Uweza Aid Foundation Blog

Cyrus Begins High School

2012-02-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

Blog readers who have been following Uweza for the last few years now know Cyrus and his story. For those of you unfamiliar, Cyrus is a 20 year-old student who has been sponsored through Uweza since 2009. Cyrus became blind in 2008 as a result of methanol poisoning. Due to the generosity of donors, Uweza helped Cyrus to receive emergency care at Nairobi Hospital and likely saved Cyrus' life. Unfortunately, the care provided could not save his sight.

In 2009, sponsored by Mark and Brad from Australia, Cyrus restarted his education at a technical school for the blind. He learned how to read and write braille in preperation for starting Class 7 (7th grade) in 2010. He had been in Class 8, a month away from take the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam and graduating primary school when the accident occurred.Cyrus restarted his primary school education at Thika School for the Blind in 2010. He had to return to Class 7 before moving on to Class 8.

Last year, three years after his accident, he was able to take the KCPE exam. He received 234 out of 500, which is very impressive considering that he had only recently learned to read and write in braille. He was invited to two high schools and chose to attend St. Lucy's Secondary School for the Visually Impaired. The school is located just outside of Meru town, about a four hour bus ride from downtown Nairobi.

Yesterday, Mathew (Uweza's Sponsorship Coordinator) and I dropped Cyrus off at his new school, with a new school uniform and all of the supplies he needs for the first term. Cyrus is very excited to be starting high school and is extremely dedicated to his education. Despite what has happened to him in his life, he remains positive and determined and has a great sense of humor about his situation. We expect great things from him and wish him the best as he starts a new chapter of his life. Thanks so much to Uweza's donors for your support of Cyrus since 2008 and to Mark and Brad for continuing to support his education.

Interview with Tom Odumo, Chair of Kibera Agenda

2012-02-05T04:43:00.000-08:00

In last week’s blog, we gave an insight into the meeting of the Kibera Agenda 4, a local microfinance group based in Kibera, and as promised we bring the chairman’s interview into their activities. Thomas Bwire undertook the interview with Mr. Tom Odumo.

Kindly start by telling us your name.
My name is Tom Odumo, and I am the current chair person of the Kibera Agenda 4 group.

How did the birth of this group come about?
A friend from abroad had come to visit Kibera during the post election of 2007-2008. In one of our meetings with him, the idea came about on how we could create source of income, considering that most of the people had lost hope after their hard earned sweat had gone into drain when some rowdy youths stole and burnt our business during the 2007 election skirmish.

And from that time how many members are on board and how do you recruit new members?
We work on trust, like you have a friend and you tell him about what Kibera Agenda 4 is all about, and he or she gets to share the same information with other people, that’s how we have managed to recruit present members. Most of the members are women and also we have men too participating. The group currently has 90 members and they all reside in Kibera. Our meetings are held twice a week, i.e. on Wednesday 10.00am and Thursday 2.00pm.

So what happens during the weekly meeting?
When we meet, members present bring forward their weekly savings, we also give loans to our members. But we start with a first loan of ksh.2.000 then we move to ksh.5.000 and then next level, we give ksh.10.000. We also just introduced the fourth loan which amounts to ksh.15.000 but beyond that we cannot manage as a microfinance group since it’s on a higher side. While also giving loans, we encourage openness and trust among us members, though at times we encounter a few defaulters, which is normal.

Just to ask, how are members also empowered?
Oh yes, we do have Kenya College of Accountancy (KCA) University and CIC insurance whom have trained our members on financial matters and how to manage their businesses. Like last year they gave us a talk during the month of June. That’s one way to help create proper awareness for our people.

Do you have any other message?
I request that people of good will can join hands with us, by giving loans to us so as we can achieve a better today and not tomorrow.

Girls Soccer Practice

2012-01-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

by Thomas Bwire

The scorching afternoon sun did not deter the girls whom I found training at the Toi primary school soccer playground last Saturday. The under 16 girls’ soccer team were upbeat as they arrived at 4pm for the Saturday soccer routine practice.

Arriving on time is mandatory for the girl’s team or else one would find herself making several laps within the football pitch.Within no time, the girls change into the soccer jerseys and start warming up by doing simple exercises, like jogging to help them keep in shape. Warming up takes roughly like 10 minutes, there after they divide themselves into two teams, the Red team and the Blue team, according to the jerseys worn.

Prrrrrrr!!!!!!!! goes the whistle from one of the team leaders, an assistant coach Caroline Mzungu.Within no time, the game begins and all the teams are attentive as they keep on chasing the ball from one end of the field to the other end. I stood outside the soccer pitch and kept watch how the teams were faring on the pitch that has no grass at all, but dust.

Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!! Goes the first goal from the from the Red team. In less than 10 minutes the Red team was leading by 6 goals while the Blue team managed to score only 2.

At half time I grabbed Caroline Mzungu, the assistant coach, for an interview. She helps in training the girls when the coach is not around. She tells me the number of schools involved in the girls soccer program include, Toi primary, Olympic primary, Ayany primary, Raila Educational center and New Adventure primary school.

“Normally our trainings take place from 2pm to 5pm, so as we can let the young girls go home early to help their parents/guardians and also for them to complete their school assignments,” says Caroline. “Here we teach the girls how to dribble the and pass the ball so as they work as a team when they are playing with opponents during friendly matches or even when participating in local tournaments.”

“Why do you like to work with the girls?” I pose this question to her. “I want to help them overcome the adolescent stage, so that they can know how to take good care of themselves as girls. You know most of the girls at this age are very vulnerable to the community especially the boys who can impregnate them. So here besides just playing soccer, we also advise them to be careful by giving life skills lessons” adds Caroline.

Sharon Chadota, aged 13 years old is among the girls who play soccer at Uweza. She plays position number 5 and is happy to be part of the Uweza family. "Coming here helps me avoid bad company and I am also able to nurture my talent," she tells me. These sentiments are also echoed by Elizabeth Adhiambo aged 14 years old. Her ambitions are to play international soccer for one of the big teams in Europe.

With that, the assistant coach blew the whistle for the second half match and by end of the match, the scores stood at Red team 12 goals and the Blue team got 7 goals.

There you have it: Uweza under 16 girls soccer team had their moment! I believe it wasn’t luck smiling down on them, but hard work and dedication that led them to dedicate their time and come together as a team to help nurture their talent. Each Saturday, you can easily find the team as they practice and sweat it out at the Toi Primary School local field that acts as their training ground.

Empowering the Community

2012-01-27T06:34:00.000-08:00

by Thomas Bwire

In a tiny blue room that serves as a classroom at the Uweza center, is a small gathering of both men andwomen sited in a circular shape as they deliberate on the day’s agenda.

Most of the people in today’s meeting are middle aged from a look across the room they are using.Names are read aloud by the youthful secretary to the members present.

“Christine Awour,” goes the secretary as she reads the name aloud. “Am present” the woman sittingin front of the secretary responds by handing over ksh.550 as her contribution. This is the first taskundertaken by present members as they give their contributions to the secretary and she jots downagainst their names to certify that they have given their contribution.

Calling of names takes roughly less than 10 minutes as the entire meeting takes 30 minutes to beprecise so as to ensure time is not lost. “Time is money here, we most of us have left their business un -attended and if we waste much time here, then our businesses will go down.” says Mr.Moi.

Meet the Kibera Agenda 4 group, one of the unique entrepreneurship groups that aims to empowerwomen and men in the Kibera community through personal contributions from their savings to boosttheir small scale businesses.

The group members all engage in different businesses as source of income, to help empower them andearn a source of livelihood, ranging from selling vegetables, second hand clothes, to washing cars.

Colonia Awino is one of the active members, and noted that she is happy to be part of the group whichcan easily give loans to its members and won’t give her head ache when repaying. Being in the groupalso helps her to open up to new ideas.

Another lady is Josephine Achieng joined the group last year and was able to benefit from a loanto boost her business. "Hard work and focus is all that is needed when you are working as a businessperson" says Achieng.

Although the majority of the members are women, a few men can easily be noticed sitting amidst them. One suchperson is William Abuto. William is among thousands of the 2007-2008 post election violence victimsafter his only source of income went into flames, he used owned a small shop known as a kiosk withinKibera slums. His only savior in time of need was Kibera Agenda 4 Group whom gave him a loan to kickstart his kiosk business, and now he sells electrical appliances.

In our next week's blog, we shall update you with an interview with the group's chairman Tom Odumo on what thisgroup has achieved and also challenges that they encounter in the course of their engagement.

Welcome to the new interns

2012-01-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

by Thomas Bwire

The Uweza family is gradually growing and we are happy to introduce to you two of our new internswho reported to the center located along Karanja road in Kibera this Wednesday morning.

Meet Mukami Kibaara and Vivian Njeri, both are law students at the Jomo Kenyatta University. Hardlyhad the day passed and it was all systems go, as two found a task to be undertaken in the administrativeoffice by digitizing the office manual records into the system.

A brief chat with Mukami revealed that they had met with Jennifer Sapitro, Uweza's ManagingDirector the previous week at one of the girl’s forum and got to know about Uweza Foundation. Whileconversations took center stage, the two also inquired more how they could join the Uweza family, andthat’s when Jennifer offered them the opportunity.

I did ask her the kind of new skills she would like to bring on board and. She smiles a little, thengetting composed she answers back. “I want to mentor the girl child, walk with them, and make themunderstand who they are.” says Mukami. “That’s awesome,” I tell her back and wish her well.

Next is Vivian Njeri whom you could easily be mistaken that she is our office assistant if you were a firsttimer visitor. Sitting behind the office computer, she is digitizing some of the important documents thathad been hand written for easier accessibility and also safe keeping of these records.

Her take is that she is happy to have gotten this opportunity to work in the Kibera community, get toknow the target group involved and that by the end of the day, she looks forward to attaining some knowledgeableskills that can be ploughed back to the community.

And with that brief chat with the two new interns, we called it a day.Be on the lookout in our up-coming blogs where by more news on our new interns will be postedregarding their progress.

Welcome to the new Uweza tutor

2012-01-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

by Thomas Bwire

Every parent’s dream is to give better education to their children as they grow up so as to be responsible people in the society. Education helps shape the society and people’s way of thinking as educated people are a valuable asset to the country.Thus as the New Year began, Uweza Foundation added a new tutor to help the youngsters of today gain valuable skills that will be beneficial in the future.

Uweza Foundation is thrilled to introduce Harriet Ruvaga as the new teacher for students in pre-school and classes 1 through 3. Harriet has a diploma in Early Childhood Development (ECD).She is passionate about her work as a teacher and is already down to work, this being her second week with the children.

I visited Gifted Hands Education Eenter situated in Gatwekera village, a distance of less than 10 minutes walk from the Uweza Community Center along Karanja Road, where I found Harriet down to business with her children.The center has given working space to Uweza to conduct remedial classes for lower primary and upper primary school children.

A little chat with Harriet gave me a little insight about her.“I am passionate about working with children from Kibera, as they are unique especially because of their background. Here I meet kids with poor backgrounds, slow learners, quick learners and by the end of the day my task is to ensure that they are at the same par regarding their school work” notes Harriet.

She also added that the few days she has been working with the kids from Kibera, she is amazed at how they manage their normal school routine programme and are still able join her in the evening for the Uweza programme. Currently kids in this programme are aged between ages 3 to 9years. Some of the participating schools include Damside, Ayany and Olympic.

We wish her all the best as she joins the Uweza family and look forward to working with her.

Intern Blogging - Fourth Post

2011-12-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

by William Ochieng

This week has been tremendously busy for me in my work schedule moving up and down.As the Kibera Agenda were closing their end of the year savings and loaning, I have been involved in preparation of their financial statement and presented it to each member during the closure. The group members scrutinized their savings and were satisfy with the figures I presented to them yesterday. Otherwise it was okay and splendid day and recommended for the effort of updating it.

Apart from that, Moi and I have designed a center membership card for children to enable them next year access the community center programs and they looked nice.

Lessons learned

Transparency is essential in any group work and people can trust you while managing their funds/assets and confidence is built on someone.
With each child having a membership card, the center will be able to notice a strange person hence improve efficiency in its operation with minimal hiccups.

As the center prepares to wind up its operations next week I wish you and the Uweza Foundation a Merry Chrismas and a splendid Happy New year 2012 .

William is studying community development at The Kenya Polytechnic University College in Nairobi and has been interning with Uweza since October. Read his first blog entry here, his second blog entry here, and his third blog entry here.

Getting Motivated

2011-12-21T10:19:00.000-08:00

by Mary Ngoya

The day started well as the students turned up in good number. Thomas Bwire the journalism teacher arrived at the center with Victor Muturi who is one of the radio presenters at Pamoja FM, a local
community radio station based in Kibera.

After having done our weekly press review of getting a chance to read the day’s newspaper, it was an opportunity for Muturi to speak to us on how to become a good journalist. He did mention that working hard is the backbone of every success. He encouraged us to take our studies seriously and work with lots of determination.

Part of his presentation touched on research in order to get to know your target audience well, and this can only be achieved by one’s interest in knowing current issues that your audience feels attached to. “One has to be courageous to tackle day to day issues that affect our people, sometimes you are forced to report from an accident scene of the occurrence” noted Muturi.

We were also informed of the importance of reading newspapers as they are also good source of information for both local and international news. Another element tackled was the need to be creative, so as you can be ahead of the pack and be able to know how to approach situations as they come across.

Even though journalism is a good field that many people would like to envy, it also comes with some challenges. Criticism is big issues from some of the listeners who call so say their songs requests were not played not understanding that there was a time limit of all songs requested to be played. Power blackout sometimes leaves the audience in the dark when power goes off and the generator available runs out of fuel. One last challenge faced by some of presenters is insecurity especially for the ones who report to duty early morning or leave late in the evening as the sometimes fall prey to robbers.

At the end of the session, we got an opportunity to ask questions which were answered. A true inspiration from Muturi and hope everyone got inspired as we now remain knowledgeable of what the market out there has to offer.

Mary Ngoya is 16 years old and is joining Form Four (the last year of high school) at Ahero Girls High School next year. She is a member of Uweza's Journalism Club.

