Road to Success

by Nicholas Gisemba

Dennis Odhiambo is a slum born guy who has been brought up in Kibera slums his whole life. The 19 year-old joined Uweza Football Club three years ago. Uweza Foundation is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) that supports youth and young children by creating and nurturing talents as early as possible. Examples of programs running in the organization include Journalism Club, Art Club, Soccer Club and lastly Tuition for both Primary and Secondary Students.

Dennis Odhiambo, Uweza senior team Captain

Today, I am interviewing Dennis about his experience as the Captain of Uweza FC, the senior team of uweza Soccer Academy. Life was not good for Dennis as he was growing up.  Things changed for him when he landed in the hands of Uweza Foundation. “In the second year after I joined Uweza FC, I was chosen as team captain due to my availability and contributions to the team. Being a captain is not an easy job,” he adds.   “I have to make sure that everything is in good order, which something that I was not used to. But now I am a responsible person not only on the team but also at home.”

Dennis talks with Nicholas Gisemba, Uweza Journalism Club member

Uweza FC plays in the FKF (Football Kenya Federation) Nairobi County League where the club is position 10 out of 20 teams in the league in their first year of participation. The team is provided with everything, so the players are divided into groups to wash the jerseys and boots after their matches.  Dennis organizes the washing every week. Beside the Nairobi County League, the team also participates in friendly matches and tournaments such as the upcoming East Africa Tournament. The team contains more than 20 players and 17 of the players are high school students.

“It is normally said that an idle mind is a workshop of the devil and the Soccer Academy was created to prevent idleness among youth in the Kibera community who might otherwise engage themselves with bad company or abuse of drugs and waste their lives at young age,” concluded the Captain.

Well, a winner never quits while a quitter never wins. Dennis promises that he will not stand to see his dream vanish like smoke in the air without any success.  In the future, he wants to see himself perhaps in the national team or another recognized team so that he can create vacancies and opportunity at Uweza FC for other young stars like himself.

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The author of this story, Nicholas Gisemba, is 22 years old and a member of the Uweza Journalism Club.

Previous stories by Nicholas:

Uweza FC vs. Githurai United
Celebrating World TB Day

Determined to Excel

by Thomas Bwire

He is just 13 years of age and one can easily think that his paintings are done by an adult. This is not the case, meet the self spoken Wesley Osoro. His seriousness shows all over his face that he’s a young person determined to see that he excels in what he does. Being a member of Uweza Art Club, he never misses classes on Saturday, when not attending school.

Wesley with one of his completed paintings

A first born child in a family of 2 brothers and a sister, he shares with me his sentiments that his passion with the paint brush started while he was 5 years old. “I used to see photos in salons and shops whenever I walked around the neighborhoods. Slowly by slowly I then started small by drawing some houses, cars, and anything that came to my mind,” says Wesley as he works on his most recent painting.

Working on his most recent painting

I take a few minutes to just sit back and watch as his hands move on the painting he’s currently working on of a landscape. The landscape image is taking good shape and one can clearly see the background full of clouds and standing hills neatly done. To find out why Wesley loves painting landscapes, I pose the question to him. “They look nice and are easy to draw,” is his response.

According to his art instructor Joseph Wanderi, Wesley is a boy who has the greatest passion in what he does. “Art is in him, and he’s born artist I must say,” Joseph tells me.  “I am now looking at how I can introduce him to an advanced stage of painting on a canvas which will be more professional and his work can now be showcased in bigger exhibitions to market him out there.”

 

Besides painting, Wesley also plays soccer on the Uweza team. Before parting ways, he tells me that his parents are very supportive of what he does and that is what makes him have the heart to excel in the near future.

Do you know where to get news?

by Thomas Bwire

Having to learn about journalism in a classroom set up might be boring, as it involves a teacher standing in front of a class and lecturing the students. This time, I wanted it to be the other way around, having my students become the teachers themselves.

Well to start off the day’s session was our weekly editorial session, which lets everyone read one news story from the national newspapers then later on share it with team members.  This didn’t take long and everyone had an opportunity to share their stories which helps in getting to know a new story from the other sources. Upon finishing the first task, I divided the participants into groups and asked them to brainstorm a list of the sources of news.

"What should we write?"

Working in groups of was very interesting as the groups were comprised of people students had never before interacted with on a day to day basis, which gave the lesson a wider dimension of having to cope with new ideas and suggestions.  Once in their respective groups, the ongoing debate was also very interesting as each team put down to paper their ideas, some put stronger suggestions as others noted points written.

