Kenya 2024 – Jo’s Journal
#Kenya2024 Week Two
Malindi Bright Future Academy
So, this week I flew to Malindi in Jambo airlines. Jambo means hello. A fellow passenger was playing tik tok very loudly throughout the entire flight, much to the consternation of the air stewardess. Otherwise, the scenery was magnificent with wide open spaces and azure seas.
I started my week at the school assembly, 0715am with a rousing rendition of the Kenyan national anthem. The school has a Kenyan scout brigade with girls and boys who lead the procession for assembly. Next, three senior girls, aged 11 or 12, lead the school in singing and there’s also a prayer. The Muslim children have s separate celebration of faith with the Muslim teacher.
Malindi Bright Future Academy has about 280 pupils enrolled so far. Their numbers fluctuate in all schools because parents sometimes cannot afford to pay the term’s fees, so they transfer their child to avoid the debt. At MFBA, between 50 and 60% of the pupils are sponsored by individuals so that there are no costs to the parents. The fees are very low, just enough to cover the costs, approximately £25 to £30 per term.
Inflation has soared here, and many parents struggle to clothe and feed their children. Therefore, the feeding programme here is vital. The children have a daily breakfast of porridge and a nutritious cooked lunch of rice, meat and vegetables. The breakfast programme has been sponsored by Seroussi Foundation for years.
I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching again. I have a Grade 6 English class and we have been working on writing composition. The children are hungry to learn, there is much fun and laughter to be heard around the school grounds. Half the classes are in tents and half are in temporary classrooms made of corrugated iron (very hot).
Much is familiar, schemes of work and lesson plans, much is arresting, like the child who is suddenly left an orphan or the child who speaks with confidence and conviction even though English is her third language.
Kakuyuni Vocational Training Centre
This week, I also visited Kakuyuni Vocational Training Centre as a guest of the Principal, Sifa. This was really engaging to compare and contrast with Highlands College. Sifa shared his strategic plan which had similar values and aspirations to ours. Clearly, our funding is so much better and stable.
Kakuyuni is a much smaller college offering masonry, tailoring, computing, electrical, sheet fabrication and soon, agriponics. I met the tutors, students and some members of the Governing Body. The staff welcomed me into every classroom and the students were focussed on their studies.
Resources are slight, the students built the masonry block and their building programme was based upon the fact that students would do the work. They have challenges in that they are seeking support from the Government to modernise their learning environment.
Kenya
The government of Kenya has many unemployed graduates, and they are focussing upon technical skills. The economy needs to generate more high-level jobs for the Kenyan people, especially for young people.
Wealth and poverty co-exist much as they do in Europe and the U.K., British Isles. My accommodation is basic, but clean, and the power cuts are brief. I wash my clothes daily in a basin after I soak them overnight. The shower dribbles and the mosquito net has holes! But I have water, and electricity, and food. I come to school and go to the shops and am treated kindly and with respect I don’t think I’ve earned.
The Kenyans I meet, without exception are so welcoming and appear happy and content. They accept the daily struggle of high prices and temporary security.
Even government education charges fees to register and often the lack of money for a uniform means no schooling. The women sell from street stalls and walk for miles for water, if they live in the villages. The education of females raises up an entire family and the younger generation are having smaller families, even though children are considered a blessing from God.
I am back to teaching which I haven’t done regularly for 4 years now. I have a pile of books to mark, it’s been a timely reminder of what a physical, intellectual and emotional demand teaching places upon you. However, it’s been a reminder also of how great it feels to see a child “get it” and enjoy it.
So much relies upon the philanthropy of individuals and I am very aware of the colonial history of Britain with Kenya. I know I am privileged in every way possible, and I am very grateful the school has welcomed me. I want to do a good job. It is important I embrace local traditions and listen and learn.
I hear laughter and see happy children who are thriving here at MBFA. I only wish this was a right, not a gift, for all children.