Intern Blogging - Third Post

2011-12-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

by William Ochieng

During the past week William Moi (Uweza Program Manager), Mathew (Uweza Sponsorship Coordinator) and I went for home visits for children under the sponsorship program. We encountered various challenges on the way like poor drainage leading to children homes and bad weather i.e alot of mud on the corridor. At the home visits i took photographs of children at their homes. At last, we managed the tasks and completed the work and it was successful.

I have also been involved in preparation of financial statement of Kibera Agenda as they wind up their activities this year. I also have doing some office work like scanning of documents

Lessons learned

Before you tackle a task or problem a person must get prepared and plan. 'Failure to plan is plan to fail'.
The home visit is important as it helps to know the psychological, emotional attitude of children while under their parent's care.
I also noticed that that through the visit children express their gratitude to the organization and try to work hard in school to get gifts for high marks, which motivates the organisation to cater for their school needs and health needs.
Through home visits one can know the percentage a parent takes in looking of children while at home to inquire their social,physical and emotional growth
Through proper management, a group finds the level of accountability and transparency is increased.

Painting for a passion

2011-12-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

By Thomas Bwire

As you walk into the Uweza Center premises, once easily notices the blue paint all
over, a welcoming color indeed of calmness. With the rains gone now, the afternoon scorching sun
shone brightly from above. I dropped by the center this afternoon to get to interact with the Art Fun Club of the Uweza Foundation with a mission to get to know what it takes to be in the club.

I sneaked in silently into one of the classes that hosts activities at the center, and was mesmerized by
what I saw here. The art class pupils were all on their own and everyone was busy working on their art
work. Some sat on the benches, while others had their art work hanged on the walls, and for some the
table provided a good working space.

Noticing that no one was saying Hey to me, as they were all glued to their paintings, I quickly stepped in
to say hello to everyone in the room.

I got to interview a few as they carried on with their work, the first one to catch my attention was
Caroline Kibiego aged 11 years who attends school at Raila Educational Center .“What motivates you
in what you are doing?” I posed this question to her. She takes few moments and smiles back as she
composes herself.”Uuuuh I want to be an artist because it can be a source of income one day”

Next on line is Paul Kimani aged 14years old. His passion for the painting is that, painting makes him
feel better and that he loves to paint stuff like houses. For a 13 year old Timothy Nyabuto from Jamhuri
primary school he loves to paint to have fun, to remember what he was doing for amazement and also
for historical display that many generations to come later can be able to see his work at later years to
come.

Aisha Akinyi aged 14 years old says that her passion is to get extra money if her paintings were to be
bought, then she could have some savings for her future University studies upon completion of high
school studies.

As I left the center I felt more motivated, having learned one virtue of discovering one’s talent and having
the passion to nurture it and see it grow. Parents too have a role to play by motivating
and giving their support to these youngsters so as the birth of this noble idea remains today,
tomorrow and for many years to come.

Kenya at 48

2011-12-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

by Dorcas Kirwai

This is the day Kenya attained its independence. The holiday takes its name from a Swahili
word “Jamhuri” meaning a republic. It’s one of the important days observed in the Kenyan calendar of
national holidays celebrated on December 12th.

Today Kenya turned 48 years after its independence from the Mau Mau,(Mzungu aende Ulaya Mwafrika
apate Uhuru), accredited for Kenyans independence in 1963,that was led by our Founding father the late
Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.

Today’s main ceremony was held at Nyayo National Stadium and also observed in other provincial’s
levels across the country where the final speech of the president is normally read by the Provincial
Commissioners (PC).

In Nairobi security was beefed and those intending to attend the ceremony at Nyayo National Stadium
were advised to be seated by 10am latest. As I watched the television most people at the stadium had
several thoughts of issues they would have loved addressed by their local leaders, ranging from the on-
going military operation called Linda Nchi in Somalia in the fight against Al-shabaab to the current doctor’s
strike.

Shortly after 11.20am, the president Hon Mwai Kibaki was driven into the full packed stadium in a
military land rover meant for the chief of the general staff. The first lady Lucy Kibaki was present too.

The ceremony started with prayers as the master of ceremony took centre stage, followed by the
military parade passing the presidential dias, entertainment from different musical groups and several
gospel singers were also awarded an opportunity to showcase their presentations with themes focusing
on the big day.

The show stopper was the President’s speech which part of it featured some of the problems facing
the country. The President focused on the need for peace by the politicians in the next coming general
elections to be held next year and also urged for further dialogue with the doctors to resume work as
they are on strike demanding a 300% pay rise.

That’s all I had for today as I wanted the world to read my first story as requested by our journalism
teacher Thomas Bwire about my experience of Jamhuri day celebrations, during our Friday class at the
center where I volunteered to write a story about this special day for Kenyans.
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Dorcas Kirwai is 12 years old and will be entering Class 6 (6th Grade) in January 2012. She is a member of the Uweza Journalism Club.

Intern Blogging - Second Post

2011-12-08T06:43:00.001-08:00

by William Ochieng

The week has been very busy to me and I have learned a lot of things.

First of all, I met parents at the office to fill the sponsorship forms for those who were absent during the meeting. They came in a good number and we served them diligently. From the parents perspective as they talked they want to see their sons and daughters to have a better life in future and its through education that they can achieve their goals, thus education is vital in the society.

I have also started taking pictures for membership cards for children registered in the center which will be updated in the course of time. This will enable faster tracing of the child's background.

Also we went to Ishankai Medical Group with fellow staff and we were briefed by the Doctor on what was required. From the briefing I got, I learned that a child’s health is more important and can help them excel in the classroom. Through better medical health care, children are free from diseases which can hinder their education.

I have been helping other fellow staff member Mathew with the sorting of Sponsorship files so as to speed the flow of work for the organization in meeting its objectives. I also accompanied Mathew to the Chemist to sign contract for purchase of drugs.

I have made sure that the records of Kibera Agenda 4 Business Savings are computerized to enable easy tracking of documents to ensurer fast flow of their activities without much hesitation. My ambition for Agenda is to see it grow from small to big entrepreneurs and be recognized in the country.

Also I have been involved in helping Agenda to track loans held by the members that are due. Through repayment of loans, other people can borrow and uplift their fellow human beings to boost their standard of living.

William is studying community development at The Kenya Polytechnic University College in Nairobi and has been interning with Uweza since October. Read his first blog entry here.

World AIDS Day

2011-12-04T10:55:00.001-08:00

by Thomas Bwire

Kibera was not left out in joining the entire world incelebrating the World AIDS Day. In different parts of the community, one couldeasily see white mounted tents, that acted as temporary centers for voluntarycounseling famously known as VCT.

In Kibera the main celebration, an event aimed at creating awareness, fighting prejudice and improvingeducation, was held at the DC grounds. World AIDS Day is important for reminding people that HIV has notgone away and that there are many things still to be done.

At the Uweza Center, the youngsters too were not left behindas they dedicated this day in passing the message to their fellow age matesusing a small drama that used “sheng” language which is a mixture of Kiswahiliand English words combined.

Their story had a family set-up that involved a father,mother, their only son and a house help who assisted in house chores. Behind the scenes, the house help had slept with the father and the son ondifferent occasions. After many months had passed, the father and the sonbecame sick and the house help's secret was exposed when a neighbor she usedto work for had come to pay a visit to the host family. The neighbor exposed that the house help had the HIV viruswhen she used to work for her

Part of the skit went like this:

Neighbor: This house help is suffering from HIV, you guysdidn’t know that she is positive?

Father/Son: (Looks surprised and astonished, as they bothshake their heads sideways)

Son: Oooh my God I slept with her and I thought all was fine.

Father: What? You have slept with the house help??? Me too.

Househelp: I'm sorry, I feared to tell you for fear ofrejection and being stigmatized.

Father/Son: We are all infected with the HIV viruses, Godhelp us (they fall slowly to the ground as they weep).

At that point, a counselor walks into their home and triesto console the father and the son that having slept with their house helpshould not be the end of the world. She advised them that they need to visit a VCT center to get more information and if they agree, to gettested to know their status.

Once at the VCT center, they agree to be tested after havingbeen counseled and vow to change their bad ways.

It was a story that gave asignificant group at the center the opportunity to pass a message to each other with a hope tochange and help educate their peers.

Get Together With A Purpose

2011-11-30T18:09:00.001-08:00

by Thomas Bwire

The mood at the center this afternoon was adorable as pupils who had just cleared their primary national examinations known as Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination (KCPE), sat in one of the classrooms as the blaring sounds of reggae music could be heard from the Sony music system. It was a great way to kick start their long holiday as they await the result of their exams after Christmas period.

In the Kenyan education system, it takes eight years of primary school, and then the pupil sits for national exams that will enable him/her join high school education for a period of four years.

But as for now, the pupils present at the Uweza Center sat on the benches smilling, while for some, they took moments to chat with their friends. Since the outside weather was sending some signals of heavy down pour, Becky Gitau the Generation-T Club teacher took charge of the programme and asked everyone to step outside so as benches could be arranged for everyone to get enough space.

Once everyone was seated, food was served, and the menu comprised of cooked rice famously known in Swahili as “Pilau.” This is a kind of delicacy is cooked with some meat inside and tastes delicious. Chapati too was part of the menu as well as a glass of juice to wash the food down the throat.

As the pupils sat and ate their meal as one family. I took the opportunity to talk to some of them and get to know their expectations, now that they are done with primary school.

14 year old Fredrick Mwandindo from Kibera Primary School expressed his joy of joining other pupils in the get together and believes he will perform well in his exams. I did ask him what he aspires to be in life. "I want to be a professional footballer in the near future as I believe I have the talent, and God willing one day I can also play for bigger teams like Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United,” says Fredrick.

15 year old Willis Nyabuto from Jamhuri primary is happy being part of Uweza family. "I love to be part of the Uweza team as I get to learn a lot from my teachers and I want to become a scientist when I finish high school so as I can discover earth and space” notes Willis.

The climax of the day was when Fidel Ouma, the Center’s Prefect, gave a small speech of encouragement to all present and encouraged them to be kind to each other and always value the motto of discipline.

What are children in Kibera grateful for?

2011-11-24T10:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at their meeting, Thomas explained to the members of the Uweza Journal Club that Uweza supporters in the United States would be celebrating Thanksgiving, a day to reflect and give thanks. We asked them to think about and write down what they are thankful for. Given the tough circumstances these children are living in, it's incredibly moving to see that most of them are thankful to be alive. We are humbled by their response and reminded not to take anything for granted.

We are incredibly grateful to all of our supporters worldwide for supporting programs that are truly changing lives. It is because of you that we are able to do everything that we do. If you are celebrating today, Happy Thanksgiving!

Ready to Shine

2011-11-21T16:01:00.001-08:00

Thomas Bwire is a Kibera resident and a radio journalist. He currently works witha local FM station called Pamoja FM based in Kibera as a News editor. Hejoined the station in September 2007. He has also had some extensive training in Holland with an internationaltraining in broadcasting journalism from Radio Nederland Training Center andInstitute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) based in the Hague.

Thomas has recently joined the Uweza team to initiate a journalism club for youth. The journalism club will provide youth from Kibera the chance to learn valuable skills such as research, writing and photography. They will be researching and writing pieces for their own periodic newsletter, which will provide them with a platform to learn and speak about issues and topics that are important to them.

Thomas will also be a regular contributor to the Uweza blog. Below is his first post about the first meeting of the Uweza journalism club.

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The afternoon weather was hot as I arrived at the UwezaFoundation gate at 2.45pm, with a mission to kick start the journalism class atthe center. The center located at Karanja Road, shone with its blue colorspainted on the walls. To welcome me was Mr.Moi the Program Manager in charge ofthe center, and as I sat in his office, we got to exchange greetings andcatch up on how the day had been earlier.

Not later, some of the pupils started trickling into thecompound some in pairs, while some came on their own. In no time, I headed toone of the classes and met my pupils eagerly waiting to hear from me.

First things first, I did start by greeting them and tellingthem a little bit about myself and this was followed by a simple exercise ofknowing each other. This is how it was done, pupils paired into two and askedtheir partner about themselves on issues ranging from their names, likes,dislikes and what they expect to learn while with the club. The response wasamazing as the whole class got to know a new person that they had never knownbefore. Some of them said how they love to eat fish, some love to travel andsome wanted to be journalists and to read news while they finish school. "Amazing sentiments there," I thought to myself as we moved on. The class had atotal of 15 pupils ranging from ages 12 to 15years old.

After getting to know each other, suggestions for in houserules were put across and all agreed to abide by them, Here are some of thehouse keeping rules, perhaps to give you the better feel of things here inKibera, "be patient, respect to people’s property, obey your teacher,co-operate, no chewing, no gossiping" and the one that stood out was "listeningto each other."

Very insightful there as proposal to set the rules came fromthe participants themselves, and hopefully they will be followed to the latter.Day one presented the participants to get to know what news is with the followingelements in storytelling,” who, what, why, when, where and how,” with practicalexample from one of the local daily newspaper as we read through each line toidentify these elements.

To close the day’s session, each participant had anopportunity to read one story to help to identify how the key newselements were used in stories. Time flewso fast and as we winded up, many of the kids were reluctant to leave, butbefore they left, a simple assignment was given out, and here it comes, "writea simple story with not more than 100 words, but include the key newselements."

Look out for our next blog next week where we shall postsome of the first ever written stories done by our Uweza Journalism Club.

milk & honey shoes for Uweza

2011-11-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

Kate Mara has created a shoe for milk & honey and ALL of the proceeds from the sales of the shoes will go Uweza. We are so excited and grateful to Kate for selecting us as her charity recipient and hope you will check out (and buy) her beautifully designed shoes!

Check out the shoes on milk & honey's website : http://www.milkandhoneyshoes.com/signature-collection/kate-uweza.html.

Intern Blogging - Week 1

2011-11-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

William Ochieng, is a Kenyan college student, studying Community Development at The Kenya Polytechnic University College in Nairobi. As part of his studies, he must complete an internship with an organization working on community development.

William started interning with Uweza two weeks ago. We have been doing our best to keep him busy with interesting work and he has been a big help to us. As part of the internship, he will be writing weekly blog posts detailing his work and what he is learning.

