GIRL POWER CLUBS AFRICA
REPORT FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 2014
A. REPORTS FROM
UGENYA
In Ugenya
the school visits began the 12th of May and the schools were visited
and had their sessions with Emma Ochieng who has been guiding them through the
sessions and following is her weekly report compiled.
Date: 12th May 2014
School : UGANA PRIMARY SCHOOL
Time : 4.00 pm - 4.49pm Topic
covered : communication
Concepts of Communication
Definition
Types of communication
1. Verbal communication
2. Non verbal
Involved girls in two
games;
1.They pair then one partner talks to the other using signs.
later on the partner will tell loudly what the signs meant.
2.Whisper game, while sited in a circle the first girl whispers a sentence and its passed round up to the
last person who will speak out the we compare with what the
first girl whispered
initially.
General questions asked by the girls and answered were:
1. Are there safe days in the menstrual cycle?
2. The safe days are limited in menstrual cycle because ovulation may
be twice a month
so its easier to think that you are not safe
from pregnancy and not HIV.
DATE: 13TH MAY 2014 - SCHOOL: NINGA PRIMARY SCHOOL
TOPIC COVERED: COMMUNICATION
TIME: 3.50PM-4.30PM
Discussed on the concepts of communication
The types of communications
That is verbal and non
verbal communication
We had two games
1. communicating using signs
2. communicating using
vocals
When using signs the girls paired and without talking they
communicated.
In the second game the first girl in a queue whisper a sentence
and its passed on upto
the last person they then
compared if they differ .the girls enjoyed the games.
Questions asked by the girls and answered were:
1. Do ARVs CURE babies who are born HIV positive?
No it does not but rather suppresses the strength of the virus that is viral load.
2. Does a woman get
pregnant immediately she begins her
menses for the first time?
Of course the first ovulation can make conception occur.
Challenge was that
two of the girls have gone to other schools the patron has not given replacements
Date :14/5/2014
SCHOOL :ULOMA SECONDARY SCHOOL
Time: 4.00pm -4.50pm
Topic covered: Communication and Netball
Began with the concepts of
communication by defining it.
Secondly we described and explained the two main types of
communication: verbal and non verbal. The girls used games to
internalize the concepts (goal activity guide page 20 and 22)
Joined the girls in the netball pitch for encouragement they made the patron happy because are Ugunja District champions.
This club is good we spent more time together.
Questions asked by the
girls (not answered as time was limited)
1. How can a girl manage a relationship with a boyfriend and not
engage in sexual intercourse?
2. How does discordant couples get HIV – child and the other partner is also negative?
3. How can l deal with
menstrual cramps to reduce pain?
Ref: Goal Module 1
Challenge: Not all girl are
playing netball so had to do both discussion and sports tiresome
but so good.
Date : 15th May 2014
SIGOMERE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Topic covered: Sports Only
The girls were involved in
athletics together with the patron they were choosing girls who will
Represent the school in the zone.
Athletics made the girls social exercise and realize their
talents.
We encouraged the girls to have team work and unity that is in relay
they must be 5 agree on how to take the race.
Challenge: the girls are shy because they lack
the required games kit
SIGOMERE SECONDARY SCHOOL
Time :4.30pm-5.30pm
Topic covered: communication
Visited the girl club and
discussed the concepts.
Definition of communication
Types of communication
1. verbal
2. non verbal
Distortion of messages and
reasons .
Involved girls in games (ref goal bk pg 20 & 22)
Questions
How does one cope up with stubborn parent (drunkard)?
How l can tell someone l don’t love him?
Challenge ;none
Date: 21-5-2014
GOT OSIMBO SECONDARY
Topic: communication
Discussed about the types of communication,
involved the girls in focus group discussion then each group gives its
points.the girls also got engaged in whisper game(goal module 1 pg 22.)
to bring out the concept of distortion of messages while communicating .questions
asked were basically on menstruation .the girls got relevant answers .we
decided to be meeting on Thursaday .they got a new identification (crown
girls).
