Handy photography tips

by Thomas Bwire

Last Sunday, the Uweza journalism club had an introductory photography session meant to give them new skills of being able to tell stories through the lens. The cold and chill weather did not deter some of my students who showed up for our Sunday routine class despite the heavy downpour just a few minutes before 2pm in the afternoon.

The lesson was interesting as I took the students present into understanding the basics of what a good photo entails. First they got to learn that all great pictures have something in common, they are well composed.

Some of the handy tips that were also shared included learning about framing a photo using the rule of thirds and to give a better understanding of what your photo is talking about.

And all in all some few practicals were applied by the present members on day one of their photography lesson.  Each participant had an opportunity to take a few photos of anything of their choice.

Here are some of their photos:

Club members Dorcas, Douglas, and Samuel

Club member Douglas Momanyi

Club member Samwel Samunya

Bananas trees outside the Uweza center

The session came to an end with a parting shot that, “a good picture is worth a thousand words.”  Check out for more updates and photos taken by some of the club members in our coming blogs.

Hard Work Pays

by Thomas Bwire

Meet Colonia Awino Okello, one of the active members of Kibera Agenda 4 Business Savings group. I had the privilege to pay her a visit at her stall in Olympic estate in Kibera on Thursday afternoon this week.

Upon my arrival at her stall, Colonia welcomed me with a hearty smile. She is outspoken and tells me that she was expecting me for the interview. I get to see the kind of items she sells at her stall, and from the look of things, it’s well stocked with different items ranging from school bags and scarfs to women's handbags, among other items.

In a short while, a male customer appears and I had to excuse myself so she can serve the customer’s need while I stole the few moments to take some photos.  The male customer had wanted to purchase one of the hats and in this case, several samples were given out for comparison. “The price ranges between Ksh.80 to Ksh. 100 and just choose the one you want and we can’t fail to agree on what is affordable for you,” noted Colonia.

Colonia attending to a customer

Colonia, aged 39 years, shared her success story after she joined Kibera Agenda two and a half years ago. Her passion to start business on her own started 18 years ago at age 21. She had savings that amounted for a period of 3 months where she was working as a cleaner in one of the organizations. After she left the cleaning job, her passion drove her to start a green grocery business where she sold vegetables at Toi market located in Kibera and this lasted 5 years. Later on she moved to selling teddy bears, caps, bags and school uniforms.

Some of the items Colonia sells

“How did you come to know about Kibera Agenda?” I posed the question to her. “I knew it through a friend.  I went and received my first loan amounting to Ksh.2.000, and you see I was only expected to repay it back by contributing Ksh.200 every Wednesday, and that worked for me”, says Colonia.

From there on, after repaying the first loan, I got another one of Ksh. 5.000  which I repaid with payments of Ksh.500 and the last loan I took was Ksh.10.000."  Business is not that bad, and in a normal day Colonia makes Ksh.1.500, but on bad days the much she can make amounts to Ksh.500. One challenging factor is that some of her friends always want to buy some of her stuff on debt, of which she finds it hard to give credit since some don’t want to repay back.

Colonia at her stall

On our closing remarks, Colonia informed that she is a single mother and has lived in Kibera for the last 20 years. She has 6 children of her own, the first borne child is 23 years. She also takes care of five orphaned children.

Exchanging Ideas

by Rebecca Musanya and Nicholas Gisemba

Sunday 25th March gave an opportunity for the Uweza journalism club to visit Children of Kibera, one of the non-governmental organizations situated in Olympic Estate, Kibera for an exchange joint program.  Upon our arrival in the afternoon, we were welcomed by one of the staff members, Prisca Mutemi . We waited for a few minutes before we got divided into two groups of boys and girls known as Lit World Club.

Together with the female members of our club, we were taken to one of the classrooms that had girls who were having their afternoon session. Today’s topic was about the seven pillars of a girl child.
The session was interesting as I got to learn that girl child, self, sisterhood, and hope are some of the pillars we need to have at all times as young people in the Kibera community since many challenges are encountered by girls. The need to be empowered with proper information is all it takes to help girls overcome temptations of getting themselves into un- healthy relationships and getting to know how to take care of oneself in cases of defilement.

Lit World Member gives insight into their sessions

 On their part we also had an opportunity to get to share what we do as a journalism club. Our meetings are every Sunday, and we do have news paper review sessions, a task to get one to know the kind of news happening around us and also globally. We also do verbal reporting of current news from Kibera so as everybody in the club gets to know what past news events took place in Kibera.
Later on we had a few fun game activities which I led and everyone enjoyed learning something new from each party.