Feel free to leave any questions, comments, or words of encouragement for William in the comments section!
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It has been a busy schedule for the last 2 weeks at Uweza Foundation. I have been able to interact with Kibera Agenda 4 Business Savings group members. It comprises of persons with integrity who are business oriented. The group deals with savings and loaning of funds to the group members. It is through loaning and savings that they are able to uplift their level of living standards through businesses to a comfortable life. In the group activities I was involved in calculating the total savings each person has saved and total loan given out.

I also met the parents of the sponsored children in the Uweza Sponsorship Program. The staff of the organization emphasized on the cleanliness of the children sponsored by the organization when going to school. When the children are clean, they perform well in class and help the organization get a good reputation in the society at large. At the meeting I took minutes of the agenda which was a bit hectic because I couldn't memorize the parent's children's names.

During the Uweza Football team party, I took some photographs which was a fantastic day. The team was position 1 at the Amani tournament. Also I did some office work like arranging and filing of documents.

I have learned a lot of many things in the organization. First of all, people should join hands to form a large pool of resources in the Kibera microfinance through the Kibera Agenda 4 Business Savings to facilitate in the actualization of its dream.

Second, the organization is working to its level best to uplift the status of children by offering evening tuitions. This enables the children to ask questions to their tutors about what they didn't understand in the classroom.

There is also a good working relationship among the Uweza staff as all of them give time to express their news.

The organization responds immediately without hesitation to child's health and tuition fees. This is taking the child to hospital/chemist for medication.

I have also learned that children need to be given time to realize their talents through soccer and activities like drawing.

Trip to Korogocho

2011-10-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

With all the media attention and thousands of NGOs, it is easy to forget that Kibera is not the only slum in Nairobi. Korogocho, which means "crowded shoulder to shoulder" in Kiswahili is estimated to be the third or fourth largest slum in Kenya with a population of 150,000 to 200,000 people living in 1-1.5 square kilometers. It is located about 11 kilometers northeast of Nairobi.

The slum directly borders Dandora, Nairobi's principal dumping site, which presents concerns of health issues and human rights violations for the slum's residents. A study by the United Nationals Environment Programme of 328 children and adolescents living and schooling near Dandora found that around 50% had respiratory problems and 30% of them had blood abnormalities that indicated high exposure to heavy-metal poisoning.

At the same time the dumping site creates opportunities for income generations as both children and adults living nearby scavenge for and resell garbage for a living.

(image source: lightstalkers.org/caroline_kaminju)

Yesterday was a national holiday in Kenya and children had the day off school so our coaches arranged for all Uweza teams to travel to play with teams from Korogocho.

The kids, as always, had a great time. The day of matches was a great opportunity for them to get out of Kibera and it also kept all the kids occupied and busy on their day off from school.

Good Luck on KCSE!!

2011-10-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

We want to recognize Dennis Odhiambo (left) and Johnson Musyoka (right), two very dedicated and studious Uweza football players that started their Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E) exams today and will be taking them for the next three weeks. Scores on KCSE play a huge role in determining whether or not a student will be able to continue on to university, which school they can attend, and if they will be able to get loans/scholarships.

Good Luck Dennis and Johnson!

Two Uweza teams bring home trophies!!

2011-10-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Today has been a great day for the Uweza Soccer Program as two of our teams have, for the first time in Uweza history, won first place in a tournament! Three Uweza teams, Under-16 girls, Under-15 boys, and Under-13 boys competed in the annual peace tournament held by Amani Kibera. Amani means peace in Kiswahili and according to their website: "this unique initiative continues to engage young people of different ages, ethnic and religious backgrounds to utilize their diverse sporting and cultural talents to promote peace and inculcate a culture of non-violence." In 2009, Uweza's Under-10 team won third place in the Amani tournament.

Uweza's girls team played great defense and did not allow any goals to be scored against them. They won their final match 1-0. The Uweza Under-15 boys team also played great defense and won every single match they played in penalty kicks. The Under-13 team played great as well but were unfortunately defeated in the semi-finals.

In reward for their victories, both teams won large trophies, 7 pairs of shin guards (an Uweza first!), jerseys for their coaches, and new soccer balls.

The kids were so excited and are preparing tomorrow for a victory parade where they will cheer and carry the trophy from their training ground to the Community Center.

Congratulations Uweza teams!!

More photos from tournament have been posted here: http://uweza.org/gallery/amanitournament.html

Kibera Connection Project - Hawaiian and Kenyan pen pals

2011-09-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

As part of our Kibera Connection Project, students that study at the Uweza Community Center have been exchanging letters with students in 7th grade at Punahou School in Hawaii. Both groups are really excited to have pen pals so far away and are learning a lot about each other and their respective countries!

Here are some examples of the letters the students have written:

Teava, Ke’ala, and Alana from Punahou School, Hawaii

Hello, we are your new pen-pals from Hawai’i! Aloha means hello in Hawaiian. Our names are Teava, Ke’ala, and Alana. We are 7th graders from Punahou School. We are extremely excited about being your pen-pals for the coming months and we have many questions. We look forward to learning a lot from you!

Keʻala is 13 years old, and loves to play American football, basketball and volleyball. He also enjoys going to the beach. He has an older sister. His favorite subject in school is P.E and he would like to be an engineer when he grows up. His favorite food is hamburgers. Alana is 12 years old and likes to go to the beach, read, and horseback ride. She has a older sister and her favorite subject in school is science. She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. Teava is 12 years old and his favorite hobbies are swimming, reading, and playing video games. He has a younger brother. His favorite subject in school in improvisation and he hopes to be an actor when he gets older. His favorite food is Sicilian pizza and he wants to live in Italy one day.

Hawai’i is an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean that is part of the United States of America. Our state is known for our beautiful beaches, many tourist attractions, and unique Hawaiian cuisine such as plate lunches, loco mocos (hamburger with rice and gravy) . A popular hobby many Hawaiians have is going to the beach and doing things that take advantage of the fact that we are surrounded by water such as swimming, surfing, or getting a tan. Surfing is an ancient Hawaiian sport where you stand on a board and ride a wave.

America is a large country on the equator with 50 states. Our president is Barack Obama and our capital is Washington DC. We use dollars and cents and inches and feet for money and measurement. Some things many Americans love doing are playing sports, watching TV, and eating. America is known for freedom, football, and food. Some foods America is know for are hot-dogs, hamburgers, and pizza. America has also pioneered the film and fast food industries in the 1900s. We look forward to learning more about Kibera from you.

We had a great time writing this letter and sharing with you. We do have a couple of questions for you. How old are you? Are you a boy or girl? What are your favorite hobbies? What is your favorite food? We thank you for your time and we canʻt wait to hear back from you!

Sincerely,
Ke’ala, Teava, and Alana

David Johnson from Uweza Community Center, Kibera

Dear friends Keala, Alana, and Teava,

I am greeting you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. How are you all. I hope you are all fine. My name is called DAVID MUTHUWI JOHNSON. The main purpose for writing this letter is to appreciate your letter that you sent to us.

Furthermore, am so happy to know your names and how life is in your country. I would also like to inform you how life is in our country Kenya. Here is full of happiness, full of joy and also peaceful. This is because every body here is allowed to do his/her commitments and hobbies in peace.

First, I would like to introduce my hobby to you before telling you any other thing else. My hobby is to watch cartoon and practice my favorite subject maths. I also like eating chicken which is my favorite food too.

In our country, we have got so many interesting things e.g. wildlife and also cultural ceremonies. These are the most leading producers of government revenue. In our country, we also have cool and hot climate which can also be good for you too. For more information, you are invited to our country in order for you to see the big five which are also part of the wildlife. You will also be able to see the lakes with hot springs e.g. Lake Bongoria.

Yours Lovely,
David M. Johnson

Counseling Program at the Center

2011-09-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

Students in Kibera were on break from school for the month of August and we took this opportunity to launch a daily counseling program for youth at the Community Center. Many of the participants were players from the Uweza soccer team. The program lasted for three weeks and was lead by Becky, Uweza's Counseling Manager and Joyce, Uweza's Girls Soccer Coach. We hope to continue this program once or twice a week for the rest of the schooly ear.

Below is a blog post written by Becky about the program.

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This was an am amazing moment to relate with sponsored children as we talk heart to heart matter of life.

From day one we created a rapport where started by setting the ground rules of journey we walk together.

The aim of this counselling program was to help the young people deal with the difficult situation they face in their lives as they grow up. Beside soccer program the management of Uweza came up with this educating counselling program so that they can be all rounded teenager/ youth.

However, there was a lot of relationship with the soccer and counselling where kids could identify with e.g discipline in life and in the field, focus in life, books, and in the field, friendship among others attribute we were learning. Both boy and girls did topics together which was very interactive and healthy.

During this learning lesson I provided them with a supportive environment that will help them build their self confidence, acquire knowledge, dispel myths, develop positive values and attitudes , and adopt responsible practices when in school, at the field , at home , with their friends or at the centre. Every day they would do a home work or a reflection of the things they have learnt and this helped me to assess how far they are getting the information

Some of the topics we went through are as follows.

Self awareness and self worth : The purpose of this lesson was to help them build self confidence, self acceptance and to value themselves. Typically adolescents are not happy with who they are or their situation, they want to be taller or shorter, to have money to live in a different house etc. This topic can protect them from negative influences and accept who they are and what they have.

Body changes during Puberty : Mostly teenagers learn about body changes of puberty and sex from their peers, they may hear information that is confusing and lead them to risky behaviour. The session was to provide teenagers with correct information about changes in their bodies. It also includes new things they needed to consider during this time like personal hygiene.

Consequences of premarital and extramarital sex : Curiosity and peer pressure are very real forces in the lives of teenagers. The purpose of this session was to help teenagers value the purpose of sex in marriage and to understand there can be negative consequences, physical, emotional, spiritual and mental- when they have sex outside marriage relationship.

The facts about HIV/ AIDS and STIs: This session was dealing with facts about HIV/ AIDS and STIs. It contained many facts, though I tried to keep them vey simple and clear, kept them engaged and involved with the knowledge they were receiving.

Valuing Abstinence : Though they were aware of consequences of premarital sex, they may still decide to have sex in spite of risk to their health and well being. They may be seeking, acceptance, admiration and affection from their peers. In this session i was trying to help them discover that they can still have these things without being sexually active.

Dangers of drugs, alcohol and the influence of the media: Young people may want to make good choices, but there are many influences and temptations that can persuade them to make bad choices and decisions. Using drugs and alcohol can put them in to a great risk to their life and
health. This session aimed at helping them to be aware of these dangers and to consider how these things can affect their health, goals, and decision. It also focused on negative peer influences and build skills to help them overcome peer pressure, allowing following what is right.

However, this program is good but it needs a lot of follow up, because the environment the said teenagers are growing in is among the contributing factor to risky behaviours. Thus, there is a lot of work to be done for these teenagers if this information is to sink through and be put into practice.

The program was wrapped up with skit, poem, song and drama which was like a summary of what we were learning throughout the two weeks. With the help of coach Joyce it was very good.

Life for Girls in Kibera

2011-08-23T04:43:00.000-07:00

Last week, we started a three-week session of counseling classes at the Community Center. Becky has been working with boys and girls ages 9 and up and exploring topics such as self-esteem, strengths and weaknesses, and the changes that come with puberty.

As a homework assignment, the girls wrote essays about their lives and they provide a glimpse into what life is like for girls growing up in Kibera.

Essay #1: Football Team

I am thirteen years old and in Standard Six. Before I join the football team I was feeling lonely at home. I was just playing with my friends. The time reached one of my friends came and told me there is a team of Football girls. She told me I go and join the Football team. The first day I was afraid of playing. I did not know if I can play Football. The time reached I continue practising Football and now I know how to play Football.

Essay #2: A Journey To My Life

It was a chilly morning when our class teacher told us to imagine if our life will end up in a miserable life. And I was wondering if my life will end up while I shall have my both parents. By good luck, my dear Lord has just blessed me with both my parents Mother and Father and a family of three brothers and two sisters.

One day my aunt told me to visit her at her house. I reached there and she told me that to tell her my Ambition. I told her that when I grow up I will be a lawyer. And God will be with me for ever in my family got that they were my beloved parents, I hugged them and I was so happy not different from a king in his palace.

Essay #3: A Journey by My Life

It was the year two thousand and seven when I was in Class Three my father dead and then my life is not bad but one thing that I see hard when my father dead I see only one thing that every body has his father but me I don't have my father so that my life is hard but I concentrate with everything that I am doing. But when I was growing up then my mother also dead when I was in class four but I have stress of two weeks but the next week all the stress that I have gone away until now I was in class seven on the year two thousand and eleven.

But right now I am staying with my brother but he is not the first born, the first born is not staying here in Nairobi, he is staying at home with my last brother and me I am staying with the second born and me I am the last born at our home...and the time I am right now my life is very nice and I am happy with every body on our house but the [school] fees is problem.

Essay #4: Untitled

I was born in 1998, at that time my parents did not have money to take me to school and to buy food for us to eat and inside the house we did not have chairs, table, television and any other things. We can turned to pray. As for me, I was very sad because others were very rich and get food every day and eat and sleep but us we just sleep because we did not have food!

But my father and mother always talk to me never ever cry my child, one day God will bless us, he is not sleeping he is seeing us. After that my life started changing and we were getting food and somewhere to sleep until now we were very happy and healthy.

Essay #5: My Life

I'm coming from a family of seven children. I'm coming from a very suffered family. I can't say suffering because we are not suffering now. It was all over. We used to live a life of terrible things, even the school fees was a very big money to pay. And my dad searched a cheaper school for him to be able to pay. I worked hard focusing to something. I never cared about my problems. I prayed and worked hard at school just to get what I wanted and by a good luck, God heard my prayer and sent a sponsor.

And that is where my way began to open. It was very hard for her to transfer me to another school. But she managed to transfer me to the school where I'm now at. She paid everything for me until where I am now. A month later, my father found a job and all our dreams began coming true. And now our problems are over. We are focusing to a wonderful dream.

Congratulations Becky!

2011-08-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

Becky Gitau, who has worked with Uweza as a counselor since 2008, is graduating from Pan African Christian University today with a B.A. in Counseling Psychology. She hopes to continue with on her education and receive a Masters in Clinical Psychology.

