Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts

Friday, July 12, 2013

Belinda and Linda talk to us



Belinda and Linda choose to be interviewed together – being the only ones to say yes to an interview of out a class 30, they are very brave! Belinda is 17 and Linda is 18 and they are both in form three.  “If I finish school, I want to be a doctor, in particular I want to be a surgeon” says Belinda.  “With me, I would love to be a business woman” says Linda.  “I would like to work in a restaurant, maybe own them.  I can cook a very nice meal!” she laughs. Both share favourite subjects of English and Swahili, with Belinda also liking Biology and Linda Geography.  Both girls like to read.

Both girls have been in Girl Power for two years.  “As for me, I have been here for now two years.  I went for the goal training and what I learnt was how to be myself and be proud of myself and know that I am beautiful the way I am” says Belinda. “It is the same for me, I have been here for two years.  I also went to the goal training, and I learnt to just carry on, keep pressing on” Linda adds. ”In Girl Power we have leant how to be ourselves, how to be healthy, how to be money savvy and how to nurture our talents” explains Belinda. Linda agrees. “I have learnt how to make use of my talent, and how to help others with their talent making their life better and I have learnt that I am special the way I am ad I should take myself how god created me”.

All this talk of talent leads one to ask what the girls’ talents are?  “My talent is playing football and reading” Belinda says, “mine is singing” Linda beams.

“Yes, we live here in Kibera, I live with my aunt and cousins – I have many cousins! I am an only child” says Belinda of their living situations. Life is hard.  For example sometimes you don’t have water and you don’t have that money to buy that water.  The same with food”. “I also live in Kibera, I have sisters and also cousins” says Linda. “Sometimes it becomes hard when you are living with an aunt or a relative and that aunt also has her kids and there is no money for school fees” she elaborates.

“For me, I would love to say that since my mother died in 2004, I was taken into an orphanage school.  I learnt there for a couple of years, like seven years, and when I was out of there, that is when I came here, my aunt brought me to this school.  Before this, I can say that school has helped me.  My old school taught me god’s word and I can say that I have been saved” Linda finishes up.

Belinda’s story is also sad. “As for me, I can say that my father died in 2004 when I was in class three.  He was shot with six bullets and died on the spot.  With the help of my mother and some well wishers, I have been able to continue with my education.  With the help of God I know that anything is possible”.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Visits To Girl Power Clubs In March 2013


This month, our visits were done in 10 schools, with the help of 6 volunteers who


 came in to assist with the administration of the Baseline Questionnaire. Initially we had planned for 12 schools but due to some unforeseen circumstances we could not do 2 schools. We did recruitments of new members into the club in most schools. Similarly, we did selections for the girls who will come for the Training of Trainers Workshop on the Goal Curriculum and the Digital Story Telling slotted for April 2013. We selected 2-4 girls per school for this exercise basing our number of selection on the number of girls to be trained per school. We had to do some schools twice because of the page that was missing from the questionnaire. The Baseline Questionnaire was self administered.

Our visits began on the 15th-26th March 2013. The schools we visited were as follows
NAZARENE PRIMARY SCHOOL
 Here, the questionnaire was done by 50 girls. We recruited 41 new girls and selected 2 members to participate in the Training of Trainers workshop we have scheduled to commence on the 16th April 2013. Many girls has problems in doing the questionnaire, but our administrators made sure they girls were well catered for in terms of clearer explanations.
HOLY UNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL
20 Members did the questionnaire, there were 00 new recruits and 2 members were selected to participate in the ToT workshop next month. Most girls did not understand the questions in the questionnaire, but we did our best to explain it to them in terms they understood easily.


MALEZI HIGH SCHOOL
We had 15 girls fill the questionnaire, 11 current recruits and 2 selected for the ToT.
The girls filled the questionnaire well with no challenges reported by the administrator.

 NAIROBI DAY SCHOOL
The current number of recruits is 27, 30 girls filled the questionnaire and 2 selected for the ToT. The questionnaire was filled with ease, only minimal complains were reported.
Some

MAONO EDUCATIONAL CENTRE
We were not able to issue the questionnaire here owing to the fact that the school withdrew from our programme without notice. Our administrators were not allowed to see the girls either. The patron gave a reason for this, saying that most of our programmes clash with theirs thus making it difficult for them to take part in any of our activities.

