Welcome to the new Uweza tutor

by Thomas Bwire

Every parent’s dream is to give better education to their children as they grow up so as to be responsible people in the society. Education helps shape the society and people’s way of thinking as educated people are a valuable asset to the country. Thus as the New Year began, Uweza Foundation added a new tutor to help the youngsters of today gain valuable skills that will be beneficial in the future.

Uweza Foundation is thrilled to introduce Harriet Ruvaga as the new teacher for students in pre-school and classes 1 through 3. Harriet has a diploma in Early Childhood Development (ECD).She is passionate about her work as a teacher and is already down to work, this being her second week with the children.

I visited Gifted Hands Education Eenter situated in Gatwekera village, a distance of less than 10 minutes walk from the Uweza Community Center along Karanja Road, where I found Harriet down to business with her children. The center has given working space to Uweza to conduct remedial classes for lower primary and upper primary school children.

A little chat with Harriet gave me a little insight about her. “I am passionate about working with children from Kibera, as they are unique especially because of their background. Here I meet kids with poor backgrounds, slow learners, quick learners and by the end of the day my task is to ensure that they are at the same par regarding their school work” notes Harriet.

She also added that the few days she has been working with the kids from Kibera, she is amazed at how they manage their normal school routine programme and are still able join her in the evening for the Uweza programme. Currently kids in this programme are aged between ages 3 to 9years.  Some of the participating schools include Damside, Ayany and Olympic.

We wish her all the best as she joins the Uweza family and look forward to working with her.

Intern Blogging - Fourth Post

by William Ochieng

This week has been tremendously busy for me in my work schedule moving up and down. As the Kibera Agenda were closing their end of the year savings and loaning, I have been involved in preparation of their financial statement and presented it to each member during the closure. The group members scrutinized their savings and were satisfy with the figures I presented to them yesterday. Otherwise it was okay and splendid day and recommended for the effort of updating it.

Apart from that, Moi and I have designed a center membership card for children to enable them next year access the community center programs and they looked nice.

Lessons learned

• Transparency is essential in any group work and people can trust you while managing their funds/assets and confidence is built on someone.
• With each child having a membership card, the center will be able to notice a strange person hence improve efficiency in its operation with minimal hiccups.

As the center prepares to wind up its operations next week I wish you and the Uweza Foundation a Merry Chrismas and a splendid Happy New year 2012 .

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William is studying community development at The Kenya Polytechnic University College in Nairobi and has been interning with Uweza since October.  Read his first blog entry here, his second blog entry here, and his third blog entry here.

Getting Motivated

by Mary Ngoya

The day started well as the students turned up in good number. Thomas Bwire the journalism teacher arrived at the center with Victor Muturi who is one of the radio presenters at Pamoja FM, a local
community radio station based in Kibera.

After having done our weekly press review of getting a chance to read the day’s newspaper, it was an opportunity for Muturi to speak to us on how to become a good journalist. He did mention that working hard is the backbone of every success.  He encouraged us to take our studies seriously and work with lots of determination.

Part of his presentation touched on research in order to get to know your target audience well, and this can only be achieved by one’s interest in knowing current issues that your audience feels attached to. “One has to be courageous to tackle day to day issues that affect our people, sometimes you are forced to report from an accident scene of the occurrence” noted Muturi.

We were also informed of the importance of reading newspapers as they are also good source of information for both local and international news.  Another element tackled was the need to be creative, so as you can be ahead of the pack and be able to know how to approach situations as they come across.

Even though journalism is a good field that many people would like to envy, it also comes with some challenges. Criticism is big issues from some of the listeners who call so say their songs requests were not played not understanding that there was a time limit of all songs requested to be played. Power blackout sometimes leaves the audience in the dark when power goes off and the generator available runs out of fuel. One last challenge faced by some of presenters is insecurity especially for the ones who report to duty early morning or leave late in the evening as the sometimes fall prey to robbers.

At the end of the session, we got an opportunity to ask questions which were answered. A true inspiration from Muturi and hope everyone got inspired as we now remain knowledgeable of what the market out there has to offer.

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Mary Ngoya is 16 years old and is joining Form Four (the last year of high school) at Ahero Girls High School next year. She is a member of Uweza's Journalism Club.

Intern Blogging - Third Post

by William Ochieng

During the past week William Moi (Uweza Program Manager), Mathew (Uweza Sponsorship Coordinator) and I went for home visits for children under the sponsorship program.  We encountered various challenges on the way like poor drainage leading to children homes and bad weather i.e alot of mud on the corridor. At the home visits i took photographs of children at their homes.  At last, we managed the tasks and completed the work and it was successful.

I have also been involved in preparation of financial statement of Kibera Agenda as they wind up their activities this year.  I also have doing some office work like scanning of documents

Lessons learned

• Before you tackle a task or problem a person must get prepared and plan.  'Failure to plan is plan to fail'.
• The home visit is important as it helps to know the psychological, emotional attitude of children while under their parent's care.
• I also noticed that that through the visit children express their gratitude to the organization and try to work hard in school to get gifts for high marks,  which motivates the organisation to cater for their school needs and health needs.
• Through home visits one can know the percentage a parent takes in looking of children while at home to inquire their social,physical and emotional growth
• Through proper management, a group finds the level of accountability and transparency is increased.