Congratulations Becky!!

Partnership with Kora

2011-07-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

Uweza recently teamed up with Kora Designs, a jewelry company that "merges the worlds of beautiful jewelry and sustainable business development in the belief that both can and will benefit. Our handmade pieces feature recycled materials found and used by local artisans in African developing communities." Kora means "work" in Kinyarwanda, Rwanda's native language. One of Kora's artisans is based in Kibera and uses bone and horn collected from local butcheries to create jewelry.

This year, Kora has created the Uweza necklace, which features dyed recycled cow bone with aluminum wrapping and was designed specifically for us! 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the necklace will go directly toward supporting the Uweza Community Center.

The necklace comes in two different colors, and can be purchased on Kora's website. Be sure to browse through the rest of their beautiful pieces as well!

Uweza Girls League

2011-07-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Our girls coach Joyce has organized for the Uweza girls team to play in a league with other girls Under-16 teams from outside of Kibera for a few months now. Every weekend, 25 girls cram into a 14-seat minibus and travel to Dagoretti to play a match. They are currently in fourth place in the league, having won two matches and drawn two.

Today, they had their hardest match yet against a team who has been playing with senior (adult) girls teams for a long time and has won several tournaments. There was also extra pressure on the girls as the league's sponsors were watching the match.

Every week as part of the league, both teams sit down for a small life skills talk before they play. Today's talk was about stigma.

The girls played a great game but struggled in the second half and lost 0-2. It was a very emotional loss for a lot of the girls as it was their first loss in the league and they really did their best. Many of the fans were commenting on Uweza's players and how talented and hard-working they were.

Two players from each team participating in the league, chosen by the league's organizers, will get the chance to attend a course in photography, life skills and soccer in Kilifi on the Kenyan coast.

Despite the loss, the girls had a great time. They have four matches to go and still have the opportunity to place in the top three in the league, which would earn them a new set of uniforms and some balls. We wish them the best of luck and will keep you posted!

Uweza Community Center Launch

2011-07-06T04:22:00.000-07:00

Last month, we held the official launch and opening of the Uweza Community Center! In attendance were over 200 Uweza staff, program participants, parents, neighbors, and community leaders. A face painter from Kibera entertained children in attendance with face painting and balloons. Children spent their time dancing, hanging out and creating drawings of their future career goals. A talented painter from Kibera donated his artwork for the event to decorate the center.

After a question and answer session and speeches from Uweza staff, the chief of the area congratulated Uweza on the good work in the community and spoke about how much the community appreciated being involved in the center's opening and being made aware of our work. He wished us luck and expressed hoped that we would get many more donations.

The event was capped off with a delicious lunch. Everyone really enjoyed the day and we are very excited to start officially using our center!

Check out more photos from the event here: http://uweza.org/gallery/communitycenterlaunch.html.

Introducing the Uweza Community Center

2011-06-10T10:29:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since we have posted because we have been busy at our new Community Center! As of last month, thanks to your generosity, we were able to raise enough money to complete the purchase of the building and make it our own. Congratulations to Sarah Dunnagan in New Orleans for winning the drawing to name a room!

In the past weeks, our Under-18 soccer team has helped us clean and paint the center.

Check out the photo galleries of the cleaning and painting for more pictures.

The students from our Sponsorship Program have started coming to the center after school to do their homework under the guidance of a qualified tuition. Kibera Agenda 4 Business Savings, the savings and loan group that we frequently partner with also held their first meeting at the center this afternoon.

Tomorrow, we will officially open the center and are celebrating with a launch party. If you are in Kenya, please feel free to stop by!

After working in Kibera for more than three years and running around without an office or meeting place, this is a huge accomplishment for us and we are so grateful to our supporters for making it a possibile. We are really excited for the coming months as the center will allow us to meet more frequently, work more efficiently and create new programs to better serve children and families in Kibera.

Third Soccer Prize Giving Day

2011-05-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Uweza held our 3rd Uweza Soccer Program Prizegiving Day this past Sunday, which awarded educational prizes to all of the players on our teams from under 8 years old to 18 years of age, including girls. Uweza holds prizegiving day for our soccer program at the end of each school term, three times a year. This Prizegiving Day was particularly special this time because it was the first time we invited the parents to attend with their children.

The day went amazing with many of our kids being accompanied to the field by their parents for the first time! The day started with the finals round of the U-18 league, with the coaches jumping in as one
team for good fun. The parents were cheering on for the players as they wrapped up their final matches for the term.

After the tournament finished, all the parents and children piled into the meeting hall to have refreshments and begin the prize awarding. At the end of the awards, each child who had been a dedicated Uweza player had received something toward their education. The top prizes for the most dedicated players included school uniforms, school shoes, and book bags while other players received school exercise books and pen sets. In addition, each coach brought up each and every player in front of the parents to say something about each one of them before being released back to their seats.

By attending prizegiving, parents were able to see the educational rewards that their child received from dedication, discipline and effort in the Uweza Soccer Program. In addition, they learned more about our organization and heard firsthand through speeches by players at the end, the impact the program was having on their children. All in all, the day was a great success!

More photos have been posted in a gallery here: http://uweza.org/gallery/mayprizegiving.html

Uweza Soccer Team Away Match

2011-05-04T05:53:00.000-07:00

Our soccer kids have been training hard Monday through Sunday for the
last month during the school break of April where all school kids in
Kenya remain out of school. For the last week of their training
sessions before the start of school, Uweza provided funding for all of
our teams to attend a day of matches outside of Kibera to gain
exposure outside of the slums they live in. The kids traveled to
Githurai, roughly 45 minutes outside of the city and far from Kibera,
for a great day of fun, food and soccer.

We had around 130 kids in attendance and included all of our teams
from Under 8 to Under 18, and even our girls team. The kids had a ton
of fun as they met in the morning around 7am to begin traveling to the
match in two large buses, which were even equipped with tvs and music
for all to enjoy.

The kids had a full audience, as members of the community in Githurai
came to cheer on their home teams along the sidelines. Uweza players
had their own fanbase, as the girls and Under 8 teams did not have
matches, but instead came for moral support. The Uweza teams
performed well with our younger teams winning their matches! After the
games, the teams were treated to all they could eat lunch in the area
before returning to Kibera. The day ended with their return home to
Kibera—happy for their wins, full of food, and rested after their naps
on the bus on their way home.

Letters from Students

2011-04-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Our sponsored students write the most adorable letters to their sponsors. I wanted to take the time so share some excerpts from their most recent letters.

"I want to thank you for paying school fees, trip, books, pens, pencils, uniform, bags and my medical treatments. I hope God will help me to continue the work that you are doing. Will you come to visit us one day? Thank you!!"

"I have not received any letter from you. What's the reason? Can't you spare a few minutes once a month to write for me a letter? I am fine and wish you the same."

"I was number thirty-five with three hundred and ten marks. I was very happy and I have missed you very much. I want you to come."

"Greetings can be heard but a smile cannot be seen. How are you? I hope that you are doing well and fine and here in Kenya we are doing well and fine. I am going on well with studies in school and I was promoted to standard eight and I am doing my best to achieve my goal in my studies."

"I thank you for everything that I have been given, everything that I want. I like going to school better and home. I thank you for everything. Good bye. I love you all, even all sponsors."

Our sponsored students who are not yet able to write have made drawings of an elephant, a rat, several flowers, a car, a hut, an airplane, and a dog with a speech bubble saying "I think I like to tell you to be praying for me."

We still have several children (including Tifanny pictured below) in need of sponsors. If you are interested, check out http://www.uweza.org/sponsorship. If you are currently sponsoring a child, your sponsorship packet (including these letters) will be in the mail in a few weeks!

Brian Update

2011-04-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

In late 2009, we wrote a series of posts about one of our sponsored students, Brian, who was 7 years old at the time and who had burned his leg in a fire caused by a knocked over stove.

Thanks to support we received, we were able to cover the costs of Brian's two month stay at the hospital. Almost a year and a half later we are happy to report that Brian's leg has healed successfully and he can now run, jump, and play just as he could before the accident. He is now in Class 2 at Olympic Primary School and walks to and from school and after-school tuition on his own every day.

Related Posts:
Brian Goes Home - December 2009
Brian Needs Your Help - October 2009

Uweza Girls Soccer

2011-04-01T03:24:00.000-07:00

We have struggled for a while to create and maintain a girls soccer team with girls from Kibera. We have found that girls don't have the freedom to come to practice on the weekends like the boys do, as they are often busy helping with chores at home or their parents aren't as willing to let them walk freely through the slum. The girls also don't have clothes to play in and are less willing to play barefoot like the boys do without shoes.

To address these issues, we decided to recruit girls that attend Toi Primary School, the school where we rent our field to join the team so they could come and play right after school. We also created girls uniforms for them to wear every week and the girls take turns every week washing them. Our newest coach, Saidi, has taken on the task of being their coach.

We know that a lot of the kids, and likely many of the girls, come to soccer because of a lack of other fun, organized activities to participate in during their free time. We are looking forward to being able to offer a variety of activities that cater to all talents and interests once we build the community center.

There is now a team of about 15 to 20 dedicated girls that have been coming every week for the last five months. Our girls may not necessarily become the next women's professional soccer player (although you never know!), but they all have been having a great time and spend the entire practice giggling and smiling - that's what counts the most.

A photo gallery of the girls at practice has been posted on our photo page: www.uweza.org/framephoto.html.

Spotlight on International Women’s Day

2011-03-07T22:29:00.000-08:00

March 8th is International Women’s Day—a time to reflect and motivate about the status of more than half of the world’s population. For Kenyan women and girls, considerable strides have been made in terms of health, education, safety, and government representation. Still, much remains to be done. In this blog I focus on women and girls in Kenya, on both their potential and their plight.

This video from the Nike Foundation about the “Girl Effect” is a reminder of the importance of interventions specifically for adolescent girls. Spaces like the Uweza Community Center provide a safe and empowering environment for girls to grow and flourish. As the video asks, will the revolution be led by a 12 year old girl?

Launched earlier this week, UN-Women is the new UN agency devoted to addressing issues of gender inequality. The Guardian UK collected messages from people around the world for UN-Women. See the photos here.

Kenya has the greatest percentage of children in secondary school of any country in sub-Saharan Africa—but girls are still lagging behind in rates of enrolment and completion. Read more about interventions to keep them in school here.

In previous blogs, I’ve written about obstetric fistula, a childbirth injury that is easily preventable with appropriate medical care at delivery. Fistula is practically non-existent in the Western world, but Kenyan women, particularly those who live in rural areas, remain vulnerable. Read RH RealityCheck’s ongoing series about preventing and repairing fistula here.

Being HIV-positive in Kenya can bring great stigma, which in turn may deter expectant mothers from seeking the treatment needed to ensure that their babies are born negative. Integration of HIV and maternal services—i.e., putting them under one roof—has had great success. Read more here.

In Africa, gathering firewood is generally the work of women and girls. At Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya, women and girls risk rape, assault, and death when they venture out for fuel. Check out this photo essay by the Women’s Refugee Commission about the dangers of gathering firewood in Dadaab.

Finally, Kenya’s own Wangari Maathai is the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She continues to inspire with her courage and vision for a more democratic and just Kenya. Watch the preview for a documentary about her life here, and see if the film is screening near you anytime soon.

Help us build the Uweza Community Center and Name One of the Rooms!

2011-02-25T03:11:00.000-08:00

A community center is something that we have been thinking about for a long time and we hope in the next few months that it will become a reality.

From our website:

"The Uweza Community Center will provide an office, meeting and storage space for our current programs and will be a launching point for new community-run initiatives. The center will give Kibera residents, especially youth, a safe space to exchange ideas, explore talents and interests, and develop income generating activities that they enjoy.

Youth in Kibera very rarely have the opportunity to develop creatively.There is a lot of pressure for youth to perform well academically and school curriculum is largely focused around memorization and repitition. Talents and interest in the arts, theater, sports, and other activities may go untapped for the entirety of their lifetime because they lacked an avenue to explore these areas. The community center will allow youth to flourish in ways that will build self-esteem and enrich their lives.

Our Kenyan staff have continuously requested opportunities for income generation, observing that many youth are not able to finish school or turn to a life of drugs, crime, early pregnancy and marriage, and continue a cycle of poverty that has persisted for generations. The Community Center will allow a space for business and finance training, skills building, business mentorship, and small-business development.

Uweza is Swahili for "power, opportunity and capability" and we hope that the community center will encapsulate all of these words. We believe that what will truly fight poverty and empower the residents of Kibera is allowing them to find solutions and inspiration within themselves."

We are hoping to get the center up and running by April of this year but need a huge fundraising push to reach our goal.

Please check out www.uweza.org/communitycenter.html and make a donation. There is a donation tracking tool on the site and every little bit helps. As an added bonus, every person that donates online (even $1.00) to support the Uweza Community Center between now and March 15, 2011 will enter a random drawing to name one of the rooms in the center!

If you can't donate, share the site with family and friends and help us spread the word! Thank you!

Field Clean Up and Uniform Washing

2011-02-16T03:04:00.000-08:00

We have recently been trying to get our players more actively engaged in the team in ways other than just showing up to practice and playing soccer. We want them to feel ownership of the team and to gain a sense of responsibility and pride in what they are doing.

In December, the players and coaches all participated in a clean-up of the field that they use every week. The field belongs to a school and the grass often grows long without being cut and trash is regularly dumped on the field. The coaches suggested that the teams start participating in regular field clean-ups so that they learn to take care of the place where they play (and earn the good graces of the school that allows us to use their field). It was also a bonding experience as all ages of players gathered together to pitch in. As a part of our points program, players were given extra points for participating.

More pictures of the field clean-up have been posted on our photo page.

Washing of our uniforms has formerly been taken care of by our coaches or by someone hired and paid to wash them. Our head coach suggested that we start allowing the older boys to wash the uniforms and earn something in return for their work. Starting in January, the older boys have been washing the uniforms every week in order to earn a new pair of shoes to play in. Each player is credited 200 Kenya Shillings (or about $2.50 USD) every time he washes. A pair of soccer shoes costs around 800-1,000 Kenya Shillings. After about a month and a half, many of the boys have washed enough times to earn a new pair of shoes that will be given to them this week. Most of the shoes that we purchase stay at the field and are used only during practices or matches but these shoes will be special to the boys as they have put in the work to earn ownership of them. Great for the boys and great for us as our uniforms are now always clean!