Rebecca from Uweza teaching a fun game

 On the boy’s side, sessions too were held separate from the girls, under the care of a male teacher. The boys aged between ages 6 to 14 years were gathered outside and undertaking a simple task of writing what they were seeing. A few minutes later we all gathered in one of the empty classrooms and shared information about our journalism club as we also got to know what they do.

Uweza Journalism Club member shares his experience

One amazing story was from Kennedy Oluoch from Soweto Academy, a class seven pupil at Spurgeon Academy, he noted that he is assured of a meal every Sunday when he comes to Lit World Club.

The day came to an end with some food being served to us (Githeri) mixture of maize and beans.

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The authors of this story, Rebecca and Nicholas, are members of the Uweza Journalism Club.

 

Celebrating World TB Day

by Nicholas Gisemba

The world celebrates World Tuberculosis Day every year on March 24. It is a day to commemorate achievements undertaken in curbing the disease. Its origin was discovered in the year 1882 by Dr. Robert Koch, also a scientist when he discovered TB.

In Kibera, residents had the opportunity to come together to mark this important day as they started by a procession at the DC ground around 10am walking through sections of the slums carrying banners with TB messages. As they walked through parts of the slum, Baraka za Ibrahim Band did their jig and this pulled crowds to join in the procession.


Upon arrival at the Undugu grounds, several groups showcased plays that had clear messages on TB day, while others had a chance of showcasing their acrobatics skills.  The event was attended by local leaders, and some of the Non-Governmental Organiations (NGOs) that provide health care of services in Kibera, like AMREF, MSF Belgium and Center for disease control (CDC).  The chief guest was the area District Officer (D.O.) Joel Mwangala.

Kibera Hamlets showcasing their skills

In his speech, he urged residents to help fight TB. “This year we want to have zero deaths that are arising from TB because TB is curable, and also medical services are free at all government facilities, that’s why we are here today to help learn what we can do as a community,” noted Mwangala.
The D.O. also requested that people present help teach those who were not present on the day by passing information learned for empowerment.

District Officer Joel Mwangala giving his speech

Some of the TB patients had an opportunity to share their story in public like Lorna Akeyo Bonyo, a single mother.  “I was a TB patient recently and that is not good experience to undergo as I used to take medication on a daily basis for a period of three months.” Then she poses, “after three months I stopped taking medication simply because I thought I was healed, little did I know more was to come, I had to be subjected to be under medication care for 8 months instead of the initial 6 months.”  She urged residents to take medication without fail if one is under TB medication.

Lorna shares her experience with TB

TB is an infectious disease that spreads from one person to another when someone who is sick with TB coughs or sneezes. If another person breathes in the germs, they could get infected.TB can be fatal if not treated, but curable if the person is diagnosed early and takes full course treatment.

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The author of this piece, Nicholas Gisemba,  is 22 years old and a resident of Kibera.  He is a member of the Uweza Journalism Club.

Power of the Brush

by Thomas Bwire

Occasionally a walk through Kibera gives a unique opportunity to get to meet young people who are committed to a particular activity like washing cars, collecting garbage, engaging customers at a barber shop and many more.

This is not the only impression that all is well.  If you were a first time visitor, then you could easily see a larger group of young people hanging out in small groups, just chatting the whole day with nothing much to be done.

In today’s blog we feature Noor Ibrahim, aged 27 years, a young person from the Kibera community. He lives in Karanja village. I did meet him at the center this Wednesday on their routine painting sessions with art instructor Joseph Wanderi at the Uweza Center.

Noor Ibrahim

Uweza Art Instructor Joseph Wanderi

As I watch him paint one of the portraits of the Kenyan’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga from one of the local daily news papers, I found myself asking him one big question, “where did your motivation come from?”


Ibrahim tells me how his nurturing talent has come of age. "After finishing high school, I used to watch my big brother who was an artist paint stuff; he could paint portraits of people which in return got quick sells. I also loved to just give long glances at the GADO cartoons in a local newspaper. These cartoons had a clear message everyday and it depends how you interpret them,” notes Ibrahim. 

"Later on, I  moved a notch higher, where I got involved with the local schools, where I did face painting for kids during prize giving days.  Some of the teachers asked me to paint wild animals on manila papers as their a teaching aid tools for their pupils. This gave me some small income by the end of the day. I also attended the yearly international trade fair held in Nairobi, and did lot’s of face painting for kids who came to visit different exhibitions stands.”

Ibrahim shared that his greatest passion is to do painting of landscapes, as they express a sense of belonging and also how to tell how beautiful nature is.

One of Ibrahim's paintings

One of his major challenges comes from his peers who see painting as a waste of time, but this does not deter him from moving on as he hopes for a better today.  His parting words for me are “In five year’s time from now, I want to own an art studio here in Kibera and help teach other young kids with an interest in painting."