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William is studying community development at The Kenya Polytechnic University College in Nairobi and has been interning with Uweza since October. 

Painting for a passion

By Thomas Bwire

As you walk into the Uweza Center premises, once easily notices the blue paint all
over, a welcoming color indeed of calmness. With the rains gone now, the afternoon scorching sun
shone brightly from above. I dropped by the center this afternoon to get to interact with the Art Fun Club of the Uweza Foundation with a mission to get to know what it takes to be in the club.

I sneaked in silently into one of the classes that hosts activities at the center, and was mesmerized by
what I saw here. The art class pupils were all on their own and everyone was busy working on their art
work. Some sat on the benches, while others had their art work hanged on the walls, and for some the
table provided a good working space.


Noticing that no one was saying Hey to me, as they were all glued to their paintings, I quickly stepped in
to say hello to everyone in the room.

I got to interview a few as they carried on with their work, the first one to catch my attention was
Caroline Kibiego aged 11 years who attends school at Raila Educational Center .“What motivates you
in what you are doing?” I posed this question to her. She takes few moments and smiles back as she
composes herself.”Uuuuh I want to be an artist because it can be a source of income one day”


Next on line is Paul Kimani aged 14years old. His passion for the painting is that, painting makes him
feel better and that he loves to paint stuff like houses. For a 13 year old Timothy Nyabuto from Jamhuri
primary school he loves to paint to have fun, to remember what he was doing for amazement and also
for historical display that many generations to come later can be able to see his work at later years to
come.

Aisha Akinyi aged 14 years old says that her passion is to get extra money if her paintings were to be
bought, then she could have some savings for her future University studies upon completion of high
school studies.


As I left the center I felt more motivated, having learned one virtue of discovering one’s talent and having
the passion to nurture it and see it grow. Parents too have a role to play by motivating
and giving their support to these youngsters so as the birth of this noble idea remains today,
tomorrow and for many years to come.

 

Kenya at 48

by Dorcas Kirwai

This is the day Kenya attained its independence. The holiday takes its name from a Swahili
word “Jamhuri” meaning a republic. It’s one of the important days observed in the Kenyan calendar of
national holidays celebrated on December 12th.

Today Kenya turned 48 years after its independence from the Mau Mau,(Mzungu aende Ulaya Mwafrika
apate Uhuru), accredited for Kenyans independence in 1963,that was led by our Founding father the late
Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.

Today’s main ceremony was held at Nyayo National Stadium and also observed in other provincial’s
levels across the country where the final speech of the president is normally read by the Provincial
Commissioners (PC).

In Nairobi security was beefed and those intending to attend the ceremony at Nyayo National Stadium
were advised to be seated by 10am latest. As I watched the television most people at the stadium had
several thoughts of issues they would have loved addressed by their local leaders, ranging from the on-
going military operation called Linda Nchi in Somalia in the fight against Al-shabaab to the current doctor’s
strike.

Shortly after 11.20am, the president Hon Mwai Kibaki was driven into the full packed stadium in a
military land rover meant for the chief of the general staff. The first lady Lucy Kibaki was present too.

The ceremony started with prayers as the master of ceremony took centre stage, followed by the
military parade passing the presidential dias, entertainment from different musical groups and several
gospel singers were also awarded an opportunity to showcase their presentations with themes focusing
on the big day.

The show stopper was the President’s speech which part of it featured some of the problems facing
the country. The President focused on the need for peace by the politicians in the next coming general
elections to be held next year and also urged for further dialogue with the doctors to resume work as
they are on strike demanding a 300% pay rise.

That’s all I had for today as I wanted the world to read my first story as requested by our journalism
teacher Thomas Bwire about my experience of Jamhuri day celebrations, during our Friday class at the
center where I volunteered to write a story about this special day for Kenyans.
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Dorcas Kirwai is 12 years old and will be entering Class 6 (6th Grade) in January 2012.  She is  a member of the Uweza Journalism Club.

Intern Blogging - Second Post

by William Ochieng

The week has been very busy to me and I have learned a lot of things. First of all, I met parents at the office to fill the sponsorship forms for those who were absent during the meeting. They came in a good number and we served them diligently.  From the parents perspective as they talked they want to see their sons and daughters to have a better life in future and its through education that they can achieve their goals, thus education is vital in the society. I have also started taking pictures for membership cards for children registered in the center which will be updated in the course of time.  This will enable faster tracing of the child's background. Also we went to Ishankai Medical Group with fellow staff and we were briefed by the Doctor on what was required. From the briefing I got, I learned that a child’s health is more important and can help them excel in the classroom. Through better medical health care, children are free from diseases which can hinder their education. I have been helping other fellow staff member Mathew with the sorting of Sponsorship files so as to speed the flow of work for the organization in meeting its objectives. I also accompanied Mathew to the Chemist to sign contract for purchase of drugs. I have made sure that the records of Kibera Agenda 4 Business Savings are computerized to enable easy tracking of documents to ensurer fast flow of their activities without much hesitation.  My ambition for Agenda is to see it grow from small to big entrepreneurs and be recognized in the country. Also I have been involved in helping Agenda to track loans held by the members that are due.  Through repayment of loans, other people can borrow and uplift their fellow human beings to boost their standard of living. William is studying community development at The Kenya Polytechnic University College in Nairobi and has been interning with Uweza since October.  Read his first blog entry here.

