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Educating
street children in the Mathare slum, a project on GlobalGiving.org
has posted an update. Here's the unedited update from the field:
Greetings from Mathare - October
By Titus Mwangi - Team Leader
Handbag
making by our Mamas
Dear Friends,
As we
continue to increase awareness and raise funds for our children in
Mathare, who would otherwise have never stepped into the hallways of a
school, we would like to kindly update you of what we have been up to
the last few weeks.....
We had few programs going
on during the August school holidays;
1.
Review of the previous Hansard report for April Parliament proceedings
in August
The children asked that we review the proceedings of the previous April
parliament since they felt a few things agreed on had not been
implemented. This was evident for lack of benches to sit on as agreed
between the office and the children in April. (We have proceeded to the
buy benches as agreed with the children)
2.
Children Rights vs New Kenyan Constitution
We had more than 50 children attend the 4 day workshop sponsored by
Pathfinder International –APHIA Plus. We discussed the recent Kenyan
(2010) promulgated constitution versus The Children’s Act of 2001. In
the new Kenyan Constitution there exists an advanced Bill of Rights
that among rights recognizes Socio-Economic rights of all children.
These rights among others were compared to what we have in The
Children’s Act 2001 and gaps identified especially on areas to do with
the survival rights, Development rights, Protection rights and
Participation rights. During the workshop, children from St.
Benedict’s project were invited to attend too.
3.
Origami and T-shirt design
We had a couple with children from Austria visit us on their holidays
and two of them wanted to stay and help the children learn how to make
Origami animals and design T-shirts with different colours and
patterns. They came bearing gifts for our project from Austria. Our
hall is now beautifully decorated with Origami art and kids have
T-shirts with all types of design. See photo
4.
Parents meeting
We had our quarterly meeting with parents where several issues were
discussed among them next year’s agreement on sharing of
responsibilities when it comes to shopping and transport. This created
a lot discussion but there can only be growth if one knows how to fish
and not getting fish all the time in a silver platter. The mothers who
are interested in basket making among other craft works were asked to
sign up since we were starting a project on crafts in the month of
October.
Handbag Making
We have started making handbags from waste paper – tetra pack– with a
group of 7 women. This group of women who would generally be washing
clothes for a small fee have embarked on the training and as we report
these, they have learned and currently are producing 3 bags a day.
MCFpanairobi will act as the middleman in which we will try and get a
market for the products within Kenya and outside the country. This was
agreed since sales and marketing is one area that the women are
incapacitated for the time being. We have seen this works after
one of our children currently in the University started making bangles,
rings and chains from copper was able to get his hostel fees from the
sale of these items when we connected him to a fair trade shop in one
of the malls in Nairobi.
Sooner or later we will be asking you to buy one and support the
mothers and we hope you will. They will also learn how to make chains
from beads and paper for further income.
Children Protection Policy
and Code of Conduct
We can finally report that we have finished writing our Code of Conduct
and Children Protection Policy for our organization. Although it took
quite a while, we cannot stop from thanking Niamh, who is a board
member who assisted us with her vast knowledge on this field having
worked for long in the children sector. She visited the project for a
week when she was meant to be on holidays and helped us in finishing
the policies.
Third term – reporting back
to school
In September, all public school teachers went on strike demanding an
increment of their salaries. This created concern is now being raised
over the negative impact the teachers strike is
having especially on class 8 and form 4 candidates. The school calendar
has also been changed affecting the holidays and syllabus for the whole
2013 year. It’s important to note that we have elections next
year and most schools act as polling stations and this too will affect
the education calendar of 2013.
Exchange Program between
DESECE and MCFpanairobi
With the assistance of Horizont3000, we were able to have an exchange
program between MCFpanairobi and DESECE project in Bungoma County.
DESECE staffs were able to visit our project in late August while we
visited them mid October for learning experiences. We will continue to
grow our relationship on areas we could cooperate.
Nairobi Only Walking Tour
We finally printed posters and made brochures of our new project where
we are offering walking city tours of Nairobi. We have had more than
ten Nairobi walking tours since inception and the feedback is great. So
when you’re in Nairobi, remember to book a tour with us. These monies
go into the project while the children (above 18 years) who undertake
these tours with our guests get an income to enable them meet some
costs in college or home.
Visit
We were lucky to get one of our long term donors and a board member
visit us and with them, they came bearing gifts for the children who
will get them come December. Thank you Wendy, Niamh and you are always
welcome to visit again and again.
Dennis Cricket
Exploits
Remember during a previous update early this year we told you of how
Dennis had joined a cricket team that had been invited to play in an
elite National Junior Championship during the August holidays? Well,
his team played and they won the championship although it was the only
team which had to take public means to the competition. During
the championship Dennis was awarded a trophy as the best bowler and we
cannot be more proud.
Lastly my
dear friends If you have any queries regarding our organization or the
updates please feel free to contact us anytime and we will promptly
respond.
Lots of Love
from Mathare
Nairobi
Walking Tours Poster
Group
work during the workshop
Exchange
Program btw DESECE and MCFP
 
Updates are posted directly by Project Leaders,
and to make your experience as authentic as possible, GlobalGiving does
not alter these updates - they are the real deal.
About this
project:
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120
impoverished children from the Mathare slum in Kenya will be given
education, technical training, school materials, food and medicine.
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