Date:
22-5-2014
UGANA PRIMARY
Time :4.00pm-5.00pm
Visited the girls and found them rehearsing for
the upcoming atheletics completion in the zone. the challenge is the girls dont
have games attire thus they get embarrassed and shy off.
They all agreed the games make them lively and
break class monotony.
All members were present. to be meeting on Tuesday.
Date: 26-5-2014
NINGA PRIMARY
Time: 4.00pm -5.30pm
Topics :know
yourself, whom am l? ,who is a role model? ,who is my role model?
Started off by
energize(balancing the ball).
Went on to define the terms in the topics.
Gave the girls a chance to write down who
their role model is and why they have chosen them. Each girl read out aloud and
we all appreciated each other .then engaged in poem recitation and
shairi.
Challenges :at times they use club time
for preps.
Date:27-
5- 2014
ULOMA SECONDARY
Topic: Ball games
Time: 4.10pm-5.00pm
Visited the girls at sch. They were
involved in friendly matches in volleyball and netball with the
neighbouring school(Luanda kothieno) were the opponents. most of the
girls were players the rest gave support and morale.
Challenge: Prepared for discussing the patron
didn’t communicate before had to fit in the new programme .
Date:
29 - 5- 2014
GOT OSIMBO GIRLS (crown hill girls)
Time:4.00pm- 5.00pm
They participated in ball games and
reciting of poems/singing in readiness for upcoming District(zonal)
competitions the following week..
Planned and agreed to meet the girls on Sunday 1st june to support them in poem rehearsal.
Challenge: the girls are in other clubs thus the meetings and
activity collide.
B. REPORTS FROM
NAIROBI
In the month
of May ,activities from Nairobi began on the 8th of May with the
making and arranging of programmes as well as contacting patrons on term dates
and event dates. First visit was made to Holy Unity Primary , High School and
St. Catherines by goal champion Caroline on the 12th of May .
Caroline will be taking the three schools through the sessions during her spare
time and we shall monitor and visit the three schools as often as we can and
keep communications open with the patrons to this schools. From her visit and
calls to patrons the following issues and request did arise.
1. Patrons
would like to have the terms letters before they confirm the their term dates
2. They hope to
see us more frequent and often for sessions
3. In some of
the schools some of the sessions felt like regular classes and they hoped we
might be able to make them less obvious and monotonous for the girls.
In response
to the above ,Jayoung Project Assistant for Girl Power did draft
letters which were approved by Dr. Liz and the letters delivered to the
schools together with the help of Caroline. Following this, Jayoung did make
visits to all the schools that are on the programme this term in three days
with the exception to Holy Unity Primary , Secondary and St. Catherine which
will be visited later to be able to talk to the patrons and girls personally
and check school programmes as most have indicated they are participating in
both Athletics , drama and music festivals as this will be helpful in giving a
general idea of how and where to place programmes esp if the programmes involve
the girls leaving their schools to meet at Sadili or elsewhere and the
following are notes from the visit.
27Th
May 2014
NAZARENE PRMARY SCHOOL
Patron
in charge: Mr. Charles
At Nazarene,
we were received by Mr. Charles who did let me they have not yet received term’s
letter apart from my communications and follow ups on phone and appreciated the
visit as then we can map a general way forward. He mentioned that they are new
girls that have joined (whose names he gave) in replacement of those
transferred and others who just wanted to be part of team.
The school
has its club meetings on Wednesdays from 3:10 to 4pm however for that week
their meeting will be on Thursday as the school is involved in this term’s
sports activities and were going for a Ligi
Ndogo competition. He also mentioned they have not met this term as they
had inter-school joint exams , AGMS , PTAs and he and other teachers had to go
out to invigilate however as from June they expect club activities to run
normally. The school’s mid-term dates are not yet settled but they close on the
8th of August.