World AIDS Day

by Thomas Bwire

Kibera was not left out in joining the entire world in celebrating the World AIDS Day.  In different parts of the community, one could easily see white mounted tents, that acted as temporary centers for voluntary counseling famously known as VCT.

In Kibera the main celebration, an event aimed at creating awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education, was held at the DC grounds. World AIDS Day is important for reminding people that HIV has not gone away and that there are many things still to be done.

At the Uweza Center, the youngsters too were not left behind as they dedicated this day in passing the message to their fellow age mates using a small drama that used “sheng” language which is a mixture of Kiswahili and English words combined.

Their story had a family set-up that involved a father, mother, their only son and a house help who assisted in house chores. Behind the scenes, the house help had slept with the father and the son on different occasions. After many months had passed, the father and the son became sick and the house help's secret was exposed when a neighbor she used to work for had come to pay a visit to the host family.  The neighbor exposed that the house help had the HIV virus when she used to work for her

Part of the skit went like this:

Neighbor: This house help is suffering from HIV, you guys didn’t know that she is positive?

Father/Son: (Looks surprised and astonished, as they both shake their heads sideways)

Son: Oooh my God I slept with her and I thought all was fine.

Father: What? You have slept with the house help??? Me too.

Househelp: I'm sorry, I feared to tell you for fear of rejection and being stigmatized.

Father/Son: We are all infected with the HIV viruses, God help us (they fall slowly to the ground as they weep).

At that point, a counselor walks into their home and tries to console the father and the son that having slept with their house help should not be the end of the world.  She advised them that they need to visit a VCT center to get more information and if they agree, to get tested to know their status.

Once at the VCT center, they agree to be tested after having been counseled and vow to change their bad ways.

It was a story that gave a significant group at the center the opportunity to pass a message to each other with a hope to change and help educate their peers.

Get Together With A Purpose

by Thomas Bwire

The mood at the center this afternoon was adorable as pupils who had just cleared their primary national examinations known as Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination (KCPE), sat in one of the classrooms as the blaring sounds of reggae music could be heard from the Sony music system. It was a great way to kick start their long holiday as they await the result of their exams after Christmas period.

In the Kenyan education system, it takes eight years of primary school, and then the pupil sits for national exams that will enable him/her join high school education for a period of four years.

But as for now, the pupils present at the Uweza Center sat on the benches smilling, while for some, they took moments to chat with their friends. Since the outside weather was sending some signals of heavy down pour, Becky Gitau the Generation-T Club teacher took charge of the programme and asked everyone to step outside so as benches could be arranged for everyone to get enough space.

Once everyone was seated, food was served, and the menu comprised of cooked rice famously known in Swahili as “Pilau.”  This is a kind of delicacy is cooked with some meat inside and tastes delicious. Chapati too was part of the menu as well as a glass of juice to wash the food down the throat.

As the pupils sat and ate their meal as one family. I took the opportunity to talk to some of them and get to know their expectations, now that they are done with primary school.

14 year old Fredrick Mwandindo from Kibera Primary School expressed his joy of joining other pupils in the get together and believes he will perform well in his exams. I did ask him what he aspires to be in life.  "I want to be a professional footballer in the near future as I believe I have the talent, and God willing one day I can also play for bigger teams like Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United,” says Fredrick.

15 year old Willis Nyabuto from Jamhuri primary is happy being part of Uweza family.  "I love to be part of  the Uweza team as I get to learn a lot from my teachers and I want to become a scientist when I finish high school so as I can discover earth and space” notes Willis.

The climax of the day was when Fidel Ouma, the Center’s Prefect, gave a small speech of encouragement to all present and encouraged them to be kind to each other and always value the motto of discipline.

What are children in Kibera grateful for?

Yesterday at their meeting, Thomas explained to the members of the Uweza Journal Club that Uweza supporters in the United States would be celebrating Thanksgiving, a day to reflect and give thanks. We asked them to think about and write down what they are thankful for.  Given the tough circumstances these children are living in, it's incredibly moving to see that most of them are thankful to be alive.  We are humbled by their response and reminded not to take anything for granted.

We are incredibly grateful to all of our supporters worldwide for supporting programs that are truly changing lives.  It is because of you that we are able to do everything that we do.  If you are celebrating today, Happy Thanksgiving!