Friday 22 November 2013

Maryanne's reflection

As I sit here in my warm house, I stop to look around me and really start to notice how fortunate I am to have a home, to have every day life things, to have a fridge and cupboard fill of things that I can help myself to whenever I feel hunger.......every day life ticks by day to day without ever stopping and appreciating everything I have, I have a family, who love me and inspire me everyday, I have a loving and supportive fiancé, I have friends who stick by me and make me laugh daily....all these things are priceless, although, there are many in Kisumu who don't have any of this.

As I step off the plane in Africa, there was the most beautiful sunrise, the colours were magnificent,  from that moment, I knew this was going to be a life changing experience. The warmth of the sun, the smell of Africa, I knew I was back in my homeland, my heart skipped with pride as I embark on this journey.

As I meet the school children I look at their faces beaming at me, all wanting their photo taken! Their faces seem happy, but their eyes tell a different story. As I talk so some of the older children, they open up and tell me their life stories, some of these children are only 12 and have been through a life time of heartache, failure, and let downs! It amazes me how open they are and how they are to not embarrassed about their past!! This is because they look to the future and now they have a future with C4C life centre school. C4C have given them hope, dreams and reality.....far from where they were a few years ago. I fills me with happiness knowing that these children are looking towards the future and not the past.
These children depend on their one meal a day from school, and it surprised me how unselfish they are. There were no arguments, no frightening, and no crying. Most of these children were found in the streets, simply because their parents cannot feed them or they have no family,once Pastor James finds them and enrolles them in the school he finds their parents or family member, they then are allowed back into their home as now they are getting one meal a day from school, so the parents don't have to worry about feeding them. I witnessed a little boy at lunch time eat some of his rice and beans (their day  in and day out meal) a friend came over and put what he had left on the boys plate, they then scooped up what was left into a tub and the boy put it in the classroom, I asked a teacher why he did that, she said he takes it home for his mother! This brought tears to my eyes, as a boy as young as 6 is already taking care of his mother!!
I meet some of the families in the slums. There was one family, a mother and her two boys, who we gave a chicken and a goat too, I asked why have we choose this family, Alice replied saying she always pays her school fees on time. I asked the mother what she does for a job to be able to pay her school fees, she said she works in a bar at night! She leaves her two young boys at 4pm and does not return till the morning, she does this so that her children can have an education and a better future.

Education is the key to this community,  many parents are not educated and so the cycle starts and ends there! C4C are changing this viscous cycle by giving the children hope, a future and most importantly an Education! Education is the key factor to life and future, would you be where you were today if you didnt have an education?!  This impowers me to give children the best start to education,and I do believe we do that at Yellow Dot! We want our children to thrive and be the best they can be! We give our children  hopes and dreams, we watch them grow and succeed in lifeand nurture every single one of them.

The one thing that will stay with me from this experience is the sound of children singing, words cannot express how it sounds or makes you feel, my whole body fills with goosebumps and eyes start to fill up with tears as they sing and move to the sound of their voice. Singing is a huge part of their daily life, which enriches the culture and fills their hope and dreams. I will be bringing this more into the daily life's of our children at Yellow Dot.

No words, photos or videos will ever be able explain how uplifting and life changing this trip was.

A big thanks to Paul, Shirley and Jude. What you do is amazing work, you are so passionate about what you do, and thank you for making a difference to the children life in kisumu. Paul and Shirley own Asante coffee shop, one based in Chandlers Ford, one on Romsey. All the profit they make goes towards their C4C charity, they also sell lots of African market things, that are brought directly from the Kisumu market, this way they are buying from the local market in Kisumu and selling it in their coffee shop to give back to their C4C charity. So whenever you want a coffee or hot chocolate on these winter nights, pop a long to Asante coffe shop, you might even see charlotte and I on their slide show of photos! Just think one coffee is buying a child's meal at school!
Thank you James ans Alice for looking after all the children in the school, these two have hearts bigger than Africa, they feed up to 100 children from there home in Kisumu in the holidays as the children have no where to go!
Thank you Jane for giving Charlotte and I the greatest opportunity to do this.
And last but not least Charlotte, my slum mate, I couldn't have asked for anyone better to experience this with!

