Kenya 2024 – Jo’s Journal
Background
In January 2023, I met my good friend Ruth Smith, and we agreed I would volunteer at The Malindi Bright Future Academy in Kenya, a school which she founded in 2015. Since then, the school has grown from five pupils to 320 pupils today.
I was familiar with her work there having sponsored a pupil each year and having supported some of its varied fundraising activities. Additionally, I have volunteered in Africa, Israel and London in years past, but not since children, career and mortgages took over!
So, we hatched a plan for me to teach in Malindi the following year and for us to raise funds for a training kitchen, which would be named the Highlands Training Kitchen.
Through our Highlands College Foundation (charitable arm) we have a strong link with GR8. GR8 has gifted monies to our charity for students, and sponsored student competitions.
In August 2023, I was introduced to a Kenyan lecturer named Bernard Amaya via GR8, he is the alumni lead for Utalii College (top Hospitality College in East Africa). I showed Bernard our work at Highlands College, and we started to explore opportunities for staff and student exchanges and sharing good practice including online learning. Colleagues from External Relations and CYPES attended these meetings.
I saw an opportunity to link my volunteer work with Highlands College, and our aim to develop partnerships and to enable our students to have access to international experiences and global thinking.
Kenya Welcome
Having been supported by CYPES to take volunteer and unpaid leave I embarked upon my Kenya adventure on January 6th, 2024.
My first week has been focussed on Highlands College business and developing links in Kenya. Lee Madden, CEO at GR8, and Emma Holliday, Director, were due in Kenya on their annual trip in January to develop their work here, so we joined forces.
I was welcomed with great warmth and openness by the leadership of Utalii College and we stayed, free of charge, at Utalii Hotel which is run by the students. I met the Chair of the Board, the Principal and senior leads for the College and had a grand tour of the campus, observing classes, meeting students and staff, and enjoying lunch prepared and served by the students.
I recognise their passion for what they do as educationalists as I see it at Highlands College every day.
Business
The students study long hours and show determination and resilience. Their journey at Utalii is holistic, taking them through every aspect of a career in hospitality, including learning at least one other foreign language.
We drafted an MOU which includes interesting educational opportunities for both staff and students to work together as part of a faculty exchange. Highlands College students have volunteered in Nepal, and had European exchanges in the recent past, but post-COVID we are rebuilding international links.
There is no doubt that times are hard here with high rates of youth unemployment (61%). If you are poor and unemployed, you are, of course, vulnerable. Their economy has been impacted, as in the rest of the world, by high inflation and increased taxation. So, for everyone, times are particularly hard right now.
Education and training are highly valued, and the people are determined to succeed. They have a responsibility to lift themselves up and those around them, often their entire village.
I met a Kenyan called Grace who works in Guernsey, placed by GR8, she has built a house for her mother, pays for uniforms and books for her siblings, and has connected them up to electricity. Having light at night opens access to education and the wider world. Her family no longer fear the rain where they would sleep on damp flooring.
The Kenyan people are performing worthwhile roles in Jersey and Guernsey, paying taxes, contributing to our economy, whilst also lifting their communities.
Nairobi, like many capital cities, has poverty and wealth existing side-by-side and society is layered along tribal lines. It has similar challenges to many capital cities like London or Paris, where people flock to the city to access work prospects. It has one of the largest slum dwellings in the world where 1.5 million people live remarkably close to the edge and Kenyans have told me, for them, it is “the survival of the fittest”.
The new Kenyan government is focused upon the diaspora. Creating opportunities for their people abroad; there are similarities in that they are focussing more upon vocational and technical skills to diversify their economy. Graduates, unlike in Jersey, face unemployment as well, so quicker routes via degree apprenticeships to earn why you learn, are garnering focus.
This week, I have met the Permanent Secretary for Education Dr. Beatrice Inyangala and her leads for universities. We discussed research, online learning, women in education and links to UK universities.
I also visited the Sharon Rose Teacher Training Academy where they train early years teachers. Highlands College delivers 90% of the island’s adult skills training up to and including ten-degree pathways. We looked at the curriculum and cultural expectations of early years teaching in Jersey and discussed with Alison Goguelin, CYPES Daycare Registration lead, how we could facilitate an educational bridging programme for their absolute best Kenyan graduates on a small scale, to fill some vacancies in the nursery sector.
There may be options to link the Kenyan Cultural centre with the newly set up one in Jersey.
Personal Reflections
In this first week I have met many wonderful Kenyan people and have fast tracked my understanding of their culture and the challenges daily life presents these lovely people. I found myself on national tv and local media being interviewed about the Utalii link which has had a lot of positive feedback. Mind you, the heat is playing havoc with my hair which was threatening to fly in my face as the cameras were zooming in!
Kenyan people are always warm and welcome and show a great interest in your welfare. (One evening we were taken for dinner to a Brazilian restaurant where I tried crocodile for the first time – it was delicious. Reminded me of tender chicken). But I have missed the snow. I have missed my friends, family, loved ones, including Gordon my dog. I have been on the work email every day, even though my wonderful team has everything in-hand.
It is great to hear Highlands College being spoken about internationally and to see that working with institutions with similar missions and values as ours could bring a global outlook to us and advance their education delivery, especially online. I enjoy connecting with people and am privileged to have had this opportunity.
Tonight, I fly to Malindi to start the next phase of my adventure in Kenya. Teaching, which I love, English and helping at the school for three weeks. Teaching is a very physical, intellectual and emotional activity. I expect and want to be challenged, but I also know it will be great fun. I only hope they do not ask me to cook, I am not great, but I’m good at washing the dishes and cleaning, so I can help with the daily feeding programme they run for the pupils.
If you are interested in the Malindi Bright Future Academy, which is a registered Jersey Charity, please look at the following link. Malindi Bright Future Academy, Kenya. Hard work for a bright future
I will write again next week to update you. Have a great week and look after yourselves.
Jo 😊