27th
May 2014 & 28Th May
NAIROBI DAY SECONDARY
Patron
in Charge: Mr. George
Chairlady/Goal
Champion: Jemimah
On the first
visit , I managed to speak to the girls’ chair and was received by Mr. Willis a
teacher in the school. She mentioned
that some of their trained goal champions transferred last term and they had a
couple of activities in the school, some of the topics were unclear and had no
clear meeting dates. They would sometimes meet on Mondays and hope to have it
as their permanent day. I requested that they put a summary of the topics done
and what was unclear that I would collect the next day and should be stumped by
the school as well as a new name list of girls in the club this term.
Their mid
terms are between 5th and 9th of June and close on the 8th
of August. On the second visit I met Mr.
George who apologised that they were not able to participate fully in our
activities. They used to meet on Mondays but there’s a new programme involving
the entire school and they will communicate a new day on phone and prepare
reports so that I can know where they are and hopefully participate better this
term.
STARAYS SECONDARY
Patron
in Charge: Mr. Manono
Here I was
received by the school principal who called Mr. Manono teacher in charge to
attend to me. He confirmed to have received the letter communication sent
through Caroline and was happy we visited so that they can tell us their
expectations and their challenges.
1. He would
like to get letters from us instead of texts unless reminders this is for
office filling and thus the girls can easily be released whenever the school
programme allows
2. He would
like to see more of us in their sessions and if possible atleast every week
even if its different people in the event the days clush with other schools
which will mean none of the schools looses out as he is also in charge of many
other clubs three other girl clubs apart from girl power and if we can often be
there it would even improve participation from the girls Hoped for quick replacement of the previous
girls so that they can have frequent visits.
3. That we provide incentives like sanitary
towels, biro pens, note books as they came from places where this essentials as
hard to get. Other Girl Clubs do provide that atleast once a while and if we can do something similar the girls
will be happier.
4. He has
around 30 girls on the Girl Power programme and will prepare the full list so
that we may have it in the next meeting.
5. He mentioned
that Saturday programmes are tricky for them to attend in large numbers. The
girl power girls are mostly boarders and part of the school choir and for
Church services that they attend and
that cannot be interrupted maybe just a few girls.
In general
the teacher was very receptive and was happy to share the above information for
the best of the girls in the programme from his school.
27/05/2014 and 28TH /05/ 2014
OLYMPIC HIGH SCHOOL
Patrons
in charge: School Deputy, Mr ,.Orao,(coach) and Mr. Tony Coach
At Olympic
High I met the girls out in practice and watched them practice as I awaited for
any of the coaches to be free. Handed
them the letters and term’s programme.
Afterwhich the school Principal Mr. Okumu who was also observing the
girls practice while he corrects them and encourages them on field, did do an
interview on the importance of girl power programmes to the girls which he
captured on video with a background of the girls playing. (He promised to email
the clip soon). In the interview he did site a few important facts about the
girls to which I answered with regards to the role of girl power to each of
those points
1. They are
majorly girls who were ‘’academic rejects’’ because they did not reach the cut
off marks to enrol them to high school and no one had been willing to admit
‘’KCPE Failures’’ to their schools however this girls had special talents in
football not found in many others around them
2. They have
been admitted from different parts of the country and in may cases they were
the lone stars in those areas and often no one believed in them. –We encourage
such talents and add life skills to it to which he replied that is excellent as
his passion is to build character education and help this girls in the same
3. Some playing
the game not entirely because they had initially loved it but as an expression -Girl power encourages this and teaches them
Digital Story Telling eventually they will speak out
4. Many of the
girls cant afford fees or basic school needs…They may write to apply for
scholarships if we have and also we teach them self dependence
5. After form four what next? …we give them
opportunities to be able to give back to their community by working in their
areas of passion and get alittle allowance that they may use to meet a couple
of their needs.
Generally
the principal is very receptive of the programme and wants to see it make a
difference in the girl’s life even after football.