Asante
Maryanne







Charlotte's Reflection

As I sit here in the warmth of the Yellow Dot office and type this post it seems far away from the slums of Kisumu, Kenya. This morning I have had many lovely comments about our blog and the lovely photographs that Maryanne so expertly took, it felt so humbling that so many people wanted to be part of our journey.

What I will remember most from my trip is the children's stories, their dreams and their hope.

 If we take Janets story:

'In the year 2011, I met Pastor James Samo in the church preaching. My father told Pastor that I was staying with my aunt since Iwas a young girl.She took me and ran away with me.She ran away with me because she heard that my father and mother were fighting each other because of some small issues.
So after some time,they separated.My mother went away from us and then my father and mother's family started fighing for us.That is when my aunt came and took me.
I stayed with my aunt for along period of time then my mother came again to take me away with her because I was still a girl by then she knew where we were, she grabbled me as if she was a thief.
I went with her knowing that she will take care of me as her daughter but I was mistaken.Staying with her was just like I was in hell. I suffered a lot there. After staying with her my father just knew that she had taken me.So, he came and took me and asked my aunt if could take care of me again.My aunt accepted and taught me upto class four.After those four years, my aunt started mistreating me.
So, when I came to visit my father, I told him that I wouldn't go back to stay with my aunt because she was mistreating me. So my father had another wife who seemed to be a good mother than my real mother.
So my father told Pastor James about all this story and he accepted to help me.He told my father to take me to school and have an interview when the school was oppened.My father did as he was told and I passed the interview.I was taken back to class four because they didn't have class five.Pastor James helped in paying me school fees, lunch and he also paid my exams fees. So that is how I came to Life Centre Junior School'


When Janet grows up she wants to be an accountant, she can now have these dreams and aspirations because she can see her future. Before she began at the Lifecentre school she could have no ambitions as she was fighting for her well being and security. It is amazing how much education can make a difference, it is a way out and gives hope.

Visiting the slums makes you see where the children return to after their day at school or nursery. After they have been given a meal, stimulation, fresh air and freedom they then head home to fend for themselves, into dark galvanised buildings with holes in the ceiling, into the insecuirity of what life might hold.

The Lifecentre School  means a lot to these children, it is a place where dreams can be made into reality, a place of refuge, where a meal is gaurenteed and place of safety. This has to be maintained for the childrens wellbeing and to ensure quality outcomes for everyone. This can only be acheived through the finanical backing and the support of everyone. This is not just in the UK, but in Kenya too. We spoke to the teachers and managers out in Kenya about being more self sustainable, to set up businesses to get income for the schools. This inspired them and they now want to set up a Salon and as well as the sewing machines we have provided for them they can now begin to make money for themselves. The businesses they want to begin have a set up cost, which we want to help raise, so please watch this space to see how you can help!!

As well as making a difference to the school out in Kenya, our trip will also have a very positive impact on Yellow Dot. One of the highlights of my trip was the music, particularly the singing, the sound of their voices in unison was filled with happiness. The beat of the drum in the background added to the story they were telling about their faith in God and the hope for a future. With the sound of the drum came the dancing,  embodying energy and a graceful beauty flowing with rhythm. It is the children's faces as they danced that will stay with me, their pure enjoyment for what they were doing and their gleaming eyes as they got lost in the movement and sound of the music. Gradually more and more people would join in, binding the community together in keeping life vibrant, contributing to a sense of security, safety and continuity.

A rich voice opens the ear and gives energy to the nervous system. Not only does it help children process and memorise the message, but it also increases their desire to listen more, learn more, and know more. A good voice fills the cognitive and emotional brain. With so many benefits it is a wonder why we don't embrace music in the nursery so much more.

