Program On Inspite Of Teachers' Strike

The month of September ushers in the third term in the Kenyan education calendar. It is usually a very short and busy term characterized by the end year exam and the national examinations for the o-levels and a- levels (Std 8 and Form 4). This term has also had a hiccup: teachers have been on strike countrywide since schools opened. This has disrupted the normal running of the schools, particularly public schools. Private schools despite this continue to function normally. 

We have managed to continue with our sessions in the private schools and organized sessions with the girls in the public schools privately. The session in the public schools have not been consistent but we still continue to schedule convenient meeting with them so that we can cover as much as we can.  

In most schools the KCPE and KCSE examination candidates who have been attending the sessions have stopped attending thus the drastic reduction in numbers of attendance.

	SCHOOL	DATE	SESSION	ATTENDANCE
1	Olympic Primary	Peace Peace One Day	18/9/2015 19/9/2015	7 7
2	Olympic High School	Peace one day Gossip Bulling Reproductive health Help lines	19/9/2015 14/9/2015 7/9/2015 2/10/2015 2/10/2015	24 24 24 24 24
3	Karama Academy	Peace Peace one day Gossip Bulling Help lines	10/9/2015 19/9/2015 10/9/2015 30/9/2015 30/9/2015	21 21 21 21 21
4	Nazarene Primary	Peace Gossip Bulling Help lines	9/9/2015 16/9/2015 30/9/2015 30/9/2015	22 11 10 10
5	St. Catherine Primary	Peace Peace One day Gossip Bulling Help lines	8/9/2015 19/9/2015 15/9/2015 29/9/2015 29/9/2015	25 9 11 9 9
6	Nairobi Day and Boarding High	Peace Peace One day Gossip Bulling	9/9/2015 19/9/2015 16/9/2015 16/9/2015	14 6 6 6
7	Huruma Girls High School	No sessions
8	Karen C High School	No sessions

Girls Power Participates at Peace One Day

We had five schools present Olympic High School, Olympic Primary, St. Catherine, karama Academy, and Nairobi day. This also marked our September Girl Power Club Sports Day activity., where we played a soccer and rugby.

PEACE ONE DAY HELD AT OLYMPIC HIGH SCHOOL FROM 10:00AM TO 1:00 PM

Schedule of events

1. History of Peace One Day by Nairobi Day

2. Speech on peace by St. Catherine and Olympic primary

3. A talk on Sports and peace by Olympic High School

4. A talk on who will you makes peace with by Olympic Primary.

5. Friendly match Football and rugby

The activity events were moderated by Joy and captured by Dr. Liz, Eric, and Susan. Olympic High school, Olympic Primary, St. Catherine, karama Academy and Nairobi Day graced the day.

You may watch the video on the link below or read the speeches:

Girl Power Speeches On Peace One Day

The History of peace one day as given by, Moureen Aoko, of Nairobi Day.

Peace One Day was founded by Jeremy Gilley is an annual global cease fire and nonviolence day, in a fixed calendar unanimously adopted by the UN member states in 2001 as 21^st of September.

Jeremy a film maker grew up listening o war in the media. He one day decided to make a film about peace, and then he realized there was no day for peace. There was mother’s day, father’s day, birthday, earth day but no peace day.

He decided to make a day of peace, one day each year when everybody in the world stopped fighting and celebrated peace. He decided to talk to the UN since it’s their job to ensure the world is united and peaceful. He got an invitation to the UN HQ in new yolk and was informed that there was already a day of peace set by Costa Rica.

HE was surprised he had never heard of it he discovered it had no fixed date therefore no one could remember it. He decided he was going to give it a fixed day like birthdays so that it can always be remembered. He chose 21^st of September every year to be the peace day, and called his project PEACE ONE DAY.

He sought support from two countries that would ask all other countries to support him. He wrote to many more and got positive feedback. As he wrote to countries in the world he decided to film what happens to ordinary people during war.

He also met with Kofi Annan the then UN boss who supported him and told him he believes individuals can make a difference. The UN and Costa Rica managed to convince other countries. The day the big announcement to be made by Kofi Annan in the UN the city was attacked. This was frightening and confusing for him. He knew it was even more important now to tell the world about peace.

He went to many places, schools, stadiums, towns, and spread the message. On the 21^st of September the first peace day was celebrated. They have not looked back since then and many more have followed in the footsteps as we do today.