Reporting Local News

by Thomas Bwire

It’s a Sunday afternoon, and at the center is the Uweza journalism club undertaking their Sunday sessions. The turn-out is not that bad as majority of the members are here.

First things first, the session starts with getting to know each other, since we do have a few new  faces present today.  This is how it was done, two people paired together and asked their partners what their names are for a duration of 2 minutes then report back the person’s name to the whole members.  Later on, it was time for newspaper review where each member gets time to read through the day’s newspaper to get familiar with current news affairs both locally and internationally.

 Today’s session was one of the unique ones, as members present had an opportunity to report local news of the current events that had taken place in their community the past week.  The exercise required that they write down their story on piece of papers and read them aloud in front of the members.

When she stood up, Lydia Olendo reported a compelling story, that local Kibera residents were experiencing water shortage in Makina village which resulted in a high cost of this essential commodity. Long queues of women were seen as early as 4:00 a.m.  The water vendors had a field day as they hiked their prices from normal 3 shillings for a 10 liter jerrican to 10 shillings.

Lydia Olendo

Rebecca Musanga reported the on-going story about a fire that has now consumed trees worth 8 billion Kenyan Shillings on Mt.Kenya since last week.  Efforts are still being undertaken to contain it by regular administration police,  Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and volunteers whom have been reported to lack enough fire fighting equipments.

Rebecca Musanga

Boys too were not left out, as Nicholas Gisemba was able to report his story on a fire that gutted down some houses in Laini Saba area, one of the villages in Kibera. The cause of the fire was not yet established yet, and he promised that he would give us an update the coming week if any new development arises.

Nicholas Gisemba

 There you have it, day one of verbal reporting from the journalism club members, an exercise that is gradually giving them confidence in reporting local news from their community.

Uweza is my strength

by Thomas Bwire

“I came to know about Uweza Foundation last year during its official launch in Karanja. Since then, I became part of the family and I have never looked back.”  Meet Henry Onguti Thomas, 28, a parent to Reagan Onguti aged 8 years. Henry is a happy father to his son, Reagan whose success story is gradually shining on him at this tender age both in his school work and in extra curricular activities.

Henry (left) and Thomas speaking at the Uweza Community Center

Following the launch of the Uweza center, there was no turning back for Henry whom after attending a parents meeting, made a decision to allow his son participate in the Uweza Foundation programs.  Reagan, now in class three at Old Kibera Primary School, attends the extra remedial classes held by Uweza, known as tuition, undertaken by experienced tutors in assisting kids in the program with their school work.

By letting his son join the program, Henry hoped that his son would get better foundation to help him excel in life, because going to school is essential and every kid has a right to education.  During our interview, Henry informed me that he let his son join Uweza Foundation, because of the assurance of children’s safety while at the center, unlike in the other self sponsored tuition sessions that leave parents worried of their children’s safety.

His son is doing well in school and has been in the top five positions in school exams. Besides school work, the boy is also doing well in Uweza's sports soccer program. Early this year, during the award ceremony for the soccer participants, Reagan emerged top, edging out other boys under his category and scooping up a trophy and a medal for Player of the Year for the Under-8 category.

Reagan and his mother accept the award for Player of the Year with area Chief and Uweza Program Manage

His moving words, inspired by the spirit of determination and courage, are unshakable as he is a dedicated parent, which I easily noticed when he took me to his home in Makina village. The court they live in is clean. Upon entering his one roomed house, it looks well organized.

“This is my home where I live with my wife, whom at the moment is at work and my daughter is in school though she will be here in a short while.” says Henry.

During our 20 minute stay at his house, he was able to tell me that he has lived in Nairobi since the year 1996 when he came as a young scout member to a camp at Rowland camp for scouts.  On one of the walls, hangs Reagan’s medal he won from the Uweza soccer program.  As he proudly shows me his son's medal, Henry tells me “You see, hard work pays and am I happy that I can gradually see the talent in my son."

Thank you Emily

by Thomas Bwire

Emily Townsend has been working as an assistant teacher in the journalism club at Uweza Foundation from the month of February. She had an opportunity to interact with young up-coming journalists in the club based in the Kibera community.

During her period of engagement with the club, she was able to impact skills to the participants that one requires when becoming a trained journalist. Part of the sessions involved teaching the key elements in news writing, i.e.  “Who, What, Why, When, Where and How.”  Her presentations in some of the sessions she participated in were lively as this created an avenue for opening up among the students in the club.