Looking back at the questions that I sent to Jane expressing an interest in representing Yellow Dot in Kenya I wanted to empower lifelong learning and provide children with greater opportunities to fulfil their dreams. I wanted to build on the characterstics of effective learning and inspire a passion to contribute and share knowledge that in turn will help forge links and build partnerships to acheive common goals.

Have I acheived the above? It is hard to tell as we are always working to improve every aspect of our practise. What I do know is that I will never give up wanting to inspire our children and to make sure they have the skills, knowledge and passion to fulfil their dreams.

On a personal level it made me appreciate what I have, to stop and take stock of the moments we are in before moving on to the next. I am one for racing through each experience to keep striving to move forward, but don't often take time to reflect and absorb the result of my efforts. I know I need to slow down. However in the fast paced world of Yellow Dot is it often hard to do this as you can get wrapped up in the whirlwind of paper work and time constraints.

It was an adventure that I will never forget and I have taken away so many things. It is hard to put everything into words!
 


 
 
 


Monday 18 November 2013

Bringing Yellow Dot to Kenya

We left the hotel this morning wearing our Yellow Dot T-shirts with pride!! We were going to put the Yellow Dot stamp on the nursery!! We acheived this tenfold.

As we enter the nursery gates, the children run towards us, wanting to hold our hands and touch our skin. Now they are familiar with us and can remember our names they have grown more confident. As individuals the children are polite, courteous and respectful. These characteristics are still apparent in the larger group, but all the children want it a bit of attention and to not miss out on opportunities. This is why we felt like the pied piper of Hamilin as they all follow us. They all race to see what you are doing getting so you get one big mass of children, today there were 38 children in the nursery, all wanting a piece of our attention. This makes it very difficult to manage the children, even more so for us because of the language barrier. We wanted to play a group game, but getting them to listen and play a game we found very challenging. We have to commend the teachers. There understanding of the children's background and needs make it easier for them to listen to instruction. One simple instruction such as 'get your chairs' made the children assemble into rows and get ready for our stories.

The resources each of the nurseries made went down well. We read the Gruffalo and Percy the Park Keeper, One Snowy night! There were conversations about snow, which these children had never experienced. They repeated new words to us in English and listened intently as we introduced them with the imagination and delight a story book can offer. They were entralled!!! We sung songs with the props, 5 speckled frogs, they all wanted to be the frog, but the teacher managed them well to ensure we got a selection of different children.

The children thoroughly enjoyed playing Cobbler, Cobbler mend my shoe, we played the game for about an hour. I don't think our children would maintain their concentration for this long!!! It was surprising how quickly the children grasped how to play this game. They waited patiently for their turn and were not disheartened when the game ended and they hadn't had a turn. You wonder how the children became so respectful and unselfish, you have to put it down to the hardship of their upbringing and how they are in it together.

We served them lunch, rice and beans, it was very tasty. Conversation does not flow much during the meal time. They all take a chair or perch outside and consume themselves in the only meal that many of them will have today.  As we sit with them and share their food it becomes about making the most of what you have. This is something that we will definitely bring back to Yellow Dot!

The outside play area is simple, rocks, water and debris that the children have found around the ground. We notice children making pretty patterns and pictures with these natural materials, something that we do at Yellow Dot. When the children are playing, we notice that no adults are interacting or supervising, the children play cooperatively and together.The teachers sit about on their phones and listening to music, when we tell them about our policies relating to social media, phones and cameras they look at us stunned.

We had great fun with the teachers and children at the nursery today, we took them Yellow Dot t-shirts for both the teachers and the children, they eagarly try them on wanting to be part of the nursery that we have built up to them through our pictures and stories. They chimed out Yellow Dot, Yellow Dot, Yellow Dot!! We offer them a Yellow Dot balloon and they are all capable of blowing them up. We have many opportunities for photo taking. What strikes us is how they follow instructions and order. The teacher has many different techniques to organise them, they are aware of what class they are in and respond without fuss!!!