Speech By Reybella Inyanje of St. Catherine

"Parent’s pupil’s leaders and everyone who have managed to come and join us good morning. As I stand here I would like to talk about Peace .Peace is the act of living in harmony, when there is no war, no conflict it’s to be peaceful.

If we want to create peace we must be humble and kind. The word peace can be described in many words and signs as you show acts of peace i.e. honesty, humility, justice, sharing, love, friendship and God fearing.

Children need peace and people to teach us about peace. As for me I would love our leaders to teach us and give a good example of peace, and how we will be in future. I know my request will be answered.

In our country many things destroy peace e.g. elections. Many people die and houses destroyed there is no peace. If the government refuses to pay teachers salary it will lead to a strike and this is lack of peace.  I advice men and women to choose peace. While selecting leaders choose wisely in order to have peace in the country.

We must maintain peace and the white color in our flag indicates peace. Thank you and God bless you."

 

Speech By Dorothy Achieng of Olympic primary School

"Peace is a state of living in harmony, love and unity. We cannot say we live in peace yet we have not found our inner peace. Inner peace is a full attention state where you meet everyone and everything every time as if it’s the first time with joy and compassion. Peace is also an occurrence of harmony characterized by the lack of violence conflict behaviors and the freedom from fear of violence.

Peace comes from being able to contribute the best way we have and all that we are, towards creating a world that supports everyone. But it’s also securing the space for others to contribute the best they have and all that they are.

Never the less since the absence of war is the first condition of peace, one of the major concerns of all scholars and statesman has been to formulate and follow the principles and devices needed for securing this primary objective.

Now talking about peace at international levels. We know that terrorism threatens the very roots of peace, but that does not seem to be the only culprit. Since the time the nuclear weapons have arrived the world has not seen peace and never will unless we make a conscious effort to stop threatening the word with our nuclear power. Love and peace is inseparable. We cannot have one without the other. We can’t say we have love yet we cannot promote peace. Love yourself and you shall attain your inner peace. To achieve peace at the global level we also give love to others.

This world has seen so many of the terrorism acts around others. As we become aware of our mistakes in the past as it becomes the duty each of us as individuals and youth to change all this and create a better place for our succeeding generations. As mother Teresa said “If we know no peace it’s because we have forgotten that we belong to each other”.

Never let the behavior of others destroy peace."

Sports and peace by Maria Wanjiru.

"Back in 776 BC when the ancient Greek cities were at war, King Ipilot saw the suffering of in the country and wanted to do something about it. He travelled from his country to see the Epic Oracle to seek his advice. She replied “The Ipilot's and the people of Elius must revive the tradition of the Olympic Games and declare a sacred truce that will allow the participants to travel to and from the games safely”. 

This was done and it went on for 1000 years. When the Olympic Games were revived again, the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 to promote equality and spirit of nation hood. However the Olympic truce was not established until 1992 games at Barcelona games. Every host nation always declares the truce since then. The ideal of the truce is to serve peace friendship and understanding.

Sports have been used in our country to serve as a catalyst for peace in areas like Turkana and Pokot. " 

Who will you make peace with - a short and interactive session by by Helen Achieng and Mercy Njoki 

This was to help the group identify different ways to make peace. They told the group of the importance of making peace and why they should always choose peace.

They then asked two questions?

1.     Who will you make peace with today?

2.     Who will you celebrate peace with today?

The first question provokes the audience to think of taking the step to make peace, and they talked them trough how they should go about it.

The second question was to provoke the audience to celebrate the peace they have. They had to say with whom and how they are going to celebrate peace. They could be acts of kindness, showing of love and gratitude and many other ways.

Friendly match between Challengers and Amani.

Two teams were formed challengers and Amani. The two teams played a foot ball match and a rugby match lasted 15 minutes the scores were 1-0. They played a rugby match which lasted 10 minutes. The sun was very hot and the girls were very tired.

The cheering team that included Dr Liz did a great job. We also thank coach Orao for his support making the day a success.

Quick Bytes!

#62
NAME: CATHERINE ADHIAMBO
SCHOOL: KAREN ''C''SECONDARY SCHOOL
AGE: 16 YEARS
FORM: 2 RED
CONTACT: 0786 433 185

GP: How has your been?
Catherine: My year was fine and great
GP: How did you spend your holidays?
Catherine: I spent my holiday well I did not misbehave. Actually I enjoyed the holiday so much
GP: What challenge did you face and did you overcome them?
Catherine: I did not face any challenge and if I had I would seek for advice and counselling
GP: What do you plan to do over December?
Catherine: I plan to move to another country and relax
GP: If you had a Girl Power Office in Kibera, what would you use it for?
Catherine: I would use it for counciling the girls who have problems, been raped and kidnapped.

