Kirsty reports on her first full day in Kenya - she's certainly packed a lot in...

Having arrived at Macheo on Wednesday night after a long journey, our first meeting of the day on Thursday morning was with Marnix, the founder of Macheo our partner organisation in Kenya, and we spent some time reflecting on how much has changed since my last visit in 2013. We benefit from their continued focus on improvement and how to best address the needs of the children and families they support. 

We then met with some of the key personnel at Macheo, starting with the Monitoring & Evaluation team which is a perfect example of something that has changed. They now they now collect and collate all the Key Performance Indicators that are used to measure the different programmes. Using mobile apps and technology they have made identifying, referring and evaluating what we do so much quicker and simpler. James and his new colleague Joyce seem to be delivering great insight back into the Macheo organisation which we also benefit from. KPIs from the various programs are regularly monitored and used to flag and bring about actions. Similarly, the communications team at Macheo has grown and Edna talked us through how they’ve spent this year simplifying the process ensuring we will now hear about the the projects, budgets and people in a more holistic way.

We took the 40 minute journey to Mukuyu Primary School with Faith, one of the program coordinators, and our visit began meeting the Headmaster Daniel and my first meeting with Mary and Winny the social workers who deliver most of Kipawa’s programmes. During the meeting the headmaster informed us the school roll is about to exceed 800 kids and it certainly felt a busier school than when I last visited.

Feeding the children is still at the core of what we do and some parents are already worried about how they will cope over the holidays when schools break up on 26th October. There is good cooperation between the supportive staff who refer cases to Mary & Winny and highlight any concerns they have about attendance, behaviour or vulnerability.

Following the meeting we went for a wander around the school as the children ate lunch and we saw the building of an additional nursery classroom funded by Kipawa which is underway.  It’s expected to be complete in late October which will allow the teachers to split the current 65 children into 2 rooms - the Teachers, Joyce and Mary, are very much looking forward to having more space for teaching and I don’t blame them! With a growing school roll I can already see that the toilets which we had built in previous years are not enough to cope with 800 kids.

Following our tour, the whole school assembled for a presentation, and after we introduced ourselves I was delighted to hand out the underwear and shoes that had been paid for by our appeal. There was a lot of excitement and laughter when we handed out the pants!

I made a special visit to Class 1 to hand out the letters I had taken from Leith Primary School and received some letters and a lovely song from them in return. They were very keen to see the letters and pictures that had come from Scotland.

After lunch, we left the school and headed to Ruiru (many thanks to our intrepid driver Paul!) to meet a mother who was first referred to Mary by teachers who were concerned about her 3 children. Her story is very complex and harrowing. She had been badly burned in an attack by her ex-husband, leaving her hospitalised and in recovery for 2 years. When she was discharged she received no support and was effectively housebound until our social workers intervened. She was given counselling and support and responded so well that she has now set up her own shop selling groceries. She works 7 days a week, sometimes from 5am-10pm, determined to support her family. I always find my trips to Kenya humbling but in her case I simply can’t imagine having the strength to cope with life so admirably after such an experience.

Our last visit of the day was to a grandmother that had been referred to the social workers via one of the secondary school teachers we work with. She had been bed-ridden due to an infected leg and had spent all of her savings on medicine which had not resolved the problem, leaving her penniless, unable to work or even do simple tasks for herself. After assessing her, the team were able to get her the correct medical support and, having supported her back to good health, helped her to  set up her own business. With a small loan she has established a small kiosk with a basic seating area (strangely called a hotel!) selling vegetables and hot food which she prepares and is financially stable and supporting her grandchildren. Within 6 months her life has been entirely changed and she is not only healthy but has a sustainable future. 

After a jam packed day we headed back to Madaraka to have dinner and reflect on our day. Another busy day ahead tomorrow!

Kirsty and her Mum and Dad have made it to the airport. They are excited to get to Kenya and see everyone!

Don't forget, we pay all of our own expenses for our visits, so every penny you give goes to help the children and families we support in Kenya. And there's still time to donate ....

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/BacktoSchool

A massive thanks to all the kids in P4 at Leith Primary who wrote lovely letters for us to take to Kenya and give to the children in Mukuyu and Oaklands schools.

Also a big thanks again to Ms McDonald and Ms Hinds for organising it all.

Only 4 days until we go! Still time to donate...uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/BacktoSchool

It’s World Porridge Day! Every day we give porridge more than 900 children at two schools in Ruiru, Kenya. This is vital for health, well-being and educational progress.‬

Yesterday was the final full day of David's Kenya visit.
 