We returned to the hotel will 3 of the primary children in our tuc tuc! We have set them up with a blog so we can continue to see the difference we have made as well as the fantastic work the c4c charity have made. They have shared their heart wrenching stories of how the children became to be at the school. Please do take time to follow their blog, it will make you realise how much work their still is to do as well as how much of a difference has already been made: http://lifecentrejuniorschool.blogspot.com. We will be following Janet, Geofrey and Douglas's stories as they make their journey through the school and beyond to fulfil their life ambitions. Before they introduced to the school they couldn't have any dreams or aspirations as they couldn't see a way out! Education has given them a lifeline, their is much more work to be done at the school. This is only the beginning!

a Yellow Dot day in Kenya photos











Sunday 17 November 2013

Faith, Chickens and goats.

This morning was all about Faith and how the belief in God can get you through anything. This is what we saw from our visit to church. The singing sends out happiness and hope, making you feel joyous of life, even the toughest ones! As the congregation stand up and dance to the worship music, closing their eyes and looking up for god to shower wealth  upon them.

We all had the opportunity to share our prayers and stories infront  of the congregation, i thanked the community for making us feel so welcome, allowing us to fully embrace the Kenyan way of living. I talked about their spirit for life which is echoed through their dancing and singing, along with their faith, these 3 things will stay with us forever.

Shirley talked about how trees have blossom before they bear fruit, sharing the analogy that change has to happen if things are to improve. We can faciliate this change but everyone else needs to play their part. It was a very motivating and inspiration morning.

The afternoon started with a journey to the outskirt of Kisumu, this is where we were to purchase the goats and chickens! As we arrived we were greeted with a whole group of people wanting us to purchase their livestock. We had to hold the chickens on the journey to the slums which was about 30 mins. As we cuddled up to them, bonding with them, we knew they would make a big difference to families. We did name the chickens we were holding as we wished thrm happy lifes in their future homes.

Arriving at the slums the first things you notice is the amount of rubbish and the smell. We walked up very stoney paths to the family home of Emily. Emily was found on the streets by James and are now supporting the rest of the family in staying out of poverty. Evelyn, the mother, is without a husband and relies on the charity bringing them food. She has aids and has passed hiv on to her children, she has medication for this. As we pass the goats and chickens to the family it hits us how this small gesture will make a difference to the quality of life, which is one of the reasons why we wanted to be part of this project. We find presents for the children, two small teddy bears, we will never forget the faces of these children as they look with disbelief that these belong to them.

We visit 3 other families to offer our very small gestures, the homes are all very similar, one room divided into 2 by a dusty sheet. There is seating, benches and small stool in a very confided space, you can see that these are used for beds for the whole family when you see piles of mattresses placed on one side of the hut. Outside one home you get a strong odour of the toilets, when I say toilets they are 3 galvanized huts with a hole in the ground. It is hard to get across in words the poverty of these families living condition are, the pictures only do it a bit of justice. What we noticed what just the amount of rubbish their is around. It makes you realise what these children go home to when they leave nursery.

church, goats and chicken photos









Saturday 16 November 2013

We are shopped out!!

Today has all been about shopping, as I type this both of us are shattered. In Kenya you work very hard to negiotiate a price, as soon as they see a white person they treble the price. We took tips from Alice and Paul and in the end got some very good deals. We used our womanly charm!

What we want to support the school with is developing the skills of everyone, bring in involvement of the community and provide a means for income for the school. One way we want to achieve this is to.provide sewing machine so we can set up a club. This morning we went to town to buy them. The shop we went into was full of boxes and we got invited into a back room. He showed us boxes and told us they were here, we had to ask him to get them out for us to.see, it was a very laid back shopping style. After Alice demonstarted her outstanding skills of neogiating we purchased these with the help of Yellow Dot parents generosity. We were also able.to.purchase the school a camera so we could be kept up to date of developments when we leave.

We were also able to get fabrics and other tayloring equipment to help make uniforms for the children. They are not allowed to come to school unless they have uniform and their hair shaven or braided. This is because they then look the same and to try and mauntain some hygiene.