"Let's put our most interesting points here"

 A test of time came during their presentations as the best team was going to be rewarded for the following: clear points, good handwriting and well presented facts. The activity spurred lively discussions and debates and ended with the most convincing group winning sweets. Students were encouraged to challenge each other and ask questions. I was amazed at how knowledgeable the students were as all stronger points came from them knowing where we can get news from.

Listening to presentations and thinking of counterpoints

 A secret vote for the best presentation had to be carried out to determine the winner of the day. The winner with the many votes happened to be represented by team members of Group 2 led by Jenipher Awour. “Yeeeees we did it!” shouted group 2 team members as they all got a sweet as a way of motivating them in their presentations.

Jenipher Awuor, leader of the winning group, presents their findings

With that, the day was over as we all went back home knowing that we can all get news from our community elders, government ministers, church leaders, special occasions such as weddings, managing directors, sports events,  and many more areas.

“This is how we do it” says Kibera Agenda Chairperson

by Thomas Bwire

During her visit to Kenya recently, Amy Auguston, Uweza Foundation's Board Vice President, had a rare opportunity of attending one of the weekly meetings of Kibera Agenda 4 Business Savings. Sitting with the members was very thrilling as they all looked calm.

The attendance was full house and group members, the majority of which were women, sat patiently as the chair of the meeting Mr.  Tom Odumo briefed them on the day’s agenda. “First we have an important visitor with us called Amy from the US who is also the Vice president of Uweza Foundation. She is here to learn more about us, so don’t feel intimidated by her presence," says Mr. Odumo.

From left: Kibera Agenda Program Manager William Moi, Chairman Tom Odumo and Project Coordinator William Ochieng

A sneak preview was given by Mr. Tom Odumo regarding the aim of the group which targets people of integrity and self commitment to enable their small scale businesses to grow gradually. “Our objective is to uplift our own people so as they can be self sustainable in what they do."

Kibera Agenda Program Manager William Moi addresses the group

Members can also apply for a loan, and for one to get a loan, many factors are looked upon like how they have been active and also shown some commitment in repaying earlier loans given to them. This is done through assessment of their progress records on how they have been paying previous loans.
The interesting bit about the loans is that if one fails to repay given loan on time, then a small fee of ksh.4 shillings is collected as a penalty for defaulters. The group also focuses on giving support to struggling members whose businesses are not flourishing as they receive a top up amount to continue with their businesses.

Agenda member receiving a loan for her business

However, the group also has a major challenge when some members request huge some of funds, that cannot be given out and this takes a while before they can be given amount requested.  In such forums, members are also reminded to keep track of their daily earnings, so as to facilitate proper remittance of records. In her remarks, Amy appreciated the group’s hard work in each one of them and that she was happy to see them all and participate in one of their meetings just to get a better understanding of their operations.

Kibera Agenda members with Uweza Vice President Amy Auguston

And just before the meetings adjourns, the secretary takes note of all transactions carried on the meeting day to help keep track and also for safe record keeping.

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Related stories about Kibera Agenda:

Hard Work Pays: http://uwezainkenya.blogspot.com/2012/04/hard-work-pays.html
Interview with Chairman of Kibera Agenda http://uwezainkenya.blogspot.com/2012/02/interview-with-tom-odumo-chair-of.html
Empowering the Community: http://uwezainkenya.blogspot.com/2012/01/empowering-community.html

Kenya hosts a major summit on Citizen Media

by Thomas Bwire

Just imagine yourself in a pool of so many foreigners at one of the local hotels in Nairobi, I almost thought that I was out of the country.  But in fact I was right in Nairobi earlier this week attending an international summit on Citizen Media organized on by Global Voices. I was one of the lucky five grantees from East Africa who received a free travel and registration to attend this summit.

Nairobi, Kenya was a host to this special summit that is a biennial gathering, which brings together bloggers, activists and technologists from around the world for public discussions and workshops about the rise of online citizen media movements worldwide.  All new visitors were warmly welcomed and made to feel at home.

Thomas Otieno Bwire, Uweza Communications Officer, at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit

A start to the program was Global Voices Southeast Asia Editor, Mong Palatino, who took us through various social media campaigns from the region, including the Thai floods. In his presentation he also did explain that both offline and online mix of activism could affect real mobilization and change. Tea break followed after a few other speakers had their presentation centered on the global rise for citizen media.

Let me take you through the Kenyan presentation which was done in split groups.  Here the panelists addressed how online tools and channels are not just for airing opinions affecting it's people but also act as a source of latest breaking news.

