Discussions in Excellent school

I had a fairly short but a very productive meeting with Reverend George and my mom in Excellent School today.
As you already know, we decided how to use the money from the Christmas drive already but we had lots of other things to discuss. The kids in 8:th grade performed so well on the National exams, so they got offered spots on really good schools in Kenya. Problem again, is the money. Mom told George that she had been speaking with the Swedish adoption community in Nairobi and that they might want to sponsor a few kids. The amount we're talking about is around 50 000 Kes/year.
I also told George that our Taekwondo teacher is looking for kids to train in the slums. He wants to find the next world champion and thinks he can change a few kids life by learning them this martial art. I gave Max Reverend Georges' telephone number so they can contact each other.
We were also walking around the area to see which rooms we had bought that are able to fence the area in. This time we will buy two and then there is six more we need to purchase. George also told me about the difficulties to buy rooms, the social status and life in the slums can be really hard to break through, even though it would mean that the local kids had a better school area.

I brought a lot of reading books, chalks for the blackboards and the usual toiletpaper and soaps.

Talking to the kids in the classrooms. Trying to inspire them...

A happy test taker and me and the kids.

Discussing important matters in the Headmasters room. 

Lack of energy!

I know it is very important to not forget to do some physical exercise now and then. Today I was very much focused on my IA and my IOP and some other abbreviations you learn when in the IB program. My grades now are OK - but I know I can do so much better so I'm very focused on my studies. However, today was taekwondo day! Not so much energy, but I did feel better after the class and managed to return to my studying refreshed after the training!  Some funny pictures....

Plan for the first half of 2012

After lots of discussions and thinking, this is what I came up with and got approved from the Swedish people that helped. I feel safer knowing we have some money left for future project and for extra expenditures. I know that the coming money will go to more rooms, fixing them up and finally fencing everything in. I'm meeting Reverend George on Saturday at 11 o'clock in the school in Mathare. He is also going to give me all the reciepts for the water project. I'm looking forward to meet him and hear more about the progress in school. I also need to buy gifts for the 8:th graders, who performed so well on their exams. I have to put some thought into that....

Back to the nest

I made another visit to the Nest and met a few new babies. One of the baby girls that just moved there has a heart problem, but I was happy to learn that she is going to have an operation in three months. Right now, there is a lot of small babies there and the bigger ones have been moved to the orphanage in Limuru. I actually visited that orphanage when the middle schoolers performed a play there a couple of months ago. This time my visit was spent helping out with the feeding again. There is always a lack of resources when it is meal time, especially on weekends. I'm happy to help and really feel that I'm doing something that is needed apart from enjoying to spend time with the cute kids!

Quotations

After discussing with Revend George, the priority list is fixing rooms and buying new ones. In the slums, rooms is very expensive because the lack of space. A room without a floor and iron sheet walls costs about 40 000 Kes. A room with cement walls might be as expensive as 70 000 kes. Desks and chairs is also very needed as well as 20 chairs for the teachers. I'm thinking that the Northern swedish friends can take their funds for rooms and walls, and I'll take mine for desks, chairs and chairs for the teachers. I raised about 

150 000 kes from my friends and family, so that would get me about 20 small and 30 big desks. I would also buy 20 chairs for the teachers and I could even afford a printer for the school office. 

Planning and achievements

OK, we do have a wish list for things we want to achieve for Excellent school. So how far will the money take us? Moore classrooms and fencing in the school is still things we need to do. The ladies also want to give the school money for supplies, but I'm not so sure about this. I've never seen the students work with the notebooks and pens we're bringing them and I am suspicious that they might sell them. That is OK - I would too if I was starving and could sell them to buy some food, but I don't think the donors from Sweden will take this project seriously if they knew that not all the money goes to things that will last, at least for a while. I really think that it's better to try to help with rooms, desks, blackboards and fencing. One day, we'll all be gone and it is better to put some effort into longer lasting projects. I've tried to talk to the ladies about it, but only some of them agree. I always bring notebooks and pens, toiletpaper and lightbulbs to the school, but I buy them with my own money and not with the donor money. A tricky subject that I'll just have to continue talking to all the contributors about! Next step is to get cost estimates in place, so we'll now how far we can get.

Achievements so far.....

 

Toilets before                     and after

Water pipes before....                     ......... after and                                         during construction

    Blackboards before                                 and after    

The old desks and the new, financed by the Swedish society.

Finally, the old floors and the new ones. This classroom was entirely redone to house three rooms and the new toilets.

Pretty good according to me!! 

Now we need to identify what the Christmas Campaign can give the school.

Water problems

More water problems in the Nest. I had to help out with the laundry again. Spent all of Sunday studying and doing laundry. I wish I had this...

but I wish even more that the Nest had good quality water! Not that I mind helping them, but because it's hard for them to depend on other people to help out!

I know I said it before, but we really should not take all the basic things in life for granted. Like water.

Kicking and screaming.... and doing the Poomse....

I have practiced Taekwondo all through the break, so my body did not have quite the shock of training. I'm getting into really training the movements for the Poomse, or Tae Guk. I'm doing the first one called Il jang. However, I practice the second and third one as well. I also need to start to learn to count to ten in Korean and - it is not as