A Police Scandal, the Stigma of Twins, and Another Blog to Read!

2011-01-30T23:43:00.000-08:00

2011 has barely begun and I am already overwhelmed by the news and developments emerging from Kenya. I learn something new every time I put together one of these blogs, and I hope that you do too.

Last week Kenyans were shocked when a video of police officers executing three men on a busy Nairobi street emerged. The video brings to stark light the ongoing problem of extrajudicial executions and abuses committed by the Kenyan police. For more information, read this detailed report by Human Rights Watch (which I wrote about in a previous blog) about police abuse in Kenya.

Launched last year, the Map Kibera Project aims to create the first map of one of the world’s largest slums. Local residents have been trained and equipped with GPS devices to survey the twelve “villages” that comprise Kibera. The project’s staff hopes that the map will be a powerful tool for residents to learn more about the health, security, education, and water/sanitation facilities available in their community.

While generally considered a blessing in Western cultures, the birth of twins is regarded as unlucky among certain African tribes, including some in Kenya. Women who bear twins are subject to scorn and stigma. Read the story of Gladys, who has given birth to 6 sets of twins and was abandoned by her husband and family as a result.

The healthcare of animals might seem frivolous in light of Kenya’s many public health challenges, but agricultural experts say that access to better medicines for livestock is crucial to reducing poverty. Read more about the launch of 150 veterinary supply stores throughout Kenya.

Finally, I hope that you will spend some time at the Mashada website, which is one of Kenya’s most popular blog spots and online discussion forums. I do not agree with all of the commentary, but it’s a great forum to learn more about the voices and opinions of Kenyans on current issues, many of which I’ve discussed in this blog.

The Value of Sponsorship

2011-01-21T01:06:00.000-08:00

One of our parents, whose daughter was sponsored through Uweza and recently completed Class 8 in primary school wrote to thank us for the support. We were so touched by it that we wanted to share:

"I am glad to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation to you in person for the good support and achievements that you have made me experience since you stepped into our lives as a family. The face of our lives has greatly changed and the hopes of my daughter that she had, had been according to how you supported her fully. She was very low when she joined Standard 8 but because of your support, she managed to score to the standard of a provincial school. It was not easy and exams were not friendly to them [Class 8 students] and even the government was very keen on their results since they are the first class for the free primary education.

Thank you so, so much and may God bless you abundantly, I must congratulate you because my daughter's hopes have rested in you. Sometimes parents let their kids down, not because they want to but because they can't makes ends meet. It could have been very difficult for me since what they [my children] want, joining Form One [high school] is like an dream for me, which might have lead my daughter to just go and ask a neighbor to teach her how to mend dresses. But because you are there, she now has great hopes for joining Form One."

Due to the educational costs that he has saved through the sponsorship, this parent who runs a business repairing shoes, has been able to repair his home, purchase a bed for his children, provide regular meals, and support the education of his five other children, who all excel in school.

We have recently added many new students to our sponsorship program. If you are interested in sponsoring a child, please visit www.uweza.org/sponsorship for more information and to get started.

Cyrus Update

2011-01-20T03:48:00.000-08:00

We have written in the past about Cyrus, an 18 year old from Kibera who went blind after consuming methylated spirit in 2008 when he was 16. Cyrus has made tremendous strides in his recovery in the past two years. Although he will permanently remain unable to see, he has adapted well to every day life and has high hopes of attending university and becoming a lawyer.

He is currently sponsored through Uweza and attending the Thika School for the Blind (pictured below), located about 45 minutes outside of Nairobi. He will finish Class 8 this year, graduate primary school and move on to a high school. He will be able to continue on to high school if his grades are high enough and can complete his studies in braille.

We went to visit Cyrus at his boarding school last Saturday and found him in good spirits and doing well. The school contains a computer learning center with over 30 computers where children are taught how to use computers with a visual impairment. All of the teachers were very complimentary of Cyrus, his performance in school, and his good nature. He is able to navigate the curved pathways of the school without his walking cane and has memorized every curve in the path and knows exactly where each building is at at all times.

Although it is extremely tragic for Cyrus to have lost his sight at such a young age, we are proud of him for making the best of the situation and grateful to everyone who has supported him.

Related posts:
Taking Cyrus to School - September 2009
Request for Assistance - October 2008

Kenya and Kibera Current Issues Series: A New Year Begins

2011-01-17T04:06:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011, everyone! I’m looking forward to another year of blogging, and, more importantly, of supporting Uweza.

When in Kenya, I always admire the traditional emphasis on family and treating elders with respect. In this brief radio clip from the BBC, two children and their grandparents are interviewed about who cares for the elderly in Kenya. The avowed devotion of the children is heartwarming, but their grandfather’s remark about the contemporary “disintegration” of the traditional family structure is worth noting.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis poses a major challenge to public health in Kenya. The recent arrest and detention of two tuberculosis-stricken men, for the crime of not taking their medication, has sparked a debate about the intersection of public health and human rights. Does the greater national imperative of eliminating TB in Kenya take precedence over the individual rights of certain citizens? Read more here.

In a previous blog, I wrote about the announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of the six main suspects in the post-election violence of 2007. One Kenyan activist has written an impassioned plea that following the ICC announcements, Kenya “needs a mirror,” in order to move forward and avoid future violence. His is a perspective worth reading more about here.

In the aftermath of the post-election violence, some Kenyans are turning to a seemingly unlikely activity—yoga—to recover from the trauma they have experienced. This video clip shows how yoga can be a powerful tool for peace-building among the tribes of Kenya.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga recently called for the arrest of those engaging in homosexuality in Kenya. In this video, the director of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya discusses the impact of this statement on the gay and lesbian community.

And, finally, on a more uplifting note: Kenya’s own Daddy Owen was the Winner of MTV Africa Award 2010 for Best Anglophone Artist. Enjoy the video for his song “Tobina” here:

2010 Thank You Video!

2011-01-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

At the end of every year, we create a summary video to thank our supporters and give a better idea of how funds were spent over the course of the year.

Watch the new 2010 video here and thank you so much for your continued support!!

(2009 video)
(2008 video)

Final Current Issues Links Round-Up of the Year

2010-12-28T05:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to all Uweza supporters! The end of the year is frequently a time of reflection, and I know that contributing to Uweza is one of the most worthwhile things I’ve done in 2010. I’m looking forward to supporting Uweza’s continued good work in 2011!

And now, a few links for my final blog of 2010:

Equity Bank provides microloans to poor people throughout Kenya. As Equity’s CEO explains, investing in the poor isn’t about charity—it’s about good business. The default rates on Equity’s microloans are the lowest in the banking industry, around 6%. Watch this video to learn more about Kenya’s new “mini-moguls:"

Once every 10 or 15 years, the Masai people hold an initiation ceremony for men to become wazee, or tribal elders. Like much of indigenous culture, this ritual is endangered by encroaching urbanization. This audio slideshow includes narration from two of the new wazee, explaining this crucial rite of passage for the Masai.

The vulnerability of Kenyan schoolgirls to rape, sexual coercion, beatings, and bullying—often by their teachers—has made headlines recently. In this editorial, a Kenyan former schoolteacher decries the everyday abuse of girls and calls for greater attention to the problem. For more information, this report by Plan UK is a comprehensive study of school violence around the world, with recommendations on how to ensure that children “learn without fear.”

In a previous blog, I wrote about the rise of outsourcing in Kenya. This article gives more details about the building of the outsourcing industry, which analysts hope will someday rival tourism as Kenya’s biggest money maker.

Earlier this week the Kenyan Parliament voted to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is currently investigating the post-election violence of 2008. This vote comes one week after six suspects, all powerful politicians, were named by the ICC as alleged organizers of the violence. Critics say that Kenya’s withdrawal from the ICC signals its continuing refusal to end impunity in the government. Read more here, in Kenya’s main daily newspaper.

November Counselors Report

2010-12-27T10:09:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the delay on this one! Click here to read the report from our counselors about their work during the month of November.

How you can help Uweza for the holidays!

2010-12-23T16:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays from Uweza! We are excited to tell you about some new projects and opportunities to support our work. Check them out:

Kicks for Christmas

Our Soccer League Program (http://uweza.org/soccer) has greatly expanded to include over 180 children from throughout the Kibera slum. Our players are currently all on break from school and have been meeting with their coaches to train seven days a week. Participating in the league keeps them off of the streets and builds valuable skills and funds are always needed for field rent, supplies, and coaches salaries. Through the Kicks for Christmas project, you can sponsor one or more of our players for $10. You will receive a printable Christmas card and ornament-magnet about one of our players to give as a present or keep for yourself! [note: the ornament will arrive after Christmas but we will e-mail you the printable card in time].

Kibera Connection

Do you know a teacher, principal or parent that might be interested in connecting with children in Kibera? Please consider Uweza's Kibera Connection Project. Kibera Connection is a brand new initiative that offers students in the United States a unique opportunity to engage with and learn about children living in Kenya. We have created a website filled with learning resources and connections opportunities. Check it out and fill out the registration form or send us an email if you are interested in getting started or learning more! http://www.uweza.org/kiberaconnection.

Sponsor A Child

Our sponsorship program supports 25 children in Kibera with all the costs for gaining a quality education and provides for their health care for $20/month. Sponsors receive letters, pictures and updates from their sponsored children on a regular basis. We have four girls in need of sponsors, learn more at http://uweza.org/sponsorship.

Uweza Community Center

We are excited to announce the construction of an Uweza Community Center in early 2011! The Uweza Community Center will provide an office, meeting and storage space for our current programs and will be a launching point for new community-run initiatives, including an after-school program for children from Kibera. Funds are greatly needed for construction costs and supplies for the new programs: http://www.uweza.org/communitycenter.

Uweza Shop

Shop for jewelry made by HIV positive women living in Kibera. Funds will be used to provide sustainable financial opportunities for the women in early 2011. http://uweza.org/shop.

Soccer Program Update and New Team Photos

2010-12-03T00:51:00.000-08:00

Our Soccer Program has been growing rapidly and we now have 160 boys who have signed Uweza contracts of commitment to the team as well as 25 girls. Because the players are currently on break from school, the teams have been holding practice every day. The Points Program is still ongoing and prizes will be awarded in January. We have invested a lot of resources and funding into the program in recent weeks, purchasing new uniforms, goal posts for all of the teams, shoes and socks, and renting the field on Sundays (in addition to Friday and Saturdays). We have also hired three new coaches. The players have noticed and are having a great time being able to come and play every week.

Here are some pictures of the teams in their new Uweza uniforms:

Uweza Girls Team
Uweza Under 14 Team
Uweza Under 12 Team
Uweza Under 10 Team

Here is a video of the Uweza Under-12 team cheering on the Uweza Under-10 team as they play in a match against another team from Kibera. Uweza won the match 3-0.

Focus on World AIDS Day

2010-11-30T21:01:00.000-08:00

As most of you already know, today is World AIDS Day. Should December 1st be a somber occasion, marked by remembrance for the millions already lost and mindfulness of the challenges still ahead? Or should it be a day to commend and promote the progress made by extraordinary individuals and initiatives around the world? I agree with both approaches, and I hope I’ve reflected that in this week’s blog.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic was transformed by the development of PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission) of HIV. However, more than half of the world’s pregnant HIV-positive women are still not receiving the treatment they need to ensure that their babies are born negative. UNICEF is stepping up its efforts to ensure an “AIDS-free generation” in Kenya by distributing packs of AIDS drugs to every HIV-positive pregnant woman. Read more about the struggle to provide PMTCT in the developing world here, and watch a video of the launch of a PMTCT program in Kisumu, Kenya here:

How do you tell a child that he or she is HIV-positive? And what are the consequences of not telling them, or disclosing their status in an insensitive way? Human Rights Watch has conducted research in Kenya about the importance of disclosing age-appropriate information to children about their HIV status. Their observations and recommendations can be found here.

A few days ago, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga called for the arrest of homosexuals, raising alarm among many, including HIV/AIDS activists. Will Raila’s remarks drive the Kenyan gay community even further underground, and thus jeopardize crucial efforts to prevent HIV transmission among homosexuals? Read more here.

Since 1989, Professor Elizabeth Ngugi has conducted outreach to young female sex workers in the slums of Nairobi. Thanks to her efforts, more than six hundred sex workers have received the assistance and training needed to launch new careers and lead healthier lives. Watch a profile of Professor Ngugi, in an installment of IRIN’s “Heroes of HIV” series.

HIV-positive youth in the Mathare slum of Nairobi have written and produced their own newsletter, which aims to “inform, share their life experiences, create awareness, and help reduce stigma related to HIV/AIDS.” Read “Eneza Ujumbe: The Voices of Mathare Youth” here.

Urban Sprawl, M-Pesa, A Life-Saving Vaccine, and More!

2010-11-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the delay in this latest blog. So much is always happening in Kenya and beyond, so here’s a list of interesting links.

Earlier this week UN-Habitat released its report "State of African Cities 2010," and once again sounded the alarm regarding the rapid growth of the continent’s urban areas. In particular, the population of Nairobi is projected to grow nearly 50 percent over the coming decade. Will the newly urbanized Africa be comprised of "oceans of poverty [and] islands of wealth," as the UN warns?

"Hidden Cities – Unmasking and Overcoming Health Inequities in Urban Settings," another newly released report by UN-Habitat and WHO, outlines the "feminization" of poverty in cities and urban areas. For example, women living in cities are nearly twice as likely to contract HIV than rural women are, and women in densely populated areas have a 1.5 times higher rate of HIV than men. Read the report here, and take their mini-quiz about Urbanization and Health—I know that I learned a lot!

While I’ve previously paid tribute to Kenyan matatus, there is no doubt that they are often poorly driven and maintained. Road accidents in Africa and the developing world as a whole are at unacceptably high levels, but inconsistent efforts and lack of prioritization by national governments have hampered efforts to reduce the death toll. A BBC reporter visited some of the most dangerous roads in Kenya to learn more in this radio documentary.

