsible practices when in school, at the field , at home , with their friends or at the centre. Every day they would do a home work or a reflection of the things they have learnt and this helped me to assess how far they are getting the information

Some of the topics we went through are as follows.

Self awareness and self worth : The purpose of this lesson was to help them build self confidence, self acceptance and to value themselves. Typically adolescents are not happy with who they are or their situation, they want to be taller or shorter, to have money to live in a different house etc. This topic can protect them from negative influences and accept who they are and what they have.

Body changes during Puberty : Mostly teenagers learn about body changes of puberty and sex from their peers, they may hear information that is confusing and lead them to risky behaviour. The session was to provide teenagers with correct information about changes in their bodies. It also includes new things they needed to consider during this time like personal hygiene.

Consequences of premarital and extramarital sex : Curiosity and peer pressure are very real forces in the lives of teenagers. The purpose of this session was to help teenagers value the purpose of sex in marriage and to understand there can be negative consequences, physical, emotional, spiritual and mental- when they have sex outside marriage relationship.



The facts about HIV/ AIDS and STIs: This session was dealing with facts about HIV/ AIDS and STIs. It contained many facts, though I tried to keep them vey simple and clear, kept them engaged and involved with the knowledge they were receiving.

Valuing Abstinence : Though they were aware of consequences of premarital sex, they may still decide to have sex in spite of risk to their health and well being. They may be seeking, acceptance, admiration and affection from their peers. In this session i was trying to help them discover that they can still have these things without being sexually active.



Dangers of drugs, alcohol and the influence of the media: Young people may want to make good choices, but there are many influences and temptations that can persuade them to make bad choices and decisions. Using drugs and alcohol can put them in to a great risk to their life and
health. This session aimed at helping them to be aware of these dangers and to consider how these things can affect their health, goals, and decision. It also focused on negative peer influences and build skills to help them overcome peer pressure, allowing following what is right.

However, this program is good but it needs a lot of follow up, because the environment the said teenagers are growing in is among the contributing factor to risky behaviours. Thus, there is a lot of work to be done for these teenagers if this information is to sink through and be put into practice.

The program was wrapped up with skit, poem, song and drama which was like a summary of what we were learning throughout the two weeks. With the help of coach Joyce it was very good.

Life for Girls in Kibera

Last week, we started a three-week session of counseling classes at the Community Center. Becky has been working with boys and girls ages 9 and up and exploring topics such as self-esteem, strengths and weaknesses, and the changes that come with puberty.

As a homework assignment, the girls wrote essays about their lives and they provide a glimpse into what life is like for girls growing up in Kibera.

Essay #1: Football Team

I am thirteen years old and in Standard Six. Before I join the football team I was feeling lonely at home. I was just playing with my friends. The time reached one of my friends came and told me there is a team of Football girls. She told me I go and join the Football team. The first day I was afraid of playing. I did not know if I can play Football. The time reached I continue practising Football and now I know how to play Football.

Essay #2: A Journey To My Life

It was a chilly morning when our class teacher told us to imagine if our life will end up in a miserable life. And I was wondering if my life will end up while I shall have my both parents. By good luck, my dear Lord has just blessed me with both my parents Mother and Father and a family of three brothers and two sisters.

One day my aunt told me to visit her at her house. I reached there and she told me that to tell her my Ambition. I told her that when I grow up I will be a lawyer. And God will be with me for ever in my family got that they were my beloved parents, I hugged them and I was so happy not different from a king in his palace.

Essay #3: A Journey by My Life

It was the year two thousand and seven when I was in Class Three my father dead and then my life is not bad but one thing that I see hard when my father dead I see only one thing that every body has his father but me I don't have my father so that my life is hard but I concentrate with everything that I am doing. But when I was growing up then my mother also dead when I was in class four but I have stress of two weeks but the next week all the stress that I have gone away until now I was in class seven on the year two thousand and eleven.

But right now I am staying with my brother but he is not the first born, the first born is not staying here in Nairobi, he is staying at home with my last brother and me I am staying with the second born and me I am the last born at our home...and the time I am right now my life is very nice and I am happy with every body on our house but the [school] fees is problem.

Essay #4: Untitled

I was born in 1998, at that time my parents did not have money to take me to school and to buy food for us to eat and inside the house we did not have chairs, table, television and any other things. We can turned to pray. As for me, I was very sad because others were very rich and get food every day and eat and sleep but us we just sleep because we did not have food!

But my father and mother always talk to me never ever cry my child, one day God will bless us, he is not sleeping he is seeing us. After that my life started changing and we were getting food and somewhere to sleep until now we were very happy and healthy.

Essay #5: My Life

I'm coming from a family of seven children. I'm coming from a very suffered family. I can't say suffering because we are not suffering now. It was all over. We used to live a life of terrible things, even the school fees was a very big money to pay. And my dad searched a cheaper school for him to be able to pay. I worked hard focusing to something. I never cared about my problems. I prayed and worked hard at school just to get what I wanted and by a good luck, God heard my prayer and sent a sponsor.

And that is where my way began to open. It was very hard for her to transfer me to another school. But she managed to transfer me to the school where I'm now at. She paid everything for me until where I am now. A month later, my father found a job and all our dreams began coming true. And now our problems are over. We are focusing to a wonderful dream.

Congratulations Becky!

Becky Gitau, who has worked with Uweza as a counselor since 2008, is graduating from Pan African Christian University today with a B.A. in Counseling Psychology. She hopes to continue with on her education and receive a Masters in Clinical Psychology.


Congratulations Becky!!