The afternoon involved more shopping where we were purchasing things for.us and things to.take to the yellow.dot nurseries. Our bartaring skills came into play and we struck some good deals for things that we could use to embrace the African Culture when we return to England.

Hi all you Yellow Dotters, this is Paul. As i write this we are in the middle of a tropicak thunderstorm. Shirley and I would like you to know that Charlotte and Maryanne have settled in amaxingly well into the Kenyan lifestyle, so much so that I am beginning to wonder if they will return to the uk. They certainly are enjoying the maneyarta lifestyle of the Kenyan. Seriously though they are great ambassadors for the Yellow Dot Nurseries and all the children love them (that my drinks sorted out of the rest of the trip) handing back to Charlotte now, signing off Paul. P.S if you are in Chandlers Ford or Romsey please do.take time.to.visit our Asante coffee shops.

Please do excuse all he spelling errors in this blog. We are typing it on a small tablet!!!

our shopping day in the market photos









Friday 15 November 2013

Graduation Day

We are getting very used to travelling by tuc tuc, the bumpy roads seem to have now blended in with the smooth roads. We arrive at the nursery, but are not allowed to enter as preparations are still underway. Alice arrives on a motorbike, another common way of travelling around Kisumu, she tells that she is returning from the hospital as her cousins child had died last night from servere malaria. she was just 6, Alice didn't show much emotion as she sayes this is very normal.

After about an hour of waiting teachers come out to put decorations up on the gate, it reads 'Welcome to our graduation day' with decoaration we made on Wednesday with them. The gates open and the children are lined up each side to create a walkway for us which we had to dance up to our seats. Loud music played, building a sense of occassion and the importance of this day. We danced to our seats under a tent where we eere both presented with chief guest badges.

If I had one word to describe this day it would be progress. The children have come a long way from where they were when they were bought to the nursery from the slums when they were 3, the grand occassion celebrates the journey the children have had as well as the journey the school has been on in progressing to improve outcomes for children. This sentence has a very familiar ring to it as I can hear Jane telling the whole Yellow Dot Team about putting the children in the centre of everything we do and this is exactly what the graduation day eluded.

As I write this the day comes across as a fluid transition of events, in Kenya people have no sense of time as they have no urgency to get things done. They gave us a timetable of how the day was going to pan out and we sat down and got presented with our badges at 11.30 when the event was surposed to start at 10.00.

We had an hour of entertainment of children dancing and singing with a sense of Joy for their achievements. We had to individually dance with the children, our sensr of rhythm does not compare to theirs, they find our dancing very funny!

We had about 3 hours of speeches, some dragged on a little. Alice and James gave very passionate speeches. They wanted to get across to parents their role in the education of their children. They wanted to remind parents to wake their children up before leaving their home as well as thr importance of paying their fees. Alice works tirelessly to chase fees,  Yellow Dot managers can empathise with this, however the difference is that with getting nursery fees from parents in this Kenya nursery is the difference of these children getting their uniforms and books. Parents often see the money that comes from the charity as free and don't recognise the effort of the team in Asante coffee shop in making sure enough they are making profit to continur to support this school. As the school here grows the money the coffee shops brings to thus nursery gets more diluted.


The top 3 children from each class got presented with a rucksack and a book. You coukd see the importance of having these items as well as the pride they had having these gifts. As a child open their 1 book children flocked to read it, they were actually reading the english words. Mary came up to us with such a proud smile showing of her prizes, she tells us she got these items becuase she came 2nd in her class because she worked hard.

After the ceremony everyone was offered a meal, the rice did look very clean :)  The children  sat eating their food, some sharing off their friends plate and others eating with their food with their hands. Those presented with rucksacks sat clutching their bags while eating their food as this gift presents their hard word. When i asked one boy what he was going to do with his bag he said he was going to put his clothes in it because he didn't have anywhere else to keep them.

photos from the BIG Graduation day