OLYMPIC HIGH SCHOOL
We visited this school twice, the girls who filled the questionnaire on the first round were 19 , and the second lot was 6. This was because the some of the girls had gone for a football match on the very day we did our first visit. No recruits were made here, and 4 girls were selected to participate in the workshop.

e) MUSLIM GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL

We were unable to meet the girls because the patron was busy with other responsibilities. We made plans for another visit but we could not go because the  patron was away from school for medical purposes. Thus, the questionnaire was not   done and so was the recruitments.

f) MALEZI PRIMARY SCHOOL
      No recruitments were done here, but the questionnaire was issued and filled with 12 girls. 2 girls were selected to take part in the ToT. The girls did not have any problems doing the questionnaire as our administrators explained it to them in simpler terms making it easy for them to answer the questions.

g) PARKLANDS ARYA GIRLS
The visit was not fruitful as our administrators were unable to meet the girls due to poor timing. However, we rescheduled for another day, and still we were not able to meet the girls. Their patron gave a reason why, saying the girls has attended another school function so the turnout would be low. She therefore suggested that we plan for another visit next term because the remaining days of the term the girls are having examinations.

h) LANG’ATA BARRACKS HIGH SCHOOL
No recruits were done in this school. 12 girls however did the questionnaire and 3 girls were chosen to participate in the ToT. There was no challenge in the administration of the questionnaire reported.

KAREN C’ SECONDARY SCHOOL
This school had a total of 16 girls who all did the questionnaire. No recruits have been made yet, but they will notify us once they have the new members. 4 girls were chosen tom take part in the ToT Training. The administering of the questionnaire was successful, without any mishaps.


j) HURUMA GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL
Recruitments made here were 4, the questionnaire was done by 15 girls and 3 were selected to take part in the ToT Training. The patron was not in school on the day we visited, but we were able to have a session with the girls.

We faced some challenges in some schools while doing the visits and administering the baseline questionnaire. They were:
Misinterpretation of the questionnaire by some girls
Language barrier where some found the language very difficult to understand. For such cases, we explained the questionnaire in simpler terms that they could easily understand.
Some girls took too much time answering the questionnaire
RECOMMENDATIONS
Use of simpler and clear language
Questions  should be more open and precise
Avoid leading questions
The questions should be shorter as the students complained that the questions were many

CONCLUSIONS
All exercised planned during the visits were accomplished with ease.
Most of the girls understood the questionnaire well and correctly completed it
The number of recruitments made was satisfactory
We were received well in all schools
The girls, the patrons and also the various school administrations were very cooperative all through

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Girl Power Leadership Workshop

''I HAVE A BALL'' GIRL LEADERS WORKSHOP

Girl leaders form different Girl Power Clubs meet at Sadili Oval Sports Academy's members lounge to mark the year's first girls meeting. The workshop whose purpose was to have the girls intodeuced to the year's activities and equipped with the necessarry skills needed to help them through leadership.

Vital skills such as servant leadership, the value of team work, communication,integrity, honesty and alot more was learnt.

Begining with a Health talk by Dr. Mwaka Mutsumi (one of our project assistants) followed by a movie session by JaYoung Naphtalie Margaret (our project assistant) where the girls watched an inspiring movie ''The Invictus'' which depicted one of Africa's greatest heros, Nelson Mandela and his term as president of South Africa. Helping the girls through the discussion session where important lessons were drawn was done by guest speaker,Ms.Pauline Nyawira and assisted by JaYoung Naphtalie Margaret.

The day climaxed with founder, Dr.Elizabeth Odera take the girls through introduction to ''I have A Ball'' as which was combined with one one health talk session with the help of Dr. Mwaka Mutsumi. Girls expressed their thoughts, shared their views, exchanged ideas and learnt of very many health facts and found clarification on many health topics in the focus topics of Menstration and Abortion and how girls are affected.

Ending the eventfull day were rules the girls came up with that would later guide them in their new competition ''I Have A Ball'', thereafter the girls were given new balls that they will use in their respective chosen sports, received their participation certificates and a group photo! This one day workshop also marked the begining of campaings for SISTERHOOD WORLD CUP 2012!