Many view her as a mentor, as she got to encourage and ask everyone to have a focused goal of what they need to achieve in their journalism career. Besides working with Uweza, she also worked as an intern at the voice of Kibera, Pamoja FM, a local radio station.

Emily hails from Lansing, Michigan in the USA and majors in Journalism and Philosophy at Kalamazoo College.  We wish her well as she goes back to the US this week. Her presence will highly be missed back with the club members and all those who had an opportunity to interact with her.

The Power of Reading

by Thomas Bwire

7th March is one of the most unique global day set aside by Lit World Organization to celebrate the “World Read Aloud Day” The day is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. According to the Lit World Organization at least 793 million people remain illiterate around the world. This day which was first celebrated in the year 2010 serves as a reminder to read aloud and join the literacy movement. More than 35 countries worldwide participate in this event.

In Kenya in the Kibera community the day too was not forgotten as Children of Kibera organization held a special programme targeting the primary school going kids to get. This was to enable them get enlightened too. A few selected kids from one of the primary schools Red Rose Academy held this event; their mission entailed visiting some of the few schools in the Kibera community and reading aloud a story in front of other kids in a classroom set up.  The selected kids held a white banner with the words “World Read Aloud Day” as they walked from school to school.

Participating students hold up banner

Their first stop was their own school the Red Rose Nursery School, then off they went to the Primary school section. Here I got to interview a few of the older kids on their understanding of this day.

Diana Akinyi a class eight pupil was able to share her understanding of the world read aloud day. She said it is important to read and that it’s not about age, even if you are old you can still read and still ask someone to help you if you cannot read well.

For Maxwell Omari, a class seven pupil who likes to play soccer and also an avid reader. He says that “The day means that today we have to read and more books and we have to read them aloud so that other people can hear it.”

The next stop was at Spurgeon Academy School where we had the opportunity to see kids being able to read stories to each other. One important element of the  project assistant officer of children of Kibera Prisca Mawia was that once you read a story book, you should kindly show your audience the photos, especially young kids who learn to read though pictures.

Class Four students at Spurgeons Academy read a story

The last stop was at Olympic primary school where the same exercise was carried out among class six pupils who felt motivated to create time to read so as to enhance their knowledge.
World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially words that are passed from one person to the another, and creates a community of readers.

A crowded class at Olympic Primary listens as their fellow pupil reads

 A parting shot from Kenneth Okoth, the Executive Director of Children of Kibera challenged the well wishers, ministry of education  and other well wishers in Kenya that are focused on the welfare of children, education and literacy to donate books to support the community library, so that children from poor backgrounds with minimal resources can have access through their schools and community library, not forgetting the churches and the mosques who can put aside space not only for spiritual reading but other useful material that can help children in the community to grow in other ways.

Uweza FC and Kibera Golden Stars end match in a draw

by Thaddeus Otieno

The day started on a good side as the boys had some energy in readiness for the game to be played at Woodley soccer field. The sun shone high above the blue sky and dressed in the orange color uniform, our team Uweza FC stole a few seconds by praying while  holding each other’s shoulders to wish themselves luck on the pitch.

Their opponents Kibera Golden Stars team, dressed in purple, did their prayer as a symbol of faith of wishing themselves luck in this game.

In no time, the referee blew the whistle, and off the game started for the next 45 minutes. Both teams had opportunities here and there as players from each side tried hitting the target to get the most crucial needed three points.

The first half went so fast that if one was watching the game, you could be easily be mistaken that the referee had eaten some of the time. The scores were nil nil and both teams got advices from their team coaches.

Come the second half, both teams wanted to win points and a minute into the play, Kibera Golden Stars were awarded a penalty after Uweza FC defender Dennis Odhiambo was hit by the ball mistakenly on his hand  near the goal post thus giving their opponents  a penalty kick. In a flash the ball hit the net after a hard kick by the Kibera Golden Stars player.


Our boys' spirits did not fall down as s few of the spectators kept encouraging them to keep on with the play focused. The game went on and both teams struggled to outdo each other on the pitch.


Less than 10 minutes before the match came to an end, luck knocked in favor of Uweza FC following a substitute when Collins (famously known as “Matei” by his team members) was brought into the game replacing Ramadhan. Moments thereafter, a cross came from Erick Ondimu to Charles Omondi. Charles did not miss the crucial opportunity and scored a goal for Uweza FC.

At the end of the match, both teams shared one point each, in this senior league for both participating teams in the Nairobi county zone league.

For more photos and to follow Uweza FC's progress, "like" us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/uwezafc

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Thaddeus Otieno is 18 years old and is in his third year of high school at Highway Secondary School in Nairobi. He has been an active member of the Uweza FC senior soccer team since 2009.