WHAT A DAY TO WEAR A SMILE!

 

 There is always a nauseating feeling that comes your way whenever your parents inform you that there are guests coming over at your place. There is this gist that comes to mind that you want to hide under your bed, or in the closet but here at Sadili, that is quite the contrary. Upon hearing that The University of Minnesota is coming to our home ground, a feeling of ecstasy filled the space around. Yes, they came and also the vivacious, meticulous, animated and ever-smiling girls of Olympic High School were there to feel the inspiration and show their prowess in football. The day was memorable, moments noteworthy, the discussions illuminating and motivational and the football match amusing.

The day was filled with a bunch of activities but I shall only detail about one; that is the football match. Gone are the days when football was seen as a game only for the make gender while girls should be skipping ropes and playing ‘kati’. The girls from Olympic High School are a great paradigm. You should have been there to see how they kick the ball, pass it, swerve it against the opponent, and hit it with the head as if it is their daily bread. It was as if I was watching a game between Barcelona and Real Madrid although I could not pick out one girl to be Lionel Messi and another Christiano Ronaldo. They are super talented and very fast just like the Flash. Subsequently, there were our comrades from University of Minnesota. Most of them admitted to never playing football and find joy in watching rather than playing the game. Nevertheless, they joined the girls from Olympic and battled it out on the football pitch.

I have never enjoyed a game like that in my life. The Minnesota players were vividly afraid of getting hit by the ball but got the essence of it with three of their players scoring for their teams. Talk about being excited. When they scored the goals, their strength came out ten times more so that they could score again and again but the girls from Olympic did not let that go easily. They gathered their momentum, used their voices as a the sole means of communication, hit the ball as if they were playing football for the last time in their lives and showed us that football is indeed their daily bread.

 They supported the Minnesota players by joining them to play together. It was indeed a tremendous time for us here at Sadili. The Minnesota team taught us something that Oprah Winfrey once said, challenges are gifts that force us to look for a new centre of gravity. We should not fight them instead find a new way to stand. I mean, they did not know how to play football but by the end of the day, they got a little knowledge on how to play. For the Olympic girls, they saw that they have so much talent hence have the full potential to be whatever they would like to be. They viewed themselves as lucky to have such skills and vowed to tap even more into
it to use it as a channel to make a global difference.

To wrap up, this day depicted that life has so many opportunities and it is up to us to take them up. Through this, we get to learn more about the world and the people in it live in peace, harmony and tranquility and as one alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone on water creating many ripples on the surface. Being together as the Family of Sadili Oval, Olympic High School girls and the University of Minnesota sure made ripples on the water surface.

 

Girl Power Club Mentoring :Meet Our mentor

Lillian Samba is a certified accountant and an entrepreneur with her own interior design and decor business in Nairobi.

She loves colours, colours inspire her thoughts .Her love for colours is one the factors that motivate her in her interior design and decor business. She also keeps fit by doing by aerobic exercises also known as cardio and yoga.

Her vision in the mentoring program is to see girls become more confident, breaking away from traditional beliefs, embracing and accepting their body's changes as they grow up in responsible, independent ladies who will break some of the glass ceiling that women aspire to break.

Samba's take on image and self esteem is that, "it's not always about how one looks on the outside but the inside matters too. The mirror only givesthe physical appearance but it's also good to evaluate ones inner self, believe in one self and be positive".

Message to the girls,"Know that you are heroes in yourselves from the inside and learn to help other girls so that all of you can move forward. Strive to be all round people by blending your education, with your talents, sport , art, music, passion and interests. Everyone has their time and just because others time has come patiently wait for your time .Most importantly discover your passion then pursue what it entails".

Girl Power Clubs Celebrates 2018 Global Mentoring Walk

Girl power club participated in the global mentoring walk that took place at the Sadili oval club,rugby pitch .The walk was also to commemorate the international women's day on Saturday the 10th of march 2018.The theme was press for progress.The mentor ship walk brought together  134 girls  from Kibera and the Kijiji which is an informal settlement in Langata.

The walk was coordinated by partnership  with Vital voices  with Dr.Elizabeth Odera being the flag bearer.This initiative comprised of  150 Global Mentoring walks that took place in  over 60 countries around the world.Vital voices has invested in women's leadership has a means to improve the world.The main objective of the walk was to create a platform where  mentee's can freely interact with their mentors at the same time creating visibility around women in sports, leadership and mentorship and most importantly motivate girls of different age groups who are from the informal settlements.

