GIRL POWER REACH OUT WEEK ENDS THE YEAR!

December is always a mass of activities, students exited to finally end an academic year – well at least for those in the 8-4-4 System of education. With Christmas bells ringing around the corner, exams are finally over and you get to hang out with your friends at home if you are not or are lucky to travel to the village until its time to get back to school for a whole brand new year!

For us at Girl Power we get super busy trying to catch the girls before they all get lost in the frenzy of activities holidays come with especially, December! Every holiday we try to make sure we offer the girls ‘’a piece of our hearts’ our passion and what keeps us going, the reason we exist –yes it is for them!  A whole week, at least 3 to 4  days of a bit of everything life skills, sports, entrepreneurial  skills , some art, dance , a safe space and many new girls that come every holiday so they can make friends with. A place they feel they want to keep coming back if not for the learning, then at least the fun in everything else, which they like most.

This time we had a total of 183 girls . 92 under 12 years and 91 above 13 years. 80 % were new, from around Langata, thanks to a very excited lady who has been all excited and enjoys what we do with and for the girls. We call her mama Jacky.  She made sure not only her daughter and her niece attended but their mass of friends who brought others too. Our own Girl Power who couldn’t attend from Kibera because they were going back to their villages, passed word to those who stayed behind.

Day 1: Tue 3^rd Dec 2013

We had our traditional opening, with ice breakers and then an hour session on Leadership and Core Values. Those girls who were above 13 years, were lead by our own Project Assistants Jayoung Naphtalie Margaret  and Paullete Akinyi.  The under-12 girls were led by Queen Gwen, using the Goal Book Approach.  While Dr. Liz Odera and  Coach Mary Florence  took on cameras.  Later in the day Mary Florence took some of girls through basic DST and sharing real stories of girls like them

Day 2: 4^th December

The morning session was all about Goal, with Under-12 girls working on , ‘’Pin the trash on the can ‘’ with together with Queen., while the older ones discussed ‘’Role Models and Reaching out to our Community.’’ with Paullete, Jayoung and Mary Florence. The evening was a general session on hygiene and reproductive health & responsible relationships with  Coach Rehema Akinyi and Mary Florence.

Day : 5^th December

This was our ‘learning basic bead work skills ‘’ day as well as ‘’Sports day’’.  The girls really enjoyed the day, and there were plenty of smiles and chatter, as they learned to design necklaces and wrist bands for the upcoming women’s meeting in Uganda, with Susan Gathu improving on the finished product. They then played tennis with coaches Evelyn, Jamin and Rich, and basketball with coach Amoko, followed by skipping rope and other singing games on their own.

Day: 6^th December

This was the older girls’ fun day. Girls that graduated from primary and high school had their mini pool party. All day in the pool with barbequed food, soft drinks, music and dancing! They thoroughly enjoyed their day and did not realise that the evening was wearing in!

9^th to 13^th December 2013

 Once again, Girl Power got one of life’s rare but meaningful and great chances to have two of her own represent the entire organisation on a South to South Exchange in Uganda, thanks to Vital Voices. Dr. Liz Odera and Jayoung Margaret joined a team of 50 women from over 25 countries across the world. It was a great opportunity to learn, collaborate, share, connect and exchange best. It is always humbling for us to be part of such great It is one of the things we are forever grateful for!

Lots of Thanks to

Dr. Odera for the great leading through the year, all Sadili  and Girl Power Staff, our volunteers and people who occasionally step in to give a hand…Susan Gathu and one of our girls from Huruma Girls who was great help, Purity Ndemo. , all the girls that have been with us in 2013 and before, our Face Book friends, those who ‘liked’’ our pages, twitter followers, blog readers, Women Win and all her partners for the support and taking time to mentor our girls through the year, LVCT –Kenya , KMWA and Vital Voices for helping us end year in a great note!

Story & Report done by

Jayoung Naphtalie Margaret

Project Assistant

Girl Power Clubs Africa

and edited by Dr. Liz Odera

Head Professional

Sadili Oval Sports Academy.

www.sadili.com

GIRL POWER REPORT FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2013

In month of November, Girl Power Activities prepared for the workshop to be held between December 3^rd and 6^th.  It was to be our end of year workshop and we are excited about it since we are going to have a whole new group of girls join us this time from the community around  . it is also an exam session therefore not very many activities can be done nor sessions run as usual. However this being our end of year workshop we are very excited to run it.

Visits for the month of November

Starays High School

Starays high school was visited thrice this month. Twice the girls had been engaged in exam activities and in the third successful meeting, we were able to meet the girls, talk to them and re-introduce Girl Power to them and also explain our programmes and campaign for the December workshop. From this meeting the girls did request to have a day and come with us to Sadili so that they can know our physical location and attend our workshop in December.workshop.

Starays at Sadili – 16^th

The girls met  Queen and Paullet  the girls at Starays high school and came together to the office in Sadili and showed them around  after which we had a girl power goal session on module one ‘’Be Your Self’’ – non verbal communication, ice breakers, say it with silence and a brief session on Digital Story Telling and Community Connect with coach Mary Florence after which the girls  were taken to the Kibera office with  Queen and Paullete.

