Training and guidance for the future

This week was another busy one with 13 post-KCSE students from both Friends of Dagoretti Children and Karen Street Children's Trust coming to Mahali Pa Watoto School for some in-house training to 'make the most of themselves' in the years to come.

As in previous years, there was a great deal of laughter in the mix - with great emphasis placed on role playing and presenting. This not only breaks the ice, but ensures the students really enjoy the course - stretching some 'comfort zones' in the process, but we think Daniel recovered fairly quickly after playing a pregnant lady trying to get on to a packed matatu! Francis, too, must be commended on his fabulous portrayal of a grandmother!

We covered the usual material - making the right impression; the importance of style and good grammar; text messaging and emails; letter writing and how to write a good cv; time management; good etiquette; financial planning and the appropriate use of social media. This year, we also added an extra section on 'contemporary problems and dangers', to what, previously, has been more a course on good communication skills.

I have to say, it is a sobering thought to think that these students whom we have seen grow up into such fabulous young adults, could now be faced with the threat of radicalisation and crime. But the area that many of them come from, Dagoretti, is not a 'stranger' to such ominous forces and this is the second time, in a very short space of time, that we have counselled the students on being aware of, and resistant to, possible approaches. 

Our students are incredibly fortunate in that they are part of a family and their well-being is a priority for both FDC and KSCT. They are not alone in the process and we will now be guiding them onto the next stage of their education - university/college or vocational courses. That they will 'make the most of themselves' is a given and we look forward to following and supporting them, onwards and upwards!

Louise Roest

Daniel, Catherine and Francis

Anthony and Joyce

Alfred

Catherine and Faith

 

Catherine

Chilling between sessions

Christine making an appointment by phone

Christine

Daniel role-playing

Faith and the others look and learn

Faith, Mercy and Daniel

Rosemary and Alfred

Class scenes follow:

Congratulations to our KCSE Students of 2015

We would like to congratulate our nine 2015 KCSE students on achieving a very respectable set of grades over the last week. 

Particular mention must go to Francis Kioi who received an A- grade, narrowly missing an A plain grade by only two marks! 

Francis is pictured here receiving an FDC academic prize in December 2015

These students are now all fulfilling their compulsory period of voluntary service and working at either the Kenya Red Cross, Mahali pa Watoto Kindergarten or Waithaka Special Needs School until university/college courses are allocated and decisions made on their next career path.

Next week they will be undertaking a three day in-house training course, with their peers from Karen Street Children's Trust, and will be covering a wide range of topics from good presentation skills, the preparation of CVs and application letters; to time management, the appropriate use of social media and an awareness of certain challenges (including the danger of radicalisation) that will face them as they leave school and move on up to tertiary education and more independent living. 

Returning to the KCSE results, it is a great shame that this year's results have been characterised by controversy and we are pleased to report that none of our students have been affected. 

A headline in today's Daily Nation (Saturday 12th March) reads:

"Govt will act on historic exam cheating, Education CS Matiang'i says". 

An extract from the article follows:

Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i has said the government will finally act on the historic cheating that eclipsed the recently released Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.

He said the exams, which recorded the highest rise in the number of cheating cases in history, have revealed serious systemic loopholes that need to be dealt with immediately.

“We cannot subject our children to such recklessness,” he said during the closing ceremony of an education conference for Catholic private educational institutions, head teachers and directors at Catholic University of Eastern Africa.

Last year’s KCSE examinations recorded a 70 per cent rise in cases of cheating from the previous year, with results of 5,101 students being cancelled as a result.

The CS had stated that all those involved in leaking the examinations will be brought to account but had been vague about how this will happen.

He has now set March 30 as the day the government will reveal the actions being taken to ensure this year will not be a repeat of the last.

New Funky Fruit and Veg Notelets

Our immense thanks to Laura Cuthbert for her funky fruit and veg designs for our latest range of notelets. These will be selling at Ksh 500 for a pack of four and are blank inside for your own message! Find them at Karen Provision Stores or the Karen Country Club shop. Alternatively, please do contact a committee member.

FDC's very own Super Tuesday - Trumps and No Trumps

Many thanks indeed to our merry band of 36 Bridge players who gathered last Tuesday for an afternoon of tense (and sometimes tentative) bidding, fierce play and top scores, The afternoon was punctuated by some delicious cakes and sandwiches and a lively raffle, all washed down with a cup of tea and/or a glass of wine! A great deal of fun was had by all and we are pleased to announce that we raised a fabulous Ksh 130,500. Our thanks go to the players, particularly those who braved the traffic from the other side of town, and to all those who donated raffle prizes and roses and, last but not least, to our MC - Jackie. 