Also earlier this week, the world was stunned by Pope Benedict’s statement that the use of condoms is acceptable in certain circumstances. Africa is home to more than 150 million Catholics, and is also the center of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Read more about reactions on the continent to the Pope’s momentous declaration here.

In a previous blog, I linked to a photo gallery of daily life in Dadaab, northern Kenya, in the world’s largest refugee camp. While the refugee camp has become a familiar concept to many Westerners, more than half of the world’s refugees currently live in urban areas, such as Nairobi. This blog post by the Women’s Refugee Commission spotlights the ingenuity needed by female refugees in the Nairobi slums to make ends meet, in the face of possible exploitation, abuse, and arrest.

Since 2007, Kenya has been a global leader in mobile phone-based banking. Why is “M-Pesa” such a resounding success in Kenya, and why is the so-called developed world so slow to catch on? Read more and watch a short video here:

A vaccine for meningitis, which kills thousands every year in Africa, will be offered in several countries, including Kenya, starting on Dec. 6. Learn more about why people are lining up for this life-saving jab here.

Welcome to Lagos

2010-11-24T06:26:00.000-08:00

This documentary by the BBC looks at slum life in Lagos, Nigera. The documentary "celebrates the resilience, resourcefulness and energy of Lagos's 16 million inhabitants, and shows how successfully many of its slum dwellers are adapting to the realities of the world's increasingly extreme urban future." It's a nice departure from the bleak picture painted by most documentaries about life in slums.

Parts 1 and 2 below (there are 6 parts total):

Sponsorship Program Parents Meeting

2010-11-19T13:56:00.000-08:00

Two weekends ago, Moi, our Sponsorship Coordinator, organized a meeting with all of the parents and children in the program. The theme of the meeting was the role of parents in their child's lives, as Moi felt that many parents in the program were not fulfilling their parental responsibilities. The meeting also provided a forum for the parents to raise any issues or concerns about the program.

Lunch was provided and there were a series of speakers including Becky, our Girls Counselor, a teacher from Ayany Primary School, which some of our students attend, and Moi. Each of the speakers stressed the importance of being actively involved in the lives of their children every day. This can be a challenge for parents who are struggling with their health, working long hours, and dealing with economic hardship. Becky discussed the effects on the psychological and emotional well-being of children when parents are too busy to spend time with them. The teacher spoke about the need for parents to attend school and meet with teachers so that they are aware of how they can supplement their child's education at home. Moi spoke about his job as Sponsorship Coordinator and how much time he spends catering to the needs of the children but that ultimately, he is not the parent of every child in the program and they all need to play their part as well.

The parents were all really receptive to the speakers and had a lot to contribute about what they hoped to achieve as parents and as participants in the program. Many of them expressed gratitude to the program for the support. One of the mothers who received a business loan spoke about the progress that her business has made and how she is moving toward being able to provide for her children without outside help. One of the fathers, who works long hours and is often not home, agreed that he felt it was not fair for the parents to accept help from the program and not hold up their end of their responsibility to their children.

The parents and speakers were all really pleased with the outcome of the meeting and we hope to have them on a regular basis from now on.

Counselors October Report

2010-11-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

Click here to read the Uweza counselors report about their work during October.

Suffering Blamelessly: Focus on Climate Change in Africa

2010-11-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of press about climate change, but perhaps not enough focusing on its most awful irony: people who have the smallest “carbon footprint” and thus have done the least to cause global warming—poor Africans—will likely be the most affected. The impact of climate change is already being felt in Africa, from ever-worsening public health to increasing armed conflicts between groups fighting over scarce resources. In this blog, I’ve put together some links about how climate change is worsening the already dire situation of Africa’s poorest, including many in rural and urban Kenya.

A good overview of climate change in the developing world can be found at the UN Habitat website. As UN Habitat reminds us, millions of urban poor in the developing world “live in potential death traps: huge, densely populated slums located on fault lines or in flood-prone areas.” Climate change renders these people even more vulnerable to disaster. And as climate change makes rural life more and more untenable, those slums are likely to swell even further with migrants from the countryside.

The rise in the world’s temperatures is also driving an increase in the spread of malaria, both in the slums (including Kibera) and in rural areas where mosquitoes were previously not a problem. The highlands around Mount Kenya are traditionally known for their cool temperatures and correspondingly low rates of malaria. But with global warming on the rise, malaria has become a major public health issue there. Watch this video to learn more.

The Mau Forest is Kenya’s most important water catchment area. Its degradation by irregular settlements, logging and charcoal burning, and increased agriculture is likely to cause an unprecedented water crisis and render the environment unable to absorb climate change. The exploitation of the Mau Forest has become a hot-button political issue in Kenya, with controversial evictions of “illegal” settlers. Read more about the importance and complexities of the Mau Forest here.

The north of Kenya is populated by semi-nomadic tribes who depend on Lake Turkana for survival. As a result of climate change, the lake has receded and droughts have become more regular. This scarcity of resources has pitted tribe against tribe in armed conflicts along the Kenya/Ethiopia border. Watch this video to learn about how climate change is driving war and displacement in northern Kenya.

And what is being done to help the poor “adapt” to the reality of a world 4 degrees warmer? The richest countries’ lack of commitment to helping the most vulnerable is a sadly familiar story, as described here. Civil society groups, such as the NGO Practical Action, are hoping to stimulate engagement in the developed world and promote inclusion of vulnerable groups in strategy formation for climate change adaptation. Read their briefing paper here.

Five New Girls Added to the Uweza Sponsorship Program

2010-11-07T23:13:00.001-08:00

Vivian (pictured here) and four other girls from Kibera have been accepted into our Sponsorship Program and are in need of sponsors to support their education and health care for their families. Sponsorships require a payment of $75 for start-up costs including two sets of uniforms, school supplies, and school enrollment fees. After this initial fee, sponsorships are $20/month.

Visit our website: http://uweza.org/sponsorship/ to learn more about the girls and about our Sponsorship Program.

Kenya and Kibera Current Issues Series--All Video Special!

2010-10-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

There is no shortage of videos online about life in Nairobi and Kibera, but many of them have a simplistic, fatalistic tone. As I’ve written before, I hate this reductive take on Africa; I support Uweza because it recognizes and promotes ability and opportunity. This week, I’ve collected informational (and fun) videos about projects in Nairobi which build the local economy, media, and artistic scene.

Voice of Kibera is an online interactive forum which encourages sharing of information. Residents send in text messages with information about happenings in their neighborhood, and the Voice of Kibera web team adds the new information to a handy online map.

Beyond the dissemination of information, Voice of Kibera hopes that it will be a tool and vehicle for greater respect and understanding among the tribes and groups in Kibera. You can watch an interview with a staff member below and learn more here.

Few visitors to Kenya leave without being impressed by the ubiquitous matatus (minibuses). Crowded, noisy, driven at hair-raising speeds—matatus aren’t just a mode of transport, they’re a veritable cultural experience! And with their vibrant colors and topical themes, they’re also a local form of artistic expression. The New York Times recently posted a brief article with two videos about matatus. See one of the videos below and read the full article here.

Other Kenyans are employing a different mode of creative expression—performance art—to enrich themselves both artistically and financially. The Sarakasi Trust trains at-risk youths from the Nairoibi slums in dance and acrobatics, helping to instill greater self-worth and providing a tangible skill to improve their livelihoods. Hear the dancers’ stories and watch their awe-inspiring moves here.

And more innovative artists: Jewelry makers in Kibera are benefitting their wallets—and the local environment—by using bones discarded by local butchers in their designs. Learn more in this news clip.

Lastly, these adorable and talented children are concerned about sustainable use of the massive amounts of garbage in the slums—so concerned that they’ve written and performed a rap song to tell us that “Trash is cash!” Watch their music video here.

New Under 8 Soccer Team

2010-10-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we started an Under 8 soccer team from a few of our most soccer players. These boys have been playing with the Uweza team, showing up to every practice and match since 2007 when our program was just one coach, a few balls, and a few cones. They have been playing on the Under 10 team but because they were so young, they didn't have the chance to really play and participate.

We noticed their dedication and decided to create a new team especially for them, with their own coach and gear. More boys started coming and the Under 8 team is now up to 10-15 players. Hopefully, we can recruit as many as 30 players and we can start enrolling them in tournaments, giving them soccer shoes and shorts, and getting them a lot more playing time and attention.

They have been having so much fun at practice and have smiles on their faces the entire time.

More photos of the team have been posted on the website: http://uweza.org/framephoto.html.

More Technology, African Human Rights Day, and A Music Video

2010-10-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hello to all Uweza supporters—I hope you have enjoyed my blogs so far! I have so much fun researching and writing them.

To continue on last week’s technology theme: I can’t believe that I forgot to include the endlessly interesting website AfriGadget, which spotlights technological innovation throughout Africa. AfriGadget recently profiled Gabriel Nderitu, who is building an airplane from scratch in the backyard of his Nairobi home. Learn more about “solving everyday problems with African ingenuity” here.

A blog in the New York Times highlights the vital role of motorcycles in delivering health care services in Africa, where poor or non-existent roads make the piki piki the most viable mode of transport to rural villages. If maintained properly, the motorcycle can be a powerful vehicle (both literally and figuratively!) in the provision of health care. As the article asks, “Where else can you find a low-tech investment in health care that increases patient coverage by nearly 600 percent?” Read more here.

At Dandora dumpsite in Nairobi, 2,000 tons of trash are dumped every day, and Josephat, a child from a nearby slum, rifles through the garbage to find materials like plastic and metal to sell. Watch this video of Josephat to learn about his daily life at the dumpsite and hear his dreams for the future.

October 21st (yesterday) was African Human Rights Day, which reminds me that Kenya is home to Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee settlement. The humanitarian crisis in Dadaab continues to escalate, with more refugees flooding in every day. Check out this photo slideshow on life in Dadaab.

On the lighter side: have you ever encountered people who think that Africa is a country? That it is home to one culture, one people, one language, etc.? If so, show them this very cool map, which conveys the massive size and diversity of the African continent.

And to end on a happy note: this catchy song and music video (by Marlaw, a Tanzanian singer) addresses a very Kenyan problem: traffic jams! The video is filmed partly in Nairobi and features the matatus, taxis, and cars that fill up the city streets all day, every day. Enjoy the song here:

Kibera Agenda Web Launch and One Year Anniversary Celebration

2010-10-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

Uweza often works closely with other local organizations in the community, and with this post we wanted to highlight one of our partners, Kibera Agenda. Kibera Agenda is a savings and loan group that is comprised of residents of Kibera who have organized to save and provide small-scale business loans to other Kibera residents. Uweza partners with the organization to provide loans for some of our sponsored childrens' parents. Often times, Uweza is able to provide for the educational needs of a child, but they still struggle with their family situation at home. Kibera Agenda has assisted to provide loans to some of these mothers of our sponsored children, so they may excel in business and provide for their children.

Recently, Kibera Agenda had a launch party celebrating one year of working in the community of Kibera. The group invited all of its current business loan participants to join in the celebration at a Scouts Camp located next to Kibera. During the celebrations, the participants of Kibera Agenda were given opportunities to receive free loan repayments through various games during the day. We are proud that two of our students' mothers, Mama Mulinge and Mama Norman, received a free loan repayment for scoring goals during the woman's soccer match!

Kibera Agenda will soon have a website to show their work at www.kiberaagenda.com. We are continually thankful for their partnership and support of our sponsorship program.

Members of Kibera Agenda at the launching of their first anniversary working in the community of Kibera

Goal-scorers in the women's soccer competition, including Mama Mulinge and Mama Norman in the center, who received a free loan repayment amounting to 10% of their current loan balance.

New scarves!

2010-10-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

A new batch of Kenyan scarves has been added to the Uweza Shop just in time for fall and the holidays! They are $10 each and we have eight different colors.

The scarves have sold out pretty quickly in the past and limited quantities are available so snatch them up while you can!
http://uweza.org/shop.html

Uweza 2009 Financial Report

2010-10-18T13:54:00.001-07:00

We strive to be transparent to donors and to keep donors as involved as possible in what is going on with our work in Kenya.

We have just published our financial report for 2009. It provides a description of our program accomplishments and a breakdown of how donated funds were spent. Check it out HERE.

In 2009, we focused our efforts primarily on our health outreach, sponsorship and orphanage programs. 2010 has seen a shift in our programmatic priorities and a change in a few of our projects. We expect to continue changing as an organization as we learn how we are best able to make an impact and reach those in need in Kibera. Our work is often reflective of the performance and priorities of our Kenyan colleagues and feedback from program recipients. We consider their involvement crucial to our success, as they best know their community.

We are currently working on a similar report for the first half of 2010 so expect that soon.

As always, thank you for your support!

iCow, Flip Flops and Other Kenyan Innovations

2010-10-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

Visitors to Kenya—or indeed, to anywhere in Africa—are often impressed by the people’s energy, entrepreneurship, and ingenuity; the most intractable problems are tackled with a creativity and humor that I am continually humbled by. I’ll try to include examples of this in the blog as much as possible.

One of my favorite stories this week is about the winner of the “Apps 4 Africa” competition. Kenyan Charles Kithika emerged victorious with his “iCow” application, which helps farmers maximize the breeding potential of their cows by tracking the animals’ fertility cycles. The program is voice-activated, so anyone with a basic mobile phone (and that’s everyone in Africa these days) can use it. What a brilliant and simple use of mobile technology to improve people’s lives.

Could high speed broadband internet transform the Kenyan economy? With the long-awaited installation of broadband connections earlier this year, East Africa is finally wired and ready for business. Kenya is currently attempting to stake its claim in the vast market for international business outsourcing. Read more here.

Considerably lower tech, but no less exciting and inventive, is the artistry of women in northern Kenya, who collect hundreds of discarded flip flops and use them to create beautiful toys and ornaments. This charming video tells the story of the women (and the flip flops) while capturing some of the rhythm and flavor of coastal Kenyan life. Watch it here:

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced a $50 million initiative to promote “clean” stoves in Africa. Most African women cook over open-flamed, wood-burning stoves, causing rampant health problems and speeding deforestation and climate change. Read about Why Clean Stoves Will Help African Women, and learn more about the challenge of changing Kenyans’ attitudes towards cleaner energy sources.