Nazarene Primary

At Nazarene primary we have had one visit this month being the month schools close early, the country is in exam mode and this ones in particular were closing earlier to allow for renovation. We had an open session with the girls where the could ask us anything in a closed room  since outside was raining. The girls had fun getting to know their project assistants better, their interest, likes, fears and all. Present were, Susan, Queen, Paulette and Jayoung.

Nazarene primary also made sure that as an important part of their school community we did not miss their class 8 graduation that was held on Saturday 9^th. This was a great show of trust and confidence, friendship and acknowledgment of the role we play in their school for their girls. Among the grandaunts were several members of girl power who also personally requested that we must be present and be part of that precious moment and important milestone in their life. The school has given us one of the best cooperation ever. Much more interesting is their club is mainly headed by a male patron assisted by two female patrons. However his role here is more than commendable. None of the girls has ever complained, in fact Mr. Charles has been very instrumental to ensure these girls get the best they can from our programme. He is very enthusiastic and this plays a major role in positively and directly impacting the lives of the girls he serves in his mixed school. Further he being such a supporter of girl child mentorship, development, empowerment…name it…and being male is very key indicator of change to us that in small sure ways we are impacting and assisting in the change of attitudes towards female empowerment from the male gender. Now, even his male colleagues appreciate our work and rarely let us go without seeing the girls. 

Even when we were just passing on our way and dropped in to say hi and see how things are running, this male teachers will be first to plead that ‘’……please even just for a second, this girls have missed you since last week./last visit Just say hallo to them  and a word or two…’’ and before we even finish explaining why exactly we passing or that we rushing off to the next school, the girls are being assembled! Its always such a joy to be part of such communities. The girls are amazing, the teachers are supportive and the school is receptive! Further girls that are part of girl power seem to excel even better in academics, perform much better as they slowly improve, take up leadership roles and for us who have been much longer on the ground working directly with this girls, seeing them graduate was such a joy! And having them as part of our holiday programmes and other programmes will e even much more reward , we can’t wait to see! The graduation was also an opportunity for our project assistants to get introduced to some of their parents. That is another major milestone! Parents getting to know some faces behind great programmes that keep their daughters well occupied for a short good holiday period  and us getting to know the faces of some of the parents we talk to on  phone.

Holy Unity Primary & High School

Here the whole school was in an exam mode however they were happy to have explain about the December workshop, check on them and also give them letters that they could take home with  to show their parents and also get permission to come for the workshop. 22 girls from the primary confirmed attendance to the December 3^rd-6^th workshop.

Huruma Girls

We had one visit this month of November. However, we were not able to meet the girls this time. The school had organised an ‘’all school must participate’’ programme for the day and unfortunately we were not earlier informed of the change of programme and so we only managed to speak to their chairlady and a brief of what we were to do and what we expected from them.

Karen C Secondary School

 Karen C will be rejoining us next year however  we did ensure that a message for them is left through the teacher that was present. We couldn’t meet the girls as exams were in session.

Olympic High School and Primary

 The month of November has been tricky for the primarians and they have not been participating much however we expect more of them in the holiday workshops. The high school, have been very well dedicated to their sports activities and have their football training every evening except their Sunday rest days. We were able to watch them train for a few minutes as their school principle and coaches proudly watched them play as they corrected mistakes they saw. This group of girls have taken their sport very seriously and have moved on to being champions in within Kenya in the competitions they have played, in east Africa and even west as far as Nigeria. This girls group would never miss upto 3 or 4 girls representing the rest in the Kenyan girls national soccer team. Their coach would more often than not be nominated as the coach for the national select team that will be going to play in whichever designated country for whichever the competition. They girls are very enthusiastic about it. They wake as early as 5 am to go jogging from Kibera all the way to railways and back so they say, before they take a bath, their morning porridge and go for class preps at 7 am then class between 8 and 4pm. Their sports discipline is admirable , their fitness unmistakable and their skill is worth a watch!

Langata Barracks High School

This school had been dormant for whole of term 2 because of school activities and engagement. However, this term they are back with a bang! A new group of girls to join the older ones and ones graduating .. The goal champions there  seem to be doing a good job and we expect them at the workshop in December!

Malezi primary , Malezi secondary and Nairobi Day School

The three schools have all been engaged in the exams season for the month of November .They haven’t met as a group however they will e attending the December workshop where we expect them to be more engaged. Nairobi day is an active holiday group that in school term group.

Form four graduates

Girl power is giving an opportunity to this special group of girls that are interested to work and volunteer to send their applications to girlpowerclubs@gmail.com and copying it girlpower444@yahoo.com . they may also apply to be female gym instructors at Sadili and be trained for the same. This is a very good opportunity for this girls to be able to show , demonstrate the skills they have learnt all through and practice them as well.