"In preparing for this trip, we launched a small appeal to fund some items for the supported nurseries such as toys, books and other equipment. Just under £500 was raised and we spent a good chunk of that in the nearest town – Thika - prior to my final visit to Mukuyu Primary School. A van full of new gear arrived with us, and we helped unload boxes into the classroom. The children were thrilled to receive their new reading books, skipping ropes, hoola-hoops and other little toys. We also bought some mattresses for the nursery kids, who often need to take a nap in the late morning, especially when it gets really hot. Until today, they were sleeping on blankets on the floor. Another van is on its way to Oaklands today with a similar consignment.

You can still donate to this appeal here.
 
A good friend of Kipawa, Dave Shepherd, very sadly died last year and his family was keen that donations made in his memory were used to fund some sporting activities. Some of the money they donated was spent today on footballs for some budding Kenyan football stars of the future.

The afternoon was spent mostly with our partner organisation in Kenya, the Macheo Foundation. I met with Marnix, its Director, and others in the team to talk through the past couple of days, the general performance of the programmes over the past year, and our plans for 2018. This included:

• Discussing activities by the new Monitoring & Evaluation team with James & Humphrey – they showed how the AKIDA referral system used by social workers in the field, linking with Business Intelligence software at the office, is being developed to identify need across several themes, assisting with budget projections and helping to demonstrate actual impact for the monies spent. This is a work in progress but we should see some outputs from that work by January.  
  
• A good chat with the new Communications lead, Branice – we spoke about Kipawa’s desire to get more frequent updates from the projects we support in Ruiru. We want to see more regular feedback about the people we are helping and their communities, and how our funding is making a long-term difference. Our donors and supporters can expect to see more of this kind of material in the coming months.
  
• And some time with Julie, who leads the Finance team – on behalf of Kipawa and our donors, I did a mini-audit of the accounts process and systems used by Macheo for its administration of the near £40,000 they spend on our behalf in Ruiru. We spoke about the work they’re doing on unit costs, on accounting for indirect back-office costs (currently less than 5%) and how they’re developing projections for 2018. And she was more than happy to show off her new hairstyle purely to make me jealous…
  

As he dropped me off in Nairobi tonight, Marnix made a few comments to camera about the relationship between Kipawa and Macheo and the goodwork being done (sorry the video's a wee bit dark).

Finally, on the way back to Nairobi today we went to see a young man called Idris, whom some of our trustees have known for nearly 10 years now. Then, he was a 3 year old living in a child rescue centre, left there by his mother who couldn't cope with his special needs - both physical and learning disabilities. He also had epilepsy and needed 24 hour supervision, with no serious effort being made to support his development. 
 
When that rescue centre closed, Macheo took him in and have worked hard on a series of interventions. He got physiotherapy to help with mobility, medication to reduce the seizures and help on daily living tasks like washing, dressing and toilet use. Importantly, they also forged a reconnection with his mother, whom he now sees three or four times a year. 

With financial support provided by some of our trustees, Idris is now attending a specialist boarding school half an hour away from Macheo with other kids of his age and with similar needs. And he's doing well - running around, able to use his hands properly, engaged, saying a few words, and with very few seizures. He remains the smiley, happy boy he was all those years ago - but one with a brighter future ahead. 

A lovely way to finish the trip."

Another busy day, full-on out visiting our projects from 9am through to 7pm today.

Much of it was spent at Oaklands Primary School, which we’ve only been supporting since 2016. It was my first trip there and it was quite an experience. The school sits on a coffee plantation – the land was given to the Government by the owners of the plantation to build a school, which teaches children of the people who work there. The school is surrounded by acres and acres of well-tended coffee plants, punctuated occasionally by small groups of tiny houses in which these families live.

But the situation is far from idyllic. What is already hard work (paying about 300 shillings a day, about £2.20) has been made more difficult by ownership changes, resulting in mass lay-offs and re-employment on casual contracts. Workers are not guaranteed wages throughout the year, or even during the three coffee harvests a year. And when they don’t get work, or seek it elsewhere, they lose access to the houses they in. I was taken to meet one of these workers today, a single mother of five who has a child at the school. She works on the plantation with a nine-month old baby strapped to her back – scared of losing her job and her house.

All of this has had an impact on the children at the school in the past few years too, with absence rates being very high and the performance of the kids attending being below average. Thankfully, the work Kipawa is doing here is making a big difference.

I met with the headteacher Joseph this morning who couldn’t have given more praise for what our donors have achieved here. His clear view is that the food programme (we are doing breakfast porridge and lunch for all the kids at Oaklands) has delivered “a drastic change in performance: for example, there is no absenteeism any more. Two years ago, there were sometimes up to 100 absentees every day, but now it is more likely a handful. And that’s because there is food available”. He also thinks that the KCPE performance will improve this year – from an average of 215 to 250 – and that is because the children are better able to concentrate. Our social workers there – Mary and Moses – agree. They’ve noticed a change in behaviour since the feeding programmes started; kids are no longer lethargic and sleepy but energetic and motivated all day.