Panel of Kenyan bloggers

Lunch break was a good time to get to meet new people of whom we heard from their experiences from different countries one on one and why this summit was of great importance to them.  Afternoon sessions allowed audience members to suggest and lead discussion groups on a wide range of themes, such as 'How Facebook spies on you.'

Later on Bob Boorstin from Google, Max Schrems (Europe vs. Facebook) and Ramzi Jaber (onlinecensorship.org) joined GV's Ivan Sigal for the panel 'Giants of the Internet: What Role and Responsibility?'.  The audience was made aware that Facebook declined an invitation to attend, and a Yahoo! representative could not come at the last minute.

Presentation on the use of social media as a source of news

Bob Boorstin declared that the Internet is not borderless - that if you cross borders, laws change - and also shared his belief that technological monopolies don't last. Ramzi Jaber announced the launch of onlinecensorship.org, a website on which you can report if your account or content is censored.

Ory Okolloh, the original Global Voices Africa editor and a co-founder of Ushahidi who is Google's current Africa policy head, answered an audience question about whether African net users are aware of how to protect their online rights. She spoke about her concerns regarding local capacity and mentioned how she is working with local groups to raise issues. “I must say I am extremely excited, all the more so since I am hardly a year old as a Global Voicer yet being part of the online community as a Kenyan author has proved beneficial in so many ways. I am eager to meet the very many faces of fellow authors and editors of whom I have had opportunity to work with online” noted Okolloh.

The two day summit was really gave me a better understanding of the power of usage of social media and felt special among a pool of talented people I was able to meet through Global Voices community. The summit could not just pass by as I was also lucky to personally meet the Global Voices Director Eddie Avila.

Thomas Bwire, Global Voices Director Eddie Avila and a grantee from Uganda

 To wrap up the day, there were some dances from one of the Kenyan youth group as they show cased their dancing techniques as the audiences cheered them on.

Spotlight on Sponsorship

by Amy Auguston

Today is the last day of my visit to Kenya. I am sad to leave, but I am returning home freshly motivated and determined to advance Uweza’s mission. Seeing Uweza’s programs up close has been inspiring.

In my previous blog, I wrote briefly about meeting the two girls that I sponsor through Uweza. Spending time with the girls, visiting their homes, and meeting their families have been some of the best and most meaningful moments of my trip. I’ve also been able to meet other sponsored children and their families, and I’ve witnessed the power of the sponsorship program firsthand.

Amy with Dorcas, who she sponsors, and Dorcas' mom Beatrice

For example, one day last week, a mother of a sponsored child came to the office, her sick son in tow. He had been suffering with a bad cough and a sore throat for a few days. His mother knew that he needed medicine, but she could not afford it on her own. Uweza staff was able to send her immediately to a local chemist, where she could get medical advice and medication, paid by the Uweza sponsorship fund. If her son does not feel better soon, she can bring him to a local doctor for consultation and tests—again through the Uweza sponsorship fund. Such simple and powerful acts occur each day at the Uweza Community Center.

Uweza Sponsored students play a game at their monthly meeting

Last Sunday, I attended the monthly meeting of the sponsored children, led by Sponsorship Coordinator Mathew. At one point each child stood up and introduced him/herself, and then told the group what he/she would like to be when he/she grows up. The children spoke confidently of their dreams to become doctors, lawyers, pilots, bankers, and nurses—and it was incredible to know that Uweza is helping them to reach their goals.

Lizzy Akinyi, in Class 2, wants to be a doctor

By sponsoring a child, you help to break the cycle of poverty in Kibera. You make an investment in the health and education of an individual, and in turn strengthen the larger community of Kibera. Learn more about Uweza sponsorship and how to get involved here.

Uweza Sponsored Students

Progress Made: A Board Member Returns to Kibera

by Amy Auguston

As Vice President of the Uweza Board of Directors, I receive nearly daily updates on our programs and beneficiaries on the ground. I’ve also spent two stints volunteering in Kibera with Uweza. So I generally feel well acquainted with the excellent work that Uweza is doing.

Coming to Kibera again this time, nonetheless, has been an enlightening, revitalizing experience.   I have spent the last week and a half in Kibera visiting and working with Uweza's projects. I’m in awe of the progress we’ve made, the community we’re helping to invigorate, and the beneficiaries empowered and nurtured by Uweza’s programs. Seeing the impact firsthand has been exhilarating, humbling, and emotional.

Soon after my arrival, I made my first visit to the Uweza Community Center, which was purchased in May 2012. Managing Director Jen and I had been trudging through the familiar streets of Kibera, crowded, dusty, and sometimes frenetic. Coming into the gates of the center was like entering an oasis of quiet and serenity. The walls are brightly painted and decorated, the premises are sparkling clean, and there are friendly faces to greet each visitor.