Girl power will also be giving them a pool party and BBQ to celebrate the achievement on the last day of the workshop as well as awarding them with certificates! For the pool party the girls will be paying a small charge of ksh 300 and this is only for form fours!

December holiday workshop

3^rd to 6^th December will be our end of year workshop at Sadili and we are very exited to run it. Our target was 100 girls from the programme since its December and the girls may e travelling to the country side as some had indicated. Now we have over 110 confirmations of very new girls around and more are still confirming. It will be interesting and we look forward to work with this girls! New challenges everyday, more exiting programmes and we are up for the challenge!

Report compiled by,

Jayoung Naphtalie Margaret

Queen Gwen

Paullete Akinyi

Project Assitants,

Girl Power Clubs Africa

http://girlpowerclubs.blogspot.com/

Sadili Oval Sports Academy

www.sadili.com

October Is Girl Power Month

This has been one of the most interactive in-school month for the girls and us! Visits, Sessions, Debates, Girls (kifungua roho) opening up moments, designing cards and just so much with the girls! See below! 

Huruma Girls   

Jayoung Shares her thoughts on topic at hand

Paullete Happily, joins the girls in session!

Huruma G, Discussion

At Huruma Girls, we had two very lively sessions one a debate on Money vs Love and another  on Bodies Emotions and Sexuality. The girls had an great time sharing, interacting and expressing themselves. It was a lovely time getting to know what the girls 

Queen -Monney Savvy Session Nazarene

Nazarene Primary School

Jayoung, answering questions, Nazarene

At Nazarene , we had fun going through module four of the goal book. Be Monney Savvy. If you want fun, this is just the group you would have loved to join apart from Huruma Girls for the month of October.

Langata Baracks

AtLangata Barracks, it was nice to see the girls being lead by their goal champion Irene and Eunice. Seeing girls take up leadership roles is always such a joy!!!

  

                              

Kibera Office

Learning about us!

Crossing into Kibra in company of guests

Girls chat as they head to Kibera Office in 

in company of guests

For our session this day, Girl Power had visitors from Netherlands 6 girls from Holy Unity Primary and 1 from Malezi primary and 2 who joined from the neighbourhood as well as coach Florence. The visitors learnt about us and what we do after which we run reminders for the girls for their holiday activities and presented Holy Unity Primary School with a net ball so that they can have their girl power sports. Previously , they had indicated they were not able to play for lack of equipment and their patron kindly requested for one which we promised to deliver this term. The ball is new and the girls were excited to have some sport equipment from us.

Summary

This month, 14 schools were visited and in the schools we had sessions with them, we had excellent interaction with the girls. This more frequency of visit has motivated the girls and teachers especially in schools where they could not get enough of us. We have been able to know some of the girls in person and who have shared their stories and fears. In some of this schools, we got to learn of many things facing the girls and this is a major step and a great indicator of the safe space and environment we have aimed to provide for this girls. It brings a whole new aspect and helps us to review and widen our ‘’lenses’’ so as to put into focus much more as we can for the girls benefit. The girls also get to know their programme ‘’drivers’’ and get used to them as opposed to seeing us fewer times  especially when we have limited staff members other than in workshops.

Upcoming Activities  & Announcements

 Holidays are around the corner and is time to get things rolling so here we go!!!

1.        National exams are on for class 8 and form fours and we wish you all the best! Go forth with courage ,

determination and confidence!
 2. Whilst exams are on, we would like to have a written story and audio of your Girl Power Experience (i.e. for class 8 and form.

        3.   We are having our last school visits between 4^th and 15^th November. We will run normal sessions where possible, run a goal plus session where goal has been completed , and have a special session with class 8 before exams and form fours during your last exam week.

Kick Idleness out of the window!

4.       Girl Power Form Four  members who are interested to volunteer or work with Sadili please email us about yourself and your interest to girlpower444@yahoo.com and copy the same to girlpowerclubs@gmail.com .

5.       Sadili Oval is looking for a female gym instructor. You will be trained on the basics. Let us know of your interest through the same way. Come let us help the girls keep fit!

What’s up this Holiday Bliss ???

See below>>>>>>>>

Girl Power Holiday Workshops

 

Holiday workshops will come to us much earlier this holiday. Mark your dates 3^rd to 5^th December, at Sadili Oval. If you missed August, you won’ t want to miss December!

All are welcome. Teens , primarians and high scholars alike! Fun packed for you!

6^th of December. Girl Power ‘s throwing a pool party and BBQ for all our girl power form fours who are now graduating. Damage is KSH 300, losts of fun lined up and you get to receive a graduation certificate. Please confirm attendance by 30th November. For details check our updates and  Inbox us via facebook….’’Wanjiku Girlpower Kenya’’.

Story Compiled By,                                                            Story Aproved By,

Jayoung Naphtalie Margaret                                                Dr. Liz Odera 

Project Assistant                                                                  Director,

Girl Power Clubs Africa                                                        Sadili Oval Sports Academy.

                                     

                                                 http://girlpowerclubs.blogspot.com/

                                                       www.sadili.com