We are making improvements to the facilities too. I saw the final stages of the new girls toilet block today, with a solid watertight building in place with proper latrines and a very deep pit. This is not only safer and healthier (for disease prevention) but more dignified too. What was also interesting is that the Government had started building a new boys toilet block earlier this year: but it remains uncompleted on the site, with no reason given for its current state.

At the end of my time there at Oaklands, a young girl called Faith spoke on camera on what Kipawa has done for her and her friends. She can speak for herself:

Later in the afternoon, I had lunch with the 15 students Kipawa is sponsoring through a few secondary schools in the Ruiru area. These young people were identified as they left primary school as being able to benefit from secondary school but whose families would likely not support them financially to do so. The money our donors are sending to Kenya is doing two things for these vulnerable kids: ensuring that a lack of fees, uniforms and other equipment isn’t preventing them from attending school regularly; and it provides wrap-around support from case workers like Monicah who works on the secondary school programme. Monicah spends all of her time checking on the welfare and wider environment of these students, intervening where needed.

The kids range in age from 14 through 17, with the oldest five of them due to sit their KCSE exams (the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education) throughout October and November. Like teenagers anywhere, they were shy at first but were soon chatting away: They were keen to find out about where I live in Scotland, about education in the UK, and the girls in particular were amazed to hear our Prime Minsiter and First Mininster are both female.

Most importantly, they were enthusiastic about their time at school, their interests and their ambitions for the future. And it was terrific to hear one of them really wants to be a doctor; another wants to study electrical engineering; a couple more think they they’d be good social workers. There was some discussion on the way home tonight about the next steps for some of these kids: certainly, we at Kipawa should be thinking about if and how we can continue to support some of these young people should they move into colleges and university.

I have few more trips planned for tomorrow, including going back to Mukuyu School to hand out some new books, footballs, toys and other things. These were purchased today using money donated in a recent appeal. You can still donate to the appeal here:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidWelsh

It's that time of year again where we head off to Kenya to meet with our partners and to see all the work your donations have been making possible. David will be visiting Mukuyu and Oaklands schools at the end of the month and would love to be able to take some gifts with him. We have had a particular request for toys and other equipment for the nursery classes and would be very grateful for any contribution you can make.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidWelsh

Many thanks to Reuben and Phoebe (both under 5 years old!) who have been saving all the 20ps from their pocket money for the last few months to fill up their Smartie tubes for Kipawa. Their generosity will feed a child in one of our schools lunch for a whole school year or allow 120 children to receive deworming medication! THANK YOU and Happy Christmas!

Did you know that today - Saturday 19th November 2016 - is World Toilet Day? You may not even have been aware that there was a World Toilet Day? However, the lack of toilets and decent sanitation in Kenya and in other countries across the world, is a very serious health issue.

Throughout the world,

• 2.4 billion people live without improved sanitation (World Health Organization (WHO)/UNICEF 2015).
• One in ten people has no choice but to defecate in the open (WHO/UNICEF 2015).
• Diarrhoea caused by poor sanitation and unsafe water kills 315,000 children every year (WAS-Hwatch 2016).
• Disease transmission at work, mostly caused by poor sanitation and hygiene practices, causes 17% of all workplace deaths (International Labour Organization (ILO) 2003).
• Loss of productivity due to illnesses caused by lack of sanitation and poor hygiene practices is estimated to cost many countries up to 5% of GDP (Hutton 2012)

One of the first projects Kipawa undertook at Mukuyu School was to rebuld the toilet blocks. The headteacher still says that this was one of the most important interventions we have made in the school in the five years we have worked with them. The toilets are still very basic but they are clean and safe.

Our Kipawa Christmas Appeal

We have been so pleased in 2016 to have begun working with a second primary school in the Ruiru area - Oaklands School. Oaklands School is a more rural school than Mukuyu and is on a coffee plantation. The school's buildings and facilities are in a fairly run-down state, much like Mukuyu was five years ago.

The toilets are in such a bad state - the back wall has collapsed - that they can't be used. This means that the children have to use the bush, which is unsanitary and, particularly for the girls, unsafe.

How can you help?

This Christmas we would love to give the gift of new, safe toilets to the children at Oaklands School - and what better day to kickstart our Christmas Appeal than on World Toilet Day? It will cost around £7,500 to build two new toilet blocks for the girls and boys at Oaklands School but whatever little you can give will go a long way to helping.

Happy World Toilet Day from everyone at Kipawa!