Charlie, Wendy, Louise and Linda - FDC fundraisers and dedicated sandwich makers!

Congratulations to Lydiah Wachira on her PhD

We are so proud to congratulate FDC committee member, Lydiah, on attaining her PhD after almost five years' hard work taking a part time degree at the University of Nairobi - whilst working as well! 

Her topic was - PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' ATTITUDE ON THE ROLE OF CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ON SOCIAL COHESION IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA -  a degree of the University of Nairobi.

Lydiah explains it in her own words: "As you must have realized while living in Kenya, social cohesion is a pertinent issue in a country divided along so many different ethnic groups. At attaining independence, the government realized there was need to unite a country which had been broken through the colonial policy of Divide and Rule. One of the vehicles to be  used to bring this unity was education - indeed one of the goals of education is EDUCATION FOR NATIONAL UNITY. The way this was to be done was by incorporating into the curriculum elements that would help Kenyan children be united within their diversity. The idea was to create Kenyans who would nevertheless respect our diversified inheritance.

However 50 years on, the 2007/2008 post election violence happened which was purely based on ethnic diversity.This is what motivated me to carry out the study to find out students' perception and attitude towards promotion of cohesion in Kenya. I used Religious Education, because as a subject, it is naturally geared towards human brotherhood - inspite of differences.

The study involved 25 Secondary Schools in Nairobi and a sample of 550 students. Nairobi was chosen for its cosmopolitan nature where different ethnic groups have lived together for years but, nevertheless, Nairobi was affected by the violence. The main tool of the study was a questionnaire for the students, but I also interviewed a few teachers and Education Officers.

These are some of the findings:  Students' age and the type of school they attended influenced their perception and attitude towards people of other ethnic groups. For example, it was found that the younger the student was, the more positive they were towards relating to other groups. Students attending National Schools were also more positive. It was also found out that the parents' level of education was significant. The higher the educational level of the parents, the more positive students were. Other variables that were tested, such as gender and parents' occupation, did not have any significant influence".

Welcome Wendy to the FDC family

We are so pleased to welcome Wendy Turmel to the FDC committee. With a background in social work, Wendy brings in some much needed support to Catherine and to the rest of the committee and we much look forward to 'working' with her in the months to come.

In Wendy's own words: "I came to live in Kenya towards the end of 2012 from Jersey in the Channel Islands. During my time here I have been involved with the Kamgemi Resource Centre and completed an assessment for Jersken, a small orphanage based in Machakos, which is a charitable organisation run by a Kenyan lady who resides in Jersey. 

I am a social worker by profession working latterly with a Fostering & Adoption Team concentrating mainly on local and overseas adoptions plus the assessment and support of long term foster carers. I also worked for a number of years with an Adult Social Work Team supporting vulnerable adults and spent time with the local Probation Service. I did voluntary work for the local Hospice whilst I was working part time as a member of a team supporting a young quadriplegic man to live as an independent life as was possible.  

I am married to Bob and we have three adult children. Currently my main interests are golf and exploring beautiful Kenya."

FDC's End of Term Christmas Party and Radicalisation & Crime Reality Check

On Wednesday 16th December, FDC's and Karen Street Children Trust's students, parents, guardians and committee members all gathered together for our annual joint Christmas party and prize-giving. After the students had had a chance to eat, sing, speak and celebrate their achievements, it was the turn of the guest speakers - Kenyan radio presenters Rowbow and Kavu - who delivered a serious discussion on the dangers of radicalisation and living a life of crime. Their speech, which was given in Kiswahili, has been kindly translated by FDC's Peter Ndichu - and follows at the end of this post.

We would like to thank KPS for their kind donation of food items for the party and the Anon Trust for their financial support of this event which enabled FDC to give each student a Nakumatt voucher for Ksh 1,000. 

Gathered together for prize-giving and the speeches

A duet from FDC and KSCT

Paul Njogu speaks

Alfred Ndundiro speaks

'Mama Alfred' thanks the FDC committee

Josephine Wanja speaks

Solomon Murithi receives the Form 1 Academic Prize

Grace Waimatha receives the Form 2 Academic Prize

Francis Kioi receives Form 4 Academic Prize

Rosemary Ng'an'ga receives the Form 4 Academic Prize (with Francis)

David Mwangi receives the Chairman's Prize

Catherine stands proud of her students

Pop Gunson talks to and motivates the students

Benson from Mahali Pa Watoto School 

Caleb, our holiday tuition tutor, bids us farewell as he embarks on ventures new

Rowbow and Kavu’s speeches – interpreted here by FDC’s Peter Ndichu

“My name is Robert, AKA Rowbow. Most of you have heard me speak on the radio but today I  am happy to be here in person.  Apologies for getting here late, but we spent the morning at Kamiti prison talking to inmates - thus we had a long way to get here”.  This was followed by a series of jokes and a bit of comedy, which the students very much enjoyed. He then went straight into his topic of discussion.

“Who would wish to get rich and then die immediately?”(All said they wouldn’t want to). “I am aware that there are many radical groups that are trying to woo young people… mark my word young people, these groups are not interested in mature people as they very well know it would be next to impossible to convince any. They know how easily some young people are swayed in any direction by the mention of money. All these groups - Al Shabab,  Mungiki, Al Qaeda etc have one thing in common and that is DEATH.  They are established groups with rich leaders who are only interested in using recruits and then killing them.  Do you think training in the Kenya army is a joke?”  (All said they know it’s very tough). “Kenya army training is nothing compared to the groups’ training. The army trains and takes care of its trainees. These groups train mercilessly; they kill, injure, sexually assault and mishandle recruits. Thus very few, if any, get through the training. If they don`t like you they don’t send you back home. Rather, they kill you! If at the end one is lucky enough to complete the training, what mission will you be sent on? They will send you to kill not to protect. They only go out to kill and to steal. So these, my dear young people, are criminal groups that sell their tactics by promising lots of money - yet their only reward is death.  I am not even sure that they pay recruits. To me, this can only be referred to as modern day slavery. I really doubt that they pay. And in case they do, then the money would only mean anything if the recruits have graveyard banks.

Life is all about making the right decision. I grew up in a slum called Eastlands. As a matter of fact you can`t even compare Eastlands to Dagoretti. You people are in a far better environment. I grew up surrounded by neighbors who were involved in criminal activities but I chose not to join them. I knew who in our neighborhood possessed a gun, sold drugs etc. It was the order of the day. Many of my age mates died from the bullet. I will let my friend talk about this as he understands the topic better but I would urge you to never think about joining a criminal group. It never pays. You are all very lucky; you have people who are interested in your lives. Please make good use of the chances offered to you.

Being born poor doesn`t mean you will die poor.  Work hard and shape your future. With your sponsors help the sky is the limit. Today if you look at me, would you guess that I was once a very poor kid? (I wish I came dressed in my very expensive designer clothes and jewellery). I am where I am today l because I worked hard and was focused. Today I dine with many important people, they listen to me and I am respected by many. I work with many ambassadors. I travel a lot. I am driving a good car and I live in a fairly good area.”

Kavu then took over. He is a well known radio presenter who has become very famous. Our students were very excited to see him in person. He hosts a morning talk show at Ghetto radio which most young people listen to. He was very brief:

“I grew up in Manjengo, and we were very poor. I lost hope and was stupid enough to join criminal gangs. It started like a joke; I snatched handbags then went on to join a carjacking gang. Life as a criminal, wasn`t sweet at all. It was very stressful, and the money I got from it wasn’t helping. In fact, I drank most of it. I was a tormented soul, I saw my friends dying, I lost many. From a gang of over 20, only 3 are alive today. I was arrested and sentenced. It’s then that I decided to change. Robert played a big role in seeing me transformed.  It was a long and hectic journey that I would not wish my worst enemy to travel. I then realized I had a talent.  If only I tried to discover this talent early instead of taking shortcuts. I am now among some very successful journalists in this country. I enjoy radio show hosting and I am competing with the topmost radio presenters - Caroline Mutoko, Shaffie Weru and Maina Kageni. If I have managed to make it this far then all of you can make it too. I very much regret my life in crime, so that is why I talk to young people to let them know that crime is ugly and it torments ones soul. You are better being poor than a criminal. I am very lucky to be alive today and more so to have had people to hold my hand when I decided to leave my past life of crime.”