On my second
visit, I collected the name list of girls on programme this term and met coach
Orao who shared ,more less the same of what the principal shared and did ask
that we help the girls understand the importance of academic excellence as well
as the sport. He also gave news of two other girls we have previously had in
the programme one joining a football programme in the USA and the other going
to soon play professional football in Germany. He would like to see the rest do
similar things but also grasp value of education as he was disappointed that
one was going to miss out on a full football scholarship to university for
missing a few points from an aggregate of C which is quite basic however the
girl is working on her football passion and will still travel though not on
full scholarship. We still wish both well . He also would love to have joint
sessions between his girls and the primary school ones..a thought that we had
been exploring and glad it also .crossed his mind and will make future
arrangements atleast for the both schools to meet atleast once or so per month.
28th
/05/2014
OLYMPIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
Patron
In charge: Tr. Sally
Here, the
patron did receive us though she was in class so we had a brief meeting. She
mentioned their school does not go on half term breaks, the girls are between
class four and six and they have been meeting and girls have been very
interested. They had not finished the previous sessions and will complete that
one first. They had been meeting on Wednesdays but this term Fridays will be
better for them now. The school is going for music , drama festivals and
athletics.
29th/05/2014
HURUMA GIRLS SECONDARY
Parton
in Charge: Ms.
At Huruma,
the Girls had a session on rights which I joined and their new patron was
present. Girls shared their thoughts about rights and responsibilities as well
as what they thought about current affairs affecting women and girls around the
globe esp with regards to leadership and education .
The school
has a new guide book that includes other sessions that are related to legal
matters for example court processes and how to report things, their basic
rights, dialogue and such which the patron promised to take them through and
some of it requires use of computers and have a preloaded programme in their
school computer lab. A few computer literate girls will be taught and they will
act group leaders for the rest.
She also
requested to have letters for any events outside the school to allow the school
to plan for them to leave the school. If a letter is handed in by a student
even if she is a senator or governor in the school it will not be acted upon. She also extended her appreciation of the
visit.
Suggestions
:
Since the
school is allowing the Girl Power Girls to use the computers lab and they have
been hearing about DST and are curious…is it possible to train them on DST and
the few that get trained may be DST trainers in our future holiday trainings.
This means Flo will have to visit the school with me and talk to the admin so
that we may have the programmes pre-loaded as well.
MALEZI HIGH AND PRIMARY
Patron
in charge: Mrs. Masime
At Malezi
the active girls are using a different approach in discussing topics. Most of
this girls are not very familiar with English or comfortable to speak or
discuss in it. Therefore we use Saturday mornings when they are not on
tournaments from 10:30 am to 12 noon as library hours. Each of them picks a
book and is required to read in a given time and at end of time each must share
what they have read, note down difficult words which they will search in the
week and make sentences which they have to recite in the next meeting. From
their sharings each picks a lesson learnt and if and lesson learnt is in any of
the sessions done in other girl teams then we discuss it in a way they might
understand. From the first meeting, iv noted the following:
1. Some have
good reading speeds and memory and analyse the story really well and are very
well expressive can make you feel you have read the story with them however
they are not able to express themselves in the same language very well. Eg
story in English is retold in Kiswahili..
2. Some have
little patience for reading and others fear volumes or books with smaller fonts
3. Others have poor
reading habits in that the use pen or fingers to along the line to read.
Though this
method may be slow for them to complete sessions iv found it best way to also
help them as they will soon be able to
communicate and gain interest for books and from own experience it will build
their confidence participation in discussions both class and out and help their
future trainers to easily understand and interact with them for one since most are not Kenyan nationals most of
the thinking is done in French first then translated to their Kiswahili before
they can figure out how to explain it in a way they feel they can communicate
with their recipient but the girls would turn out good in future.
Conclusion ,
The first
visits to the schools though we only managed a session in one because of time ,
it had been important as we can see the real situation on the ground and get
more helpful suggestions.
From Ugenya
sessions have been in most cases consistent and well done.