The center allows a safe, positive atmosphere for children and young adults to express themselves. Thomas, the journalism teacher and a well-known radio reporter in his own right, leads more than 30 youths in lessons and exercises in writing, researching, interviewing, and photography. You can read some of the students’ work here on the Uweza blog. 

Teacher Thomas, left, and journalism club members view their photos in the Uweza office

Wanderer, an established painter and a Kibera native, teaches students about identifying and mixing colors, and how to paint the landscapes of their mother country. The walls of the art room are resplendent with color wheels and paintings of the art class.

Uweza art class student paints her color wheel

I’ve also visited the soccer fields where nearly one hundred children play, learning teamwork and discipline under the dedicated tutelage of their coaches. The girls’ team, led by coach Joyce, is especially inspiring. The girls learn about how to strengthen and take care of their bodies, during the tumultuous time of adolescence and young adulthood. 

Uweza girls team at training

Another program, after school tuition, provides extra school instruction in the afternoon, to further help the students to succeed academically. The children also receive nourishing uji (porridge) to help them continue to study. The older boys at tuition told me that the Uweza Community Center allows them a safe place to read and study, and to stay away from bad influences like drugs and alcohol. “It saves us from walking up and down the streets. Here we can focus and study,” said one high school tuition student.

The highlight of my trip so far might be meeting the two girls (ages 8 and 14) who I sponsor through Uweza. Over the past years I’ve seen their pictures, read their letters, and gotten updates about them from Uweza staff on the ground. Meeting them and their families in person was emotional. The girls seemed shy and overwhelmed, and I felt much the same way. It’s an incredible experience to know that you have helped someone that you have never met, that you have made a huge difference with so little. Sponsoring them has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I hope that I can sponsor another child through Uweza soon.

Amy, center, with sponsored student Cynthia, right, and her cousins

While I’m here, I’m also gathering feedback from our program beneficiaries and their parents, through focus groups and one-on-one interviews, to learn more about what is good in the programs and what we can improve. Stay tuned on the blog for more information and highlights of the feedback received.

Kibera Has Talent

Story by Rebecca Musanga
Photos by Rebecca Musanga and Nicholas Gisemba

The fourth annual Children of Kibera Music Festival, which took place at Kibra Academy over the weekend was the place to be, on 22nd and 23rd June. This year’s theme was responsible  leadership in elective positions where over thirty primary and secondary schools participated including: Kibra Academy, Olympic Primary, Ayany Primary, Baraka Za Ibrahim Secondary school. Dance groups were also part of the event as they showcased their talents in the art world. Some of the participating  groups included Kibera Hamlets and The Girls Soccer Academy, which entertained the people present.

The performances had  participating schools pass different messages and themes in relation to  good governance, education, election violence, peace, political instability, among others. These were well portrayed by solo and choral verses not forgetting dances which incorporated both traditional and modern dances.  A lot of creativity was shown in terms of costume, choice of narration, words and types of dances performed but the judges were looking for the most outstanding performance to earn the most awaited trophy.

Different organizations were present, including Uweza Foundation as we were invited to have the opportunity of having our own table.  A team of some of the youth from our soccer and journalism programs explained to Kibera children what we do as Uweza. We were able to recruit more kids into our existing programs and welcomed those with an interest in journalism, art and soccer to register and leave their contacts with us.  We also displayed some of the paintings from our art program, which attracted a lot of interest.

Uweza's table at the event

The event was sponsored Children of Kibera, an NGO working in Kibera.  On the open air stage the competition kept getting stiffer since every school wanted to be the best.  Dressed in different attires, the students and pupils out did each other with an aim of winning an award.

And as the event entered the second day, all participating schools had an opportunity to convince the judges why they deserved to win in different categories. Judges had a very tough time coming up with the best performance because all the schools did their best.  Upon completion of all the performances it was time to announce the winners. Kibera Glory Secondary School took the trophy for the best overall performance since they won many trophies. Both the secondary and primary students had a moment to shed tears of joy as they lifted their trophies high as they danced to different tunes. This proved that their effort was worth it as the day came to an end.

Some of the winners celebrate as they accept their trophies

It then started raining as a sign of blessing to the whole event.  What a well spent two days seeing the talents among the Kibera community which can be nurtured to greater heights.

More photos of the event can be seen here.

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Rebecca Musanga and Nicholas Gisemba are members of the Uweza Journalism Club. 