The day started at 8 am, the girls were picked from the various girl power schools.Girl power is a girl empowerment program which in Nairobi  the schools which have the club running are; Olympic High school,St.Aloysius gonzaga secondary school, Nazarene primary school, Kidstar Academy and St.Catherine Education Centre.The guest school was Ngei Primary School.

We most of the pupils arrived , we started with  warm up exercises at the rugby pitch followed by  the girls being split in four groups, the first group consisted of the high school pupils, the second group had pupils from class six to class eight.The third group had class four and five pupils the fourth group had pupils below class four.Each group had a mentor and they would all interact with all the groups formed.Therefore the had to keep time so that they do no overstay in one group.The sadili staff also took the opportunity to join in the groups.

Mentor samba and her mentees

Cherop encouraging the girls

Mentor Terry and her mentee

Olympic high school girls with mentor Terry

The little ones were not left behind

After the mentoring, we had a water break and  photo session.Followed by ribbon cutting to officially start the walk through the Langat'a civil servants estate  to old Uchumi ,clean shelf supermarket took a turn before the national housing corporations houses back to Sadili.

The pupils  walked in a big group and the police was available to offer security.The girls were carrying banners and placards with different  messages on them. The girls sang and chanted as we walked through the estate following our route.The staff on route management ensured that the route was observed  and all were safe.The girls faces were so bright as we were walked and their was  excitement and the joy in their faces.It was a team indeed, which had the aim for empowerment, inclusivity and the celebration of women across the globe.

After the walk we assembled back at the sadili rugby pitch for lunch.Lunch was rice beans and steamed cabbage.Juice as a refreshment .After lunch there was a brief vote of thanks.The students then escorted back to their homes.The event ended at 1:30pm

Girl Power February 2018 Sports Day

The girl power sports day was held on the 24th, February 2018.The theme was healthy eating habits. The budget and the checklist and the activity plan had been drafted, typed and saved on the team drive therefore all was left  was implementation. The day started early as some of the pupils had to picked from their various schools, by 7:25 I was already at the pickup point at St. Catherine primary school. The schools attending was Olympic High School, St.Catherine, Nazarene primary school and Kidstar Academy unfortunately St Aloysius Gonzaga secondary school could not make it as they were participating in the schools termly sports activities. In total we had 64 pupils.

By 9:00 majority had arrived apart from Olympic high school later joined at around 10.00 am. The rest registration was done and coach Adongo started with a warm up session. This helped the pupils gather the energy to start the day. The field had already been set up and marked. By 9:30 the pupils had finished the warm up and divided into group. The group consisted members from the various schools thus no school was on itself.

The groups formed were four and the pupils named the groups hence we had queens, champions, mabuda and walafi. 


The groups started with dribbling football round the cones, a relay sac race, walking with one pupils leg tied to another pupils leg, obstacle of going through a tyre then a relay. Dribbling round the cones queens took the last position, mabuda followed in the third position, champions was number two and walafi come position one.In the sac race mabuda come position one followed by queens, followed by walafi and champions took the fourth position. Relay all the teams were given a tie ,go though tires queens come number one followed by mabuda, followed by walafi,then champions took the last postion. Running with leg tied to the other partner’s leg, mabuda come number one followed by queens, champions then walafi.

From there the team had a basketball shoot out. Champions and walafi tied with two points each, queens come number two and maduda come position four. Meanwhile Olympic being the only high school engaged in warm up football exercise and played rugby the game being capture the flag. They were playing against themselves in two  groups  of five since they were ten.

After all the games were finished the pupils assembled together where we had a discussion which revolved on the sports day theme of healthy eating habits. The students differentiated what food they considered healthy versus the one they considered unhealthy. We also discussed of what a healthy or balanced diet consists .Eating vegetables, fruits, keeping a active lifestyle and drinking a lot of water was highly emphasized.We then prayed and had lunch which was rice, beans and cabbage, served by Elizabeth, adongo and flora .

The pupils were happy and they were happy to meet pupils from other schools. The event was over by 1pm and the pupils all left together. Joy and adongo cleared the marked field.The sports day was a success and none of the pupils got hurt or injured .One pupils from Olympic at the end got dizzy but was given first aid and she managed to go back to school and after the follow up she was fit and healthy. It is was evident the girls enjoyed their sports day.

