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Travel report Kilifi – Kenya October 1 to October 11, 2024 by Geeske Homma > treasurer and Ingrid Vink > chairman
It was another very impressive trip. What we all did (in no particular order):
Of course we have our Learn! Visited the Centre, and it was so busy! About 60 (!) children were present, all super enthusiastic and eager to learn. It's great to see how excited they are to learn new things. Fortunately, we have enough laptops to let them work on their computer skills, math, life skills, and more, exactly according to the CBC (Competency Based Curriculum). It is a real opportunity for the children to learn with us, and they really appreciate that. However, we unfortunately have to conclude that we cannot yet welcome all children, simply because space is limited. But we will work hard on that together with our board and team!
We have had many discussions with our team. Mission and vision discussed. Inventory what best suits the work of Learn! Foundation fits. Looked at the time spent/load capacity of our team. We have offered our volunteer Ann Safari Mwangi a one-year contract. Got to know our new volunteer Emanuel (psychology student, 4th year), well prepared for the visit at the Giriama Tailoring Center, and discussed many more future-oriented ideas in the context of further professionalization of the Learn! Foundation.
We attended the teachers conference organized by our team in Kenya (on behalf of Aisha & Friends). Spoke to many acquaintances!
We visited the Giriama Tailoring Center, which is part of the Ticket to School project (AFAS Foundation), and we were able to make them happy with some fantastic things: the payment of all school fees for the 13 students, 7 new tables for the sewing machines, 1 pattern table and 3 sewing machines for the students who have obtained their diploma. The joy was indescribable! There was singing, dancing and literally shouting with joy. What a party.
The Learn! Foundation's 15th anniversary wil be held at 16th November. We celebrated this with our fantastic team (Jackline, Frida, Ann, Emmanuel) and three wonderful students (Pius, Innocent and Gertrude). We complete the party with a dinner full of surprises. Everyone received trendy sunglasses, a nice shirt, a ballpoint pen and a little pocket money. The reactions were heartwarming, one of the students commented: “this is the best day of my life”. We are extremely grateful that we could celebrate this together. What an evening!
Home visit to family of Gertrude, our student who hopes to graduate from Pwani University next year. She is following a teacher training course in Religion and Geography. This visit left a very deep impression on us. What strength this family has to get up again and again after many falls. We will help two more family members with their further education through the Lamento fund.
Lamento is the charity foundation of the Utrecht Student Association Veritas. We received a fantastic amount from them (almost € 18,000). This amount has been secured in a fund, with which we can finance student grants annually (for 5 years). The first batch of team Lamento is a fact. No fewer than 11 students aged 22 to 27 were festively informed that they had been selected. The joy was enormous. We will of course closely monitor the progress of these students, help where necessary, and soon also guide them to work. The latter was made possible with a great donation from:
Van Well van der Snoek Foundation. With their generous donation (€ 15,000), we will help all our students, but also other young people, for a year through extensive job application training to strengthen their efforts in looking for work. The teaching modules/training will be developed in the coming months, so that we can start straight away in the new year.
Of course we also visited our seamstresses Evaline and Joyce who are already busy with the ticket to school project.
This assignment is of great value, especially for Evaline, who has an extra difficult time as a single disabled mother.
Home visit to Elija Baraka's father. This brilliant student scored very high in the national exams. His ambition is to become a doctor. After a lot of help from our team, he finally managed to get the first trimester of his medical studies paid for. The Governor played a role in this. But it is uncertain whether they will pay for the entire study. Elija is of extremely poor background and comes from Kaembeni village in Ganze, Kilifi County. He will soon receive a laptop from us and we will help him with things such as clothing, shoes and study materials. The study costs KSH 500,000 per year and that is too high for our foundation without an earmarked donation specifically for this purpose. But we remain alert and Elija has our attention.
We were warmly welcomed at Makonjemare Comprehensive School*. We hope to continue with the food program. The school garden is a great success. Our gardener Jacob works hard and we have rewarded him extra. We have also financed the plowing (rented a tractor) of the extra soil on site and, albeit on a different note, we have promised to help with the purchase of new scout uniforms. Scouting is highly regarded in Kenya. We were both allowed to cut the ribbon to open the new home of the director and deputy. Makonjemare also participates in the 'Ticket to School' project, which provides approximately 370 children with a school uniform. An enormous burden reduction for the parents.
Mbwana Comprehensive School was the next school. This school now has no fewer than 801 children. The popularity is partly due to the new classrooms, the provision of free school uniforms, and the great playground. It was shocking to see what it is like to teach a class with no fewer than 115 children! Due to the strong growth (also applies to Makonjemare), progress seems to be stagnating somewhat. There is a shortage of teachers, especially in Mbwana. As far as we are concerned, it is the government's turn.
For our team, continuing to monitor progress at both schools, coordinating the ticket to school program and contact with the HOI** is part of the job. Due to the distance and the number of children, but also because of maintaining contact with the Parent Councils, this requires quite a few hours of work.
Visit and tour by one of our scholarship students Gertrude, at Pwani University in Kilifi. It was nice to be able to view the university from behind the entrance gate and experience the atmosphere. Next month (November 21, 2024 > 12th Graduation ceremony) our students Pius and Innocent will graduate. Proud of them!
Meeting with Michael Jefwah, the former director of Makonjemare. Michael has been promoted and now works as an education officer, and is involved in policy. Now it turned out he was working with a 13-year-old laptop and was desperately trying to get his hands on a newer one. AFAS Foundation presented us with a beautiful laptop. Happiness everywhere!
We visited the new Kesho Kenya office, where we had a conversation with Beatrice Njeri, the program manager. We can learn a lot from them and they are willing to help us with time-consuming matters that we need to sort out and organize. They have a lot of (local) experience. Our team will soon make an appointment to sit down. Very nice to be able to introduce this contact to our network.
Last but not least: We had a great time. Our collaboration was great! We feel very clearly our responsibility towards our friends, donors, ambassadors, the CBF and of course our team in Kenya. The pitfall is to say yes to things that ultimately fit less well into our program, even though ultimately everything has to do with education. The (progressive) insight that we have gained together is that, always together with our entire team and board, we will select more strictly what we do and do not undertake. Scholarships and the further development of our own Learn! Center have the highest priority.
Taking good care of our network that we have built up over the past 13 years in Kenya and the Netherlands and maintaining focus on what we want to work towards with our organization are top priorities.
*Due to the mandatory merger of primary and junior secondary schools, primary schools are now called comprehensive schools.
**The director of a comprehensive school is now called an HOI (Head of Institution).