Our President, Kieran Hudson, and his brother, Paddy, visited Kenya last month to visit the various projects funded by Kipawa. Read all about the people they met and the work they saw there - all made possible by our generous donors. 

"After a long day travelling on the Wednesday, Marnix (the Director of Macheo, our partner organisation in Kenya) collected Paddy and me from Nairobi and we arrived back at the volunteers' house at Macheo Children’s Home just before midnight.
 
We only had two full days with Macheo and lots of things we wanted to see and do, so we made an early start on Thursday morning and headed out to Mukuyu Primary School. 
 
My last visit to Mukuyu was in 2011 when our project was in its first year and things have changed so much since then. The school looks much better thanks to the classroom refurbishments, the new toilet blocks and the pathways around the school grounds that have all been provided by Kipawa in the last few years. I had seen photos of these from previous Kipawa trustee visits but it was nice to be back and see everything for myself. 
 
The children were excited, as always, to have Scottish visitors and were keen to say hello, exchange hand shakes or high-fives and have photos taken. They were also particularly keen to touch our hair, if they could reach!
 
It seemed we had brought some Scottish weather with us as it was damp and relatively cold, by Kenyan standards. The ground was very muddy so we did not witness a huge outdoor school assembly as is usually the case when we visit. Instead we dropped into each classroom individually to say hello and introduce ourselves. It was probably better this way as we were able to speak to the children more easily and see what they were learning in class. Many of the classes had prepared short poems or songs that they were eager to perform. It’s always great to see the kids singing and dancing so enthusiastically.  
 
This year we had brought with us some handmade cards from Victoria Primary School in Edinburgh. The p4 children there had drawn pictures and written messages about their school and about Edinburgh too. It was really lovely to see how delighted the Mukuyu kids were to receive these and how interested they were to hear about life in Scotland. We had arranged in advance for the equivalent aged children at Mukuyu to do something similar for us and we were duly presented with a large bundle of drawings and messages to bring back with us and give to the kids at Victoria Primary. It was so simple to arrange but has been a really positive thing to do for the pupils at both schools. Now that the children have made a personal connection we can hopefully keep the link going between the schools and exchange photos and messages throughout the year.

​One of the community projects funded by Kipawa away from the school is the Family Empowerment Programme. Families are given small amounts of seed capital as well as training to start their own small businesses. There is ongoing support and these businesses provide a more reliable source of income for the families involved, allowing them to pay rent, purchase food and pay school fees.

​The second women we met was Joyce, who has three children at Mukuyu Primary School and just started in the Family Empowerment Programme one month ago. She said things were going well so far and told us that one added benefit of running a fruit and veg stall was that even if business was slow, any produce leftover at the end of the day could be used to feed her family.

We also visited the home of one vulnerable pupil from Mukuyu who Margaret (a Kipawa funded social worker) has been supporting in recent months. The mother was not home but we found a young boy called Christopher (around 4 years old) outside the house heating up some milk on a stove. The boy was looking after his baby sister, Joy, while their mother was working nearby. To see this tiny baby being cared for by such a young child really stopped us in our tracks. It is a sobering reminder of the harsh reality facing many families in Ruiru - parents being forced to leave young children at home so they can go to work to earn enough money to feed their family.
 
Throughout the day we had opportunities to speak with the head teacher, deputy head and class teachers who are very pleased with the support that Kipawa is providing and the difference it makes to their school. We spent most of our day with the social workers funded by Kipawa, Margaret and Moses. They are the people we rely upon day-to-day to oversee our projects and are the best people to speak to about what is working well and what other areas might need addressed. 
 
After a full day at Mukuyu Primary School we returned to Macheo for a meeting with Julie, their head of Finance. She took us through the processes involved in running that side of the organisation and she was also able to show us receipts for all of the things that Kipawa has paid for over the past year. Our first full day in Kenya ended with a power-cut and an early night, which was probably not a bad idea as we had another busy day ahead!
 
Friday started with a meeting, before heading out to visit our other Primary school. We met with James who is the head of the Monitoring and Evaluation team. He explained the new processes in place for assessing the needs of the communities in which we operate. An extensive data collection exercise has taken place in Ruiru and analysis is ongoing to identify what areas should be prioritised in future. This is a new way of working for Macheo and for Kipawa and we will keep you informed of how this shapes our plans for 2017 and beyond.
 
James also showed us the new software that is used to log the activity of the social workers and other employees in the field. The system has reduced the amount of time spent on administration and allows better data reporting and analysis to take place.
 
After our meeting we visited Oaklands Primary School, arriving just in time to see the porridge feeding programme in action. This year we decided to expand our projects to a new school and this is the first time that a Kipawa trustee has visited Oaklands since the programme began.