Girl Power Clubs Africa Celebrates Day of the Girl Child

Wednesday 11^th October 2017 Girl Power Clubs Africa joined the rest of the world in celebrating this year’s edition of International Day of the Girl Child (IDG).  The event was marked at St. Aloysius Secondary School and was attended by 40 Girl Power Club members at the school. This year’s theme was ‘EmPOWER girls: Before, during and after conflict’.

Facilitated by Joy Akim, the project Coordinator, the day was started by first creating awareness on what IDG is all about, the 2017 theme, its significance and why the event is celebrated by the whole world. The girls were then given a forum to share their stories of what it means to grow up as a girl in a world that still discriminates against women. They talked about the many girls they know who have dropped out of school because of pregnancy; early marriage; and HIV among others, and what they think should be done to address such cases. 

From these discussions, it was quite clear that girls who are empowered can raise their voices to fight for their rights and protection in all contexts. They are working to end violence against women and girls, to recognize indigenous rights, and to build peaceful and cohesive communities.

Since 2012, October 11 has marked the International Day of the Girl (IDG) to raise awareness about the issues girls face around the world.  It is a day when activists, organizations, and girls themselves come together to take action to advance rights and opportunities for girls everywhere.

Girl Power Clubs Africa is a leadership program focused on providing teenage girls with a chance to learn life skills and learn to make decisions that affect their lives and their communities positively. It recognizes that it is essential to support and invest in girls by transforming the risks and deprivations they face, from preventing and responding to gender-based violence to promoting a girl’s right to find -and own - her voice.

 

Girl Power Clubs Moulding Leaders: Trizah Mboya's Story

Meet Trizah Mboya, a student at South Eastern Kenya University who recently completed her internship at Sadili and is now back to college. Trizah was a member of Girl Power Clubs while in primary school, and has grown to become a  role model to younger school girls who are presently members of Girl Power Clubs. She spent her last long holiday as an intern at Sadili Oval Sports Academy and had the opportunity to interact with the current members of Girl Power Clubs as well as children in other programs. Here is her story:

“My name is Trizah Mboya, a former intern at Sadili Oval Sports Academy. I came to know about Sadili through their program Girl Power Clubs Africa back when I was still in class 7 at St. Michael’s Holy Unity Academy. Throughout the program I learnt a lot during the sessions that they had in the school. I have been able to learn a lot more during my internship at Sadili which has also widened my thinking and attitude on lots of things.

Throughout my internship at Sadili under the Court of Dreams program, I loved my experience with Mary Rice School- a school for special needs children. Despite their conditions, these children were so full of life. Their smiles, their happiness and positive attitude towards life were a big lesson to me. They taught me that despite any situation we maybe in life, we should always appreciate and love life. The court of dreams program has also been helpful as I engaged in data entry and also data collection which was really a fun thing to do and teaching of the daily lives. I have also been able to learn tennis as a sport which was one of the things I least expected to develop an interest in, but I have found it as a great and now as one of my favorite games. I have experienced a lot through the programs they have been conducting. The most exciting and important part is the relation with the people in the community. Although it was a challenge at first, I found it more exciting since it also gave me the tips of handling different people, accepting and appreciating the people living around us. This has made me strong and I have learnt to persevere more and also be ready to work in any environment.

Under Girl Power program I also had the chance to talk to girls like me and share different experiences of our daily lives. Women empower each other. I learnt a lot from the girls as we would talk openly of every situation we’ve faced as girls. I must admit that I learnt from the girls from their questions and answers. The different topics we shared like Leadership, Menstruation, Discipline among others showed impact afterwards from the girls. I loved their company and how they always there for one one another, fighting challenges together.

Sadili has raised a platform in my life as I went through new discoveries, meeting new people and engaging with the community. I thank Sadili for inviting me in their programmes to work with them and gain good experiences from the programs. I am looking forward to practicing everything I learnt while at Sadili in my daily life, especially when it comes to working with children.”

Trizah's hard work and dedication during her internship at Sadili was always evident and that explains her success and ease with working with young people. We hope to see her do even more to her community in future.

We are always proud to see Girl Power Club members grow into ladies who are out to change the world, even in little ways!