A Brighter Tomorrow

by Thomas Bwire

It’s just after 5.30pm on a Wednesday and the children all sitting on the benches in one of the Uweza tuition classrooms look busy. Some can be seen writing part of work given by the teacher in charge. While for some, its porridge time besides having to keep up with given tasks. 

Students completing an assignment

The children are sitting on brown  wooden benches in the classroom made of iron sheets.  After looking around the classroom set up, one can easily see some of the teaching aids on manila paper neatly hanged on the wall and some hanging across the roof.

At one of the corners is the teacher Harriet Luvaga, who in charge, and she is checking through some of the books of the children present. The day’s session is meant for revision of the just concluded middle of the term exams that most of the children had done from their respective schools the previous week.

Teacher Harriet with some of her students

A chat with Trizah Achieng, a standard two student who goes to school at Kibera Primary School, reveals that she loves to come to the evening tuition program because she loves to read a lot. “Here the teacher helps me to get to know how to read better,” says Trizah.  These sentiments are also echoed by Francisa Maloba who attends school at Tunza School and is also in standard two. She also loves coming to the tuition program to get time to read and get assisted to read better.

Teacher Harriet at work

While interviewing teacher Harriet I learn that she handles classes of children from baby class up to standard three pupils. In a normal day, she has to look for a general topic that cuts across all grade levels so that it becomes easier for all the children to understand. “You need to bring your understanding to a lower level of the kids so that by the end of the day, you have one thing that can be memorable to them.  This is because most of the kids a had a long day at their respective schools .” 

The main aim of the tuition program is to help each child get better in their school grades and help with their homework so that by end of the school term, there is a slight difference in terms their grades and they have learned more from their school education.

Students enjoying a cup of porridge

This program normally runs from 4pm to 6.30pm during the week and on weekends, kids get to rest.  With Uweza’s objective, investing in the community to alleviate poverty, the future of these youngsters is gradually growing to a brighter tomorrow.

Home Visits

by Thomas Bwire

The sloppy terrain filled with litter of all kinds is what we had to experience during our home visits within Kibera slums. Our mission with Mathew Muema, Sponsorship Coordinator was to get to see how some of the children under Uweza's sponsorship program live with either their parents or guardians.

It took roughly less than 10 minutes to arrive at our first house from the center. Here we found Alphonce Otieno in his school uniform eagerly waiting for us. Their one room house is situated in Gatwekera village. Alponce, a total orphans, stays with an aunty who is very kind and takes care of him as if he is her own child. After greetings, Mathew introduced me and went ahead to explain that our main mission was to pay a visit and find out the progress of the children under the sponsorship program. Before we left, Aphonce received a shoe polish and water guard for purification of their drinking water at home.

Alphonce Otieno with his younger cousins

Our next stop was to Edward Kuremi, who lives in the same village as Alponce, though some distance apart. We found his mother in the one-room shanty iron structure house that stood just next to the road side.   One thing that quickly strikes you as a first time visitor to this area is the fact that the house stands between local pubs, with loud music emanating from them.  One could easily wonder if the noise pollution levels can affect a school going child staying here and if still he can still do well academically. Kuremi attends school at Toi Primary and is now in class five. Her mother struggles to put food on the table as she does not have a stable source of income. She too received the small bottle of water guard and shoe polish for her son.

Sponsorship Coordinator Mathew with Mama Eduward Kuremi

There on, we had to take a longer walk to another village known as Kianda. It took us roughly 10 minutes before arriving at Charles Omondi's home. Charles goes to Olympic High School and is now in his third year. Charles is an orphan and he is taken care of by his aunt.  His aunt lives with 14 children in a single semi-permanent room and that forces Charles to sleep in another houses that belongs to a good Samaritan, who offered him a place to sleep. The aunty was very happy to see us and appreciated work done by the Uweza family in assisting some of the needy children with education, which plays a key role in shaping life.

Our last stop was at Dennis Odhiambo’s home. He lives with his parents, both have un- stable jobs as the mother sells roosted maize for survival to keep the family up and running. His dad is not working and cannot be able to support the family yet. Currently Dennis is undertaking a vocational training in electrical installation at a technical training center in Kibera.

Dennis Odhiambo, center, with his mother and younger brother

Truly that was an experience of a life time, having to see where some of our sponsored children do come from. I got to know some of the hardships they undergo, like poor sanitation facilities as well as what it takes to put food in the table so that a brighter future can be achieved despite challenges  coming from their homes.

To sponsor a student in the Uweza Sponsorship Program, please visit http://www.uweza.org/sponsorship