# 63
NAME: EMILY ACHIENG'
SCHOOL: KAREN ''C'' SECONDARY SCHOOL
CLASS: FORM 3
AGE: 18 YEARS
CONTACT: 0702 407 2 08
FB: EMILIAN JAMILIAN

My year has been great despite some challenges here and there but i thank the almighty God for bringing me this far. I have learnt and experienced a lot both from school and at home. This year i have learnt to be humble and obedient.
I plan to visit my whole family including my and help them in different kind of jobs at any particular place.
There are alot of dangers; peer pressure, pregnancy and idleness during their leisure time. You can only overcome them by knowing your destiny, your identity and following your goals in life and keeping from bad company.
If we had a girl power office in Kibera it would help many girls who feel so discouraged by life and tend to give up. It will also help them to realise that they are important despite their situations and help them appreciate themselves.

# 64
NAME: SARAH NYAMBURA
AGE: 19 YEARS
CLASS: FORM 3
SCHOOL: KAREN ''C'' SECONDARY SCHOOL
CONTACT: 0706 499 877
 Upto this moment, my term has been good. This is in terms of academics. I have not faced many challenges in my education. On the other hand, there had been challenges from the evnvironment around the school. A good example i sthings to do with other students and this is because one has to try and coop with people of different characters.
 Being in a day school and especially mixed is too challenging since people have differernt motives. Mostly peer pressure is the greatest fear. This has challenged me very much because sometimes i am forced to do what freinds are doing just to be inthe same boat. I have tried to overcome such challenges thruough making firm decisions of not being swayed by people's opinoions and having my goals. Aslo by trying to choose the right group of peers to walk and  work with.
As we are coming to the end of the term, i am planning to do different things.  First i would revise all the past papers and try to work on my weak areas and try to write all the the notes thta i have not completed. Then i would visit freinds and relatives especially those in up country and help in doing house chores when i am not doing my studies.
Challenges out there are drug abuse. Many young people involve themselves in such things and end up being school drop outs because drugs reign ther lives. Rape cases are also common as young girls are raped mostly by people older than them. Forced labour where young girls are forced to work and perform tasks beyond their ability and strength.
If we had an office in Kibera i would do many things. This inculdes encouraging the girls there to work hard in their lives so as to have bright future ahead. Eduacting girls on how they can take care of their bodies till the right time. I would also hold campaigns against cases like rape, abortionand child abuse. Apart from that i can help girl sto get equal education such as that of boys so as to help them to defend their rights as a girl child.

# 65
NAME: CATHERINE NJOROGE
AGE: 16 YEARS
FORM: 2
SCHOOL: KAREN ''C''' SECONDARY SCHOOL
CONTACT: 0713 012 686

This has been such a year, I'm sure iIwill remember it with great memories. A year of of success, experices, challenges and wise decisions. I developed positive attitudes towards new subjects, teachers and also  life...i learnt that we should try to make the world a better place at least not to leave it the way we found it...
August holiday was such a blessed holiday, full of activities and great re-unions of old pals and family members. I participated in community work in our home area like planting trees cleaning the environment and educating the youth.
We all face challenges in our day to day life but we always  search for wise  ways to overcome them. During the holiday there wasn't so much challenges but i can say making the right decisions in life is quite a challenge to some of us. Mostly when it comes to decisions about starting relationships with your own classmates. Its kind of awkward but hearing and seeing experiences from friends and family i can say a wise answer was found.
A long holiday ahead of me, long and lasting plans are made already. First, i am planning to have a girls treat with my old friends, talk all the challenges we face in high school,new improvement in life, what are our plans when we clear high school and such....build up girls esteem in some of the girls in the area.
Girl Power Office in Kibera....first, i'll make sure am always attending to those girls found in Kibera attentively; listen to their secrets they have hidden for centuries and learn to cope with. Some girls are neglected and discriminated against the right to education so i will at least making sure of enrolling some to high or primary school to attain that knowlegde so that they can learn how to use the available resources to survive and achieve their goals in life and make Kibera a better place some day..........