Counselors September Report

2010-10-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

Click HERE to read the Uweza counselors September report.

Kenya and Kibera Current Issues Series - Week 2!

2010-10-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

This week I’ve put together a mixed bag of links--so much coverage of Kenya and Africa is negative, so I try to collect links which reflect not only the struggles but also the achievements and limitless energy of the people. I hope that you enjoy the links, and I look forward to any feedbacks and suggestions.

• Kenya has shown improvements in health care and gender equality, but continues to suffer from large-scale corruption, poor infrastructure, and a failing education system, according to the 2010 Ibrahim Index of African Governance country rankings, which were released earlier this week. Learn more about Kenya’s performance in the Ibrahim Index and read an op-ed from Mo Ibrahim himself, a Sudanese telecommunications mogul on a mission to improve governance in Africa.

• Uweza isn’t the only organization to recognize the importance of sports and recreation as a tool for development. On the sidelines of the 19th Commonwealth Games, currently underway in Delhi, India, various officials are meeting to discuss the role of sports in achieving key development goals. Learn more about “Why Sport for Development Matters.”

• According to a recent Human Rights Watch report, most children in Kenya who have illnesses like HIV/AIDS and cancer cannot access pain medicine. Watch this short video about Jethro, a five-year-old from Kibera who was HIV-positive but did not receive the pain medicine he desperately needed before his death.

• The lack of adequate water and sanitation systems in the slums of Nairobi contributes to the spread of diseases like malaria, typhoid, and cholera. Read more about the connection between public health and sanitation here.

• Could the next winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature be a Kenyan? Novelist and activist Ngugu wa Thi’ongo is currently bookmakers’ favorite to be the next Nobel Laureate in literature. This thoughtful article talks about Wa Thi’ongo’s accomplishments and how literature can be a powerful catalyst for development.

Uweza Shop Look-a-likes

2010-10-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

Two times in the past month, I have spotted items in the store that are very similar to jewelry that we are selling through our Uweza shop. But of course each of our pieces is handmade by woman from Kibera, one-of-a-kind and much more reasonably priced!

Store brand

Much better Uweza shop version!

Store brand

Uweza shop version!

Please visit the Uweza shop: http://uweza.org/shop.html to purchase jewelry made by HIV positive women. 100% of proceeds will go toward direct assistance and program development to sustainably support these women.

New weekly blog feature: Kenya and Kibera Current Issues Series

2010-09-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

This week is the first in a new blog series that will be guest written by Amy Auguston. Amy first volunteered in Kenya in 2007. That year, she organized and financed weekly soccer lessons for the boys at Tunza Children's Center in Kibera and this project was later incorporated into Uweza to become our soccer league. She has also sponsored a student through our sponsorship program. She recently finished an 18-month stint managing a development project in Dodoma, Tanzania. She has an MSc in Development Studies and has worked on Africa-related issues with organizations including Human Rights Watch, EngenderHealth, the African Human Rights Consortium, and The Rory Peck Trust.

Below is her first blog post and she will continue to write a weekly post to keep us educated and informed about current issues affecting Kibera and Kenya.
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First introduced in 2000, the UN Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs) outline a comprehensive and ambitious vision for social and economic development in the world’s poorest regions. The MDGs provide obtainable guidelines to reduce worldwide poverty by 2015. Last week in New York, leaders from around the globe gathered at the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals to evaluate and discuss the progress made so far as well as what needs to be accomplished in the next five years.

Below you’ll find some MDG-related coverage of issues facing Kenya and the rest of the developing world:

• Kenya’s top newspaper Daily Nation assembled a detailed round-up of Kenya’s progress—or lack thereof—towards achieving the MDGs. While Kenya has made significant strides towards some goals, there has been insufficient progress in other areas, including child mortality, maternal mortality, and HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

• “The lack of African voices at the MDG summit was both notable and troubling. Learn more about efforts by Africans to address African issues here .

• What happens if the MDGs aren’t reached in 2015? As one development expert asks, “If we miss the goals, who is going to punish us?” Read more about accountability for the MDGs here.

• Kenya’s own Wangari Maathai, who is the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, published an impassioned editorial about the importance of involving women and girls in issues of environmental sustainability (MDG #7).

• MDG # 5 aims to reduce maternal mortality and to improve maternal health in general. Obstetric fistula is one of the common—and most devastating—childbirth injures in Africa. In a recent report, Human Rights Watch spotlights the plight of Kenyan women with fistula and the failure of the Kenya’s health system to prevent and repair this condition.

• A recent World Health Organization study reminds us that the fight against HIV/AIDS (or MDG #6) is far from over. The target for universal access to ARV treatment in the world’s poorest countries has still not been reached.

East Africa Cup Tournament Results

2010-09-18T12:17:00.001-07:00

Last month, three of our teams participated in a three-day tournament with teams from throughout East Africa.

Each team played in 4 matches. The Under-12 team won one match and lost three. The Under-14 team also one one match and lost three. The Under-18 team won one match, drew one match, and lost two.

Although they were not victorious, the boys did their best and all had a great time and it was a really good experience for them to interact with players from throughout Kenya and all of East Africa. When they weren't playing, most of the boys spent the whole day at the tournament watching other teams play. We provided all of the boys lunch every day as well.

A photo gallery of the tournament has been posted on our photo page: http://www.uweza.org/framephoto.html

We recently bought new sets of uniforms for the teams, including a set of pink uniforms for a new girls team so check back for more info and pictures soon!

Bar Mitzvah for Uweza

2010-09-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

Recently, we were fortunate enough to be chosen as the recipient for a Bar Mitzvah Project coordinated by a young man named Nathan Lee and his family. Nathan celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in June and asked attendants, family and friends to donate to Uweza as part of the celebration.

Following the Bar Mitzvah, the family traveled to Africa for an eight week trip, starting in June. They visited and worked with members of the Samburu tribe, who reside in a rural area of Kenya north of Nairobi. They are working with members of the community to help gain education for their children.

It's really inspiring to see someone Nathan's age already giving back to those in need and we are honored and grateful to him and his family for letting us be a part of their efforts.

Counseling Retreat and August Report

2010-09-12T13:38:00.001-07:00

On August 30, our counselors, Collins and Becky, organized a counseling retreat for the kids at Tunza Children's Center in City Park in Nairobi.

From their August report:

"We managed to take 56 kids plus one helper (Mike) and Mama Tunza to the Nairobi City Park. We got a 62 seater passenger bus for transport from Kibiko to the park and back conveniently. We also managed to pay for the park fees and we had enough snacks and drinks for the kids.

Moreover, we had a beautiful programme for the day. In the morning sessions up to lunch hour we divided the kids into two groups with the help of two other professional counsellors (Susan and Anne). The topics for the morning sessions were: Relationships (family relationships, requirements for healthy family relationships, boy/girl relationships, what values to embrace to pursue purity of life, creating relationship boundaries), Self Confidence (self esteem and believing in self and its advantages), Self Management and Self Control (controlling the minds, what to watch and time management).

In the afternoon, the programme included: Team building activities and sporting activities where the kids were exposed to competing games and awards given for the winner as well as the kid who participated in many games was awarded with a book. The games were meant to compliment the morning sessions topics. We also enhanced the essence of unity and brotherhood in the team building activities.

We culminated the day with in house rules on the way forward as we look forward for another moment like that. The kids were very happy and appreciated the sponsorship and made a request to have such events at least every holiday if possible. Thank you very much for your continued support we would not have made it without your support."

Read the entire August Counseling report here.

Pictures of the retreat have been posted in the photo gallery on our website: http://uweza.org/framephoto.html

"A Small Act"

2010-09-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

"When Hilde Back sponsored a young, rural Kenyan student, she thought nothing of it. She certainly never expected to hear from him, but years later she does. Now a Harvard graduate and a Human Rights Lawyer for the United Nations, Chris Mburu decides to find the stranger that changed his life. Inspired by her generosity, he starts a scholarship program of his own and names it for his former benefactor.

Using a strong narrative, the film interweaves seemingly separate lives into a cohesive whole. With clarity and grace, A SMALL ACT, bears witness to the ripple effect a single action can create."

Trailer:

A Small Act can be viewed now on HBO on Demand and there are screenings throughout the US starting on October 14. It will be available on DVD in the fall. To learn more, visit the website: http://www.asmallact.com/index.php.

Ligi Ndogo East Africa Cup Soccer Tournament

2010-08-27T00:54:00.000-07:00

Today, our soccer teams will be participating in a tournament with 60 other teams from throughout East Africa, including Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda. Uweza has three teams participating in the tournament, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-20. The teams will be playing in multiple matches per day until the tournament ends on Sunday.

Both the players and coaches have been training overtime for the past few week in order to prepare for the tournament. They have had practice every day, sometimes twice a day and are really excited about getting the opportunity to participate in such a big event. Our coaches plan to use bicycles so they can quickly rotate between matches, which will be occurring simultaneously throughout Kibera and surrounding areas.

This week, we purchased new balls, first aid supplies, and 20 new pairs of shoes for our Under 12 team.

We wish them the best of luck in their matches today and will post again soon with the results!

Interviewing our Soccer Players

2010-08-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

In May, we interviewed some of the players in our soccer program about why they like playing on the Uweza teams. Their responses surprised us and speak to the impact the program is having on their lives.

10 Ways You Can Help Uweza on World Humanitarian Day

2010-08-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

Today is World Humanitarian Day and you may find yourself wondering how you can be a good humanitarian and make a difference today. Well look no further than the Uweza blog!

Here are some suggestions of things you can do to celebrate:

1. Donate! Just $10 can pay one of our soccer coaches for a three training sessions or send a child to school for two months. A little bit goes a long way in Kenya. Seriously.
2. "Like" our Facebook page, suggest it to your friends, and even share this blog post if you are feeling particularly ambitious.
3. Visit the Uweza shop and purchase some Kenyan-made jewelry for yourself, your mom, your friend, your sister, and your grandma.
4. Follow us on Twitter.
5. Watch some (or all) of the videos on our video page to learn more about Uweza and where we work.
6. Gather soccer supplies. We are always in need of shoes, practice jerseys, and socks. Email us at info@uweza.org for more information.
7. Join our mailing list.
8. Hold an Uweza fundraiser. Email us for more details.
9. Employer donation matching. If you are a frequent donor (or a one-time donor. or a prospective donor!), check to see if your employer will match your donation to Uweza.
10. Follow this blog! Click "Follow" on the sidebar to the right.

July Counseling Report

2010-08-17T13:50:00.001-07:00

Click HERE to read the most recent report from our counselors.

Sponsorship Program Business Start-Ups

2010-08-12T16:39:00.001-07:00

Our new Sponsorship Program Coordinator, William Moi Otieno or "Moi" has been managing the Sponsorship Program since March of this year. He has really helped improve the program and is constantly making suggestions for improving its productivity and sustainability. Being a father of six children and long-time resident of Kibera himself, Moi is able to relate to the parents in our program and figure out solutions that will best suit their needs.

He also is the Program Director of a savings and loans group in Kibera. The group meets every week and each member is responsible for contributing to the savings of the group. After saving for five weeks, members are eligible for a small loan, that they pay back interest free. Repayment of the first loan makes a member eligible for a second and then third loan. Emergency loans are available for group members that find themselves in particularly rough spots in their life.

In May, after interacting with the parents in the program, he suggested to us that four of the mothers of our students join the savings and loan group so that they could start sustainable businesses and be able to better support themselves and their families. We provided half of the funds for the initial five weeks of savings (the mothers were responsible for matching the amounts) as well as the initial loan, which will be paid back to the group. Three of the mothers have started new businesses - selling household goods, selling shoes, and selling doughnuts. The fourth has added the loan funding to an already existing small restaurant that she runs in a market.

Getrude has started a business selling Mandazi (or doughnuts)

Theresa has started a business selling Mali Mali (assorted household items)

Gilbert and Kelly's Wedding

2010-08-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, on July 31, 2010 our friends Gilbert and Kelly were married in California.

Gilbert is a Kenyan and has volunteered with Uweza to develop an HIV Peer Education program (read his blog post here). Gilbert and Kelly met in 2008 while Kelly was in Kenya doing volunteer work. Since then, they have maintained a long-distance relationship and have both been dedicated to giving back to those in need in Kenya. In June of this year, Gilbert traveled to the United States to prepare for their wedding and new life together.

Not only have Gilbert and Kelly held seminars on HIV and provided meals and learning laptops to school children on their own, the couple generously created an Uweza Registry, encouraging wedding guests to donate to Uweza in lieu of receiving gifts. We hope to contribute the funds raised through their wedding toward building a brand new community center in Kibera.

We are so grateful for their support and wish them a lifetime of happiness!

Congratulations Collins!

2010-08-07T09:46:00.001-07:00

Today Collins, who works with us as a Youth Counselor, is graduating from Pan African Christian University with a B.A. in Theology and Counseling. Congrats Collins!

Kenya Referendum Tomorrow

2010-08-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Kenyans will be voting to accept or reject a new constitution. The new constitution is thought to be important in that it limits the power of national politicians and gives more power to local leaders. It creates a commission to manage public land and recognizes Muslim Courts. It also gives Kenyans a bill of rights and creates a senate. The constitution is being backed by both Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, who ran against in each other in the 2007 presidential election that turned into violence and chaos.

There has been some violence and tension in the months before the election and although the majority of Kenyans are in support of the new constitution, there is opposition, mostly from religious leaders, due to the recognition of Muslim courts and a section about abortion.

If you are interested in learning more about the vote and the new constitution, you can check out these links:

"Kenya Stakes Its Reinvention on a Referendum" (New York Times article)

"Kenya holds its breath on eve of vote on new constitution" (Washington Post article)

"Kenya prepares for referendum" (Al Jazeera video)

A smoothly run vote, transparent ballot counting, and peace following the announcement of the results would be a big step for Kenya. Our employees and friends in the country believe that things will run smoothly tomorrow and we're hoping that no matter the results, everything goes well and everyone remains safe.

June Counseling Report and New Counseling Initiative Web Page

2010-07-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

Firstly, click HERE to read the June 2010 Report from our Counselors.

Secondly, we have created a web page for the Counseling Initiative (which includes all of the Counselors Reports since July 2009) so check it out! It can be viewed at: http://www.uweza.org/counseling.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for your support!

Mercy is number one!

2010-07-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

Mercy Nelima, one of our sponsored students has been attending a boarding school called Musa Gitau since January. Musa Gitau is well known as one of the best primary schools in Nairobi and entry is very competitive. The school always ranks very highly on national exams and graduating students often receive scholarship and placement to national high schools, which is every primary school student's ultimate objective.

When students receive their mid-term and final exam results, they are told their exam score as well as their "position" in the class. As of the most recent mid-term exams, Mercy is now position one in her class! This is a tremendous feat considering Mercy's story and the competitive nature of the school. We are so proud of her and grateful to her sponsors for giving her the chance to shine.

"Good Fortune" documentary on PBS

2010-07-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

This documentary provides some interesting insight on the unintended effects of foreign aid/development in both Kibera and rural Kenya. In Kibera, it focuses on the recent slum upgrading efforts. It is available free on the PBS website from now until October 12 so check it out while you can!

PBS Synopsis of the film:
"Good Fortune is a provocative exploration of how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit. In Kenya’s rural countryside, Jackson’s farm is being flooded by an American investor who hopes to alleviate poverty by creating a multimillion-dollar rice farm. Across the country in Nairobi, Silva’s home and business in Africa’s largest shantytown are being demolished as part of a U.N. slum-upgrading project. The gripping stories of two Kenyans battling to save their homes from large-scale development present a unique opportunity see foreign aid through eyes of the people it is intended to help."

Watch here: http://www.pbs.org/pov/goodfortune/photo_gallery_watch.php

More prize giving!

2010-07-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, the winners of the first round of our Points Program were officially given their prizes. Prizes included new school uniforms, backpacks, school shoes, pens and pencils, textbooks, exercise books, soccer gear and clothing items.

The winners were thrilled to receive their prizes. The next round starts in August.

Thanks to our coaches for pictures of the ceremony and fancy wrapping of the prizes!

"Fear of Attack Leaves Women Prisoners in Their Homes"

2010-07-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International recently came out with a report on the threat of violence to women in the slums of Nairobi. They particularly focused on the fact that most women can't use the toilet at night for fear of being attacked.

Insecurity and Indignity: Women's experiences in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya details how the failure of the government to incorporate the slums in urban plans and budgets has resulted in poor access to services like sanitation, which hits women in slums and informal settlements especially hard.

"Women in Nairobi's settlements become prisoners in their own homes at night and some times well before it is dark," said Godfrey Odongo, Amnesty Internationals East Africa researcher. "They need more privacy than men when going to the toilet or taking a bath and the inaccessibility of facilities make women vulnerable to rape, leaving them trapped in their own homes.

Read a summary of their report here.

And if you have time, read the entire report here.

Dentists Needed!

2010-07-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

Kathy Nikles, who has volunteered in Kibera and has been a supporter of Uweza's work recently took a volunteer trip to Arusha, Tanzania. While there, she noticed the lack of available dental care and decided to try and put together a dental volunteer program.

According to Kathy:

"They have very little dental care and the basics of equipment at best, and many simply don't have the means. Their teeth are in terrible shape and all to often their teeth are extracted for something as simply as a cavity. I've looked into existing dental programs that travel abroad, but at this time there is not one that travels to the Tanzania, ARUSHA area. So with your help I would like to put the word out there to anyone who may be interested or anyone you know who may be interested in joining a group of dentists for a short stay in the town of Arusha to volunteer their skills to the local peoples.

It would be approximately a 1-2 week stay with accommodations, meals and transport. I'm also trying to work with C.I.D.A. to see if they are able to help with this in any way, but at this point it would be a cost that would be incurred by yourselves. The date is not yet determined, but I'm asking people to get involved if possible. If this doesn't work for you, may I ask that you forward this to your dentists, friends and acquaintances. These kids and adults that I met there are absolutely lovely and precious and if we could collectively make this happen it would be such a wonderful gift to all."

If you can help or know someone who can (everyone has a dentist!), you can email Kathy at kathynikles@gmail.com.

Flashback: Christmas Dinners

2010-07-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

In browsing through old blog posts today, I realized that we never posted about the end result of our Christmas Dinner fund raising project (better late than never)!

Thanks to your generosity, we were able to provide dinners for 19 families in Kibera. Each family received rice, chapati flour, meat, cooking oil, sugar and cookies. They were all very excited and grateful.

Here are the pictures that we took of the families that were supported:

Prize giving day!

2010-06-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Last month, we held the prize giving day for the new Points Program we have started with our soccer teams. Points were awarded by our coaches during every practice from January to April in five different categories and the three boys from each team with the highest total were given a prize.

On prize giving day, everyone had soda and a ceremony was held where the winners were recognized and given certificates. We are currently working on distributing their prizes, which will consist of school needs such as backpacks, uniforms, school supplies and school fee payment.

The winners were really excited and a lot of the boys expressed that the team was helping them build skills in all areas of their life, not just soccer.

Under 10 winners from left to right: Wycliffe Nyariki (First Place), Enoch Ouma (Second Place), Austin Shikwekwe (Third Place)
Under 12 winners (with coach) from left to right: Boniface Odhiambo (First Place), Paul Kiminza (Second Place), Samuel Wilson (Third Place)
Under 18 winners from left to right: Charles Omondi (First Place), Bernard Chacha (Second Place), Ferdinand Odhiambo (Third Place)

New Uweza shop!

2010-06-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

Uweza has sold goods created by HIV positive support groups (mainly women) in Kibera since 2008. The proceeds have been used to assist these women in purchasing food, paying rent, and covering the costs of sending their children to school. Funds have also been used to provide hospital care and essential medication.

You can now purchase items created by these women on our website!

Visit http://www.uweza.org/shop.html to learn more about this project and make a purchase!

One Year Ago Today...

2010-06-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

One of our sponsored students, Jane (or "Jenny" Muthoni) lost a life-long battle with HIV/AIDS. She was just 16 years old.

The world has lost a beautiful and inspirational young lady. Her dream, from the very first time we met her in a hospital bed, was to be able to finish high school. Thanks to a generous sponsor, she was able to attend school in the months prior to her passing.

In remembrance of her, here are a collection of pictures of Jenny on her first day back to school and blog posts that we have written to share her story.

Jenny's Passing - September 21, 2009

Going to School - February 2, 2009

Visiting Jenny at Home - August 1, 2008

Meeting Jenny - July 9, 2008

Tunza Counselors April and May reports

2010-06-15T11:03:00.001-07:00

According to their most recent reports (apologies for being a little late on posting them), a lot of issues are currently taking place at the center. We are really grateful that Becky and Collins are there weekly to work with the kids. They provide them with some sense of stability and a positive outlet for what they are going through. We will try and see what else we can do to help.

Click HERE to read the April report.

Click HERE to read the May report.

Frightening Kenyan Statistics

2010-06-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

Under 5 Mortality Rate (per 1,000 births)

105 in 1990
128 in 2008

Infant Mortality Rate

68 in 1990
81 in 2008

Life Expectancy

52 years in 1970
60 years in 1990
54 years in 2008

GDP per capita average annual growth rate

1.2% 1970 to 1990
0.1% 1990 to 2008

The captain of our Under 18 team explains why he loves playing for Uweza

2010-06-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

Tunza Counselor's March Report

2010-04-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Click HERE to read up on their progress!

Guest blog: Gilbert Nyakundi Bita

2010-04-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

Gilbert has started working with us as a health education facilitator in Kibera. He has worked with our soccer teams and spoken to them about issues such as self esteem and HIV/AIDS. Today he has written a blog about what he would like to accomplish through his work with Uweza.
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According to the World Health Organization, Health is defined as: The general well being of an individual, physically, socially and mentally; not merely the absence of disease or infirmity! This in itself tells us that none of us is healthy! We all have areas that pins us down, and so is the community we live in!

Coming together as members of the global community, we can be able to achieve a healthy community. We at Uweza Aid Foundation are up to the goal of a healthy community, working with different departments but all under one goal “Healthy Community”

My name is Gilbert Nyakundi Bita; I am working as a volunteer facilitator in Uweza Aid Foundation. In the facilitation Department my aim is achieving the following goals:
* To enhance Behavior change and Behavior formation in regards to HIV/AIDS.
* To create awareness on HIV/AIDS.
* To enlighten the youth on how best they can use their free time.
* Help bring out the potentials within individuals
* Unite the youths and the community towards a healthy growth.

To achieve the above goals I have set up plans working with the youths starting with just few youths as follows:
* Recruit youths to peer educators
* Have regular seminars with the youths and some older members of the community.
* Recruit youth groups within the community
* Have the youths give regular reports regarding the peer education and the activities they are involved.
* Link the youths with other groups and organizations within and out of the community.

To have a healthy you and I, a healthy community is for sure. Through education, transformation to the community is achieved or carried out!

Involving the youth is helping the community use her potential at early stages. Remember “a well informed community is always for the positive incoming change and easily makes wise decisions” resources within the community are well used and managed through education by involvement of the youths too. I mean what can we say of security? Talk of manipulation, how about wasting a full potential in people? All these are taken care of by giving the right information to the subjects (Youths and community members). In brief Information followed by action is an achievement!!!(Gilbert 2010)

Most of the people are interested to know what propels this work especially what makes me like my job as a facilitator! Just to borrow some of Myles Munroe’s fact “Our minds are not empty vessels to be filled!.....”…..our minds just need a tapping reminder to be active!

I do facilitation first to bring out the you in you and help me get the me in me!

Another important thing is to give back/contribute to the community. It’s very fulfilling to see community members implement what they learn from me!

Gilbert N. Bita

Appreciation

2010-04-13T23:12:00.000-07:00

We say it over and over again but it can't be said enough. We're so grateful to everyone that has donated, fund raised, spread the word, shared a link, blogged, tweeted, and e-mailed so that we can keep providing assistance to the people of Kibera.

We wanted to take the time to thank and recognize some organizations that have supported us in the past year.

So a big thank you to...

Vincentown United Methodist Church

Magnolia Road United Methodist Church

Tabernacle United Methodist Church

The Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation

Viv&Ingrid

Faces of Kibera

Check out their websites and stay tuned for more posts about our amazing supporters. And while you're at it, send us an e-mail if you'd like to find out about more ways to get involved!

Thanks for reading!

New Soccer Program!

2010-03-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

In January, we started a new program with our four soccer teams in order to help them build skills and adopt behaviors that will be useful throughout their lives. Our coaches told us of a concern that many boys that play soccer in the slum become distracted from school or put all of their hopes into becoming major league soccer players. As a result, they become disappointed as adults when they find they should have focused more on academics or discover that they won't be able to play soccer for a living. Many of these boys may turn to drugs or crime.

As part of the new program, coaches award a certain amount "points" to their players during each practice. Points are awarded for performance in six different areas:

1. Attendance
2. Cleanliness
3. Timekeeping
4. Attitude/Discipline
5. Soccer Skills, Effort and Improvement
6. Academic Performance in school

At the end of each school term, coaches will total the points for all of the players. The three players with the highest point totals will receive funds toward educational costs (school supplies, school fees, uniforms, etc). Older boys that are no longer in school may receive funds for business start-up or training in a specific area such as driving or computers.

Joel Otieno, age 13, Points Leader for the Under 14 team

During the term, the boys with the highest point totals are eligible for special privileges. This coming weekend, the 22 players on our Under-17 and Under-14 teams that have earned the highest amount of points will be participating in a two-day tournament. They will be traveling out of Kibera to play against other teams from throughout Nairobi and receive brand new shoes to play in.

Our coaches have reported that attendance and the efforts of the boys have improved and we hope that the new program will motivate them to always do their best in soccer, in school and in life.

Tunza Counselors February Report

2010-03-12T09:09:00.000-08:00

The Tunza counselors continue to adjust their program to cater to the specific needs of the kids at Tunza and they are making a lot of progress.

Click HERE to read about their work in February.

Counselors January Report

2010-02-15T14:57:00.000-08:00

Click HERE to read the report written by the counselors we have hired to work at Tunza Children's Center about their work during the month of January.

Counselors December Report

2010-01-11T14:03:00.001-08:00

This month's report is pretty long and heavy, with a lot of major issues. A lot of the issues revolve around the older kids finishing school and transitioning into adulthood. We are very glad that the counselors are there to work with the kids during this time.

We are working with the counselors to set up a 2 or 3 day camp for the older kids in Feburary. It will be held somewhere away from the home and will give them time to sort out the issues that they are facing and will continue to face as they become older as well as a chance to receive advice and guidance.

Although a lot of the issues mentioned may be out of our control, we will really try and see what we can do to help the kids. Having the counselors to talk to them every week is already a big help so thank you to our donors for funding their services!

Click HERE to read their report.

Counselors are paid about $30 each ($60 total) per weekly session. If you would like to help us fund counseling for the Tunza kids through a one-time or monthly donation, go HERE.

HOME (Help Orphans with Milk and Eggs)

2009-12-30T09:40:00.000-08:00

HOME is a project started by a volunteer named Kelsey to provide the kids at Tunza in Ngong with chickens and a cow. In the last few weeks, HOME provided Tunza with a cow, which will provide milk, and 100 chickens, to lay eggs that can be sold to earn income and eaten by the kids. Three farm buildings were also built.

To read more about this exciting project, check out the HOME blog here: http://kenyakelseykenya.blogspot.com/

Thank you!

2009-12-26T17:10:00.000-08:00

We have once again created a video to show you some of the ways funds were used this year and to thank you for your support.

Hope you enjoy it!

Merry Christmas from Uweza!

2009-12-25T17:03:00.000-08:00

Quick update on our Christmas Dinner Sponsorship: thanks to you, 19 families in Kibera received the makings of a special Christmas dinner (rice, chapati, meat, cooking oil, sugar and cookies) today. More details (and pictures) coming soon.

Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday!

Counselors November Report

2009-12-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

Click HERE to read the report from the Tunza Children's Center counselors about their work with the kids in November.