Oops

Oops, I miscalculated! The MPs awarded themselves a departing bonus of $100 K each

The end of a week

Yesterday was cool and rainy with the temperature barely reaching 20 C. And it was laundry day so we have a line of clothes on the balcony. The power was off most of the afternoon and in the evening we had intermittent breaks of a minute or so. Very frustrating! But this morning we woke to bright sunshine. We shall meet with some members of Kakamega Rotary Club to look at the springs they have protected with the remainder of the global grant.

The news yesterday informed us that the Ministry has decided to go back to the normal time for school opening. So schools will open on Jan 7, but primary school exam results will not be available until the end of January. This will delay the integration of first year high school students into secondary.

Last week the MPs voted themselves a severance package of about $25K each after the government announced new taxes to pay for teacher and doctor increases in pay. Add to this that the new Constitution does not allow anyone to set their own remuneration any more. The President did the right thing and refused to sign the bill. The community-oriented MPs are now threatening to 'go slow' on legislation. Letters and comments show how furious people are.

Our proposed grant from Rotary has been withdrawn. This would have covered Read for the Top in 10 schools, Virtues training in ten schools and 20 communities, professional development for 80 more  teachers , plus job training for about 20 young people.

Today is the International Day of the Girl Child. Some stats: Educating girls is one of the strongest ways not only to improve gender equality but to promote healthy development of families, communities and nations (World Bank) When 10% more girls go to school a country's GDP increases on average by 3%; children born to educated mothers are more likely to survivie past the age of 5; one extra year of primary school boosts girls' eventual wages by 10-30%; in the developing world 1 in 7 girls is married before her 15th birthday; 77 million girls worldwide are not enrolled in school; when international development funds are allocated less than 2 cents of every dollar is directed specifically to girls.

Article in our Kenya paper today co-authored by Desmond Tutu against child marriage.

Finals of Read for the Top

Form 4 is the last year of High School. English exams require reading six set texts: three English, three Swahili. Having this contest has encouraged the studenst to read and comprehend the books. we are looking forward to improved marks in the examinations next month

Read for the Top

A session of Read for the Top is always a learning experience. We went on Friday to the second High School running the contest for their senior (exam) class. A friend in Victoria built us an electronic board to use that lights up for an answer. We had to learn a couple of new tricks to adapt to it and the contestants had an even steeper learning curve. We soon settled down to an enjoyable contest and we go back on Monday for the finals.

News from a secondary school

Earlier this year we put in Eco-San toilets (adapted for equatorial Africa) for the girls in a Secondary school. They are working well and the schools is processing the urea to use on their crops. (Most schools do some farming for instruction and to supplement school lunches.) The school is very proud of the well-maintained toilets and their very green and healthy crops. They no longer purchase urea as fertilizer and might soon start selling the product locally. They process the urine by standing the full drums in the sun for about a week and mixing with water.
This school which is struggling so hard to improve was seriously compromised a few months ago when eight senior girls were found to be pregnant (one by a senior teacher). The teacher has been indicted and his teaching licence revoked. The abuse of girls by teachers is a very real and prevalent problem and one reason why the clergy here have asked me to run a seminar for them to discuss the issue and what communities can do. We have been talking to the school Principal about various awareness strategies both for boys and girls  A girl's career virtually comes to a dead stop when she gives birth, while boys continue happily sometimes avoiding all responsibility.
Situated in a very poor area, the school sees frequent absenteeism from girls who cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. We looked a while ago at the possibility of providing re-usable pads but never really settled on a pilot project. Maybe with the relationship we have with this school, this would be the place to start.

On a happier note, this school is the second to run Read for the Top in their senior (examination) class. We shall hold heats for 66 students on Friday and the finals next Monday.

In Nairobi

Our journey to Nairobi went smoothly and we arrived on Tuesday evening. ByThursday afternoon  the sun had at last appeared and warmed the chilly air. Hard to believe we are near the Equator and not in BC.
Wednesday we went to Immigration to collect our new resident cards that we ordered last March. No sign of them! The fellow put a ‘trace’ request to see what might have happened. The good news is we have our old ones, plus the receipt for the new ones, and someone else can collect them for us at some unspecified future date.
We dropped in at Nakumatt the big supermarket for Rod to buy a cap (he forgot to put one in the luggage!) There we met two young men from Kakamega who, as always, beamed with joy to describe their ‘home’ when they learned we know the area.
Wednesday lunch BBQ at the United Kenya Club offered goat and chicken and many local vegetables. Breakfast gives us large slices of pineapple, papaya and delicious passion fruit.
Our vehicle is here thanks to our network of willing friends and left early Saturday expecting to arrive in the late afternoon. Of course there is something to be fixed, so stopped by our reliable mechanic in Kisumu. Hopefully it will be easy to put right.
As far as the grant goes, we are toiling up the long, slow slope of approval. It looks as if the East Africa District will give the ok but I have to do some work with the local club to ensure they qualify for this kind of grant. (Yes, this could all have been done weeks ago!)
The public school teachers have been on strike for three weeks and are now back at work after receiving a lump sum payment. This means that the very important exam schedule has been thrown out of sync and delay in their administration will mean a delay in opening of school in the new year. This in turn could radically affect our teacher seminar plan which is a major part of the grant proposal.

We never come back to Africa thinking things will be easy! But it is so good to see all the smiling faces and to receive so many welcoming phone calls, that it’s hard to stay frustrated for long.