Aiming for the top with Summit Recruitment and Search

Last week, two of our post-tertiary students, Festus Wachira and Nixon Lihanda, who are now both looking for permanent positions, were lucky enough to attend a Careers Advisory Clinic at our sponsor Summit Recruitment and Search. Here, they were able to access help from Summit consultants and received a great deal of advice on possible jobs and careers. The day started off with some tests, as shown below. We would like to thank Summit for their support - not only as a financial sponsor, but in giving valuable time and advice as well. Next up will be an Interview Techniques training half day course. Thank you to Sue and the Summit team! This type of help is immeasurable and vital in helping our students find the right jobs for the future.

Festus, left, and Nixon work on a number of tests at Summit Recruitment and Search

Spring Newsletter

Read our latest newsletter (Issue 12 - May 2016) which is hot off the press! In it you will find articles on our latest in-house training course, KCSE results and exam issues, fundraising, our latest range of notelets and what it costs to support a student through secondary education if you or a group of friends or family are looking for a worthy cause to support! Our AGM will be on Wednesday 18th May at 2.30pm at Mahali Pa Watoto School - please email us if you are able to attend. 

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.

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".

Inspired and Inspiring

Many thanks to local businessman and entrepreneur, Brett Sievwright, who gave up his Saturday morning to deliver an inspiring talk to our post-KCSE students. His life skills and motivational talk covered many topics - including the importance of choosing the right attitude in life; how to channel your energies (physical, mental and spiritual) to optimize your potential; the importance of integrity in all that you do and having SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) goals.

Brett captured everyone's attention and there was a lively and animated question and answer session at the end. Many thanks Brett for giving up your valuable time and for treating the students to pizza and sodas! We all look forward to your next session on IQ and intelligence. Asante Sana! 

Making the most of our Post-KCSE students

Last week we completed another good communication skills training course for our fourteen post-KCSE students, together with five from Karen Street Children's Trust. 

The three day course covers good communication and presentation skills; English grammar; letter and CV writing; emailing and texting: time management; social media; and good etiquette - with a good amount of the course spent role-playing and presenting. A lot of fun was had by all and the students all leave with their comprehensive documents, which will help them in the future! Certificates were presented to the students at the end of the session, by Pop Gunson and Romi Grammaticas. We wish them all the best of luck now with their tertiary education, and will be supporting them through the next exciting stage of their lives! 

 

Report Reading

This week has been report reading week at FDC, with Catherine, below, joined by various committee members to hear how each student is progressing both work-wise and socially. We place a great deal of emphasis on monitoring the well-being of our students and enjoy bringing the parents or guardians in at the same time, to keep them in the educational loop! Cheques for next term's school fees are also being issued so it has been a busy week for FDC.

Feedback from our most recent training course for the post-KCSE students has also been extremely positive and more information on this course can be found under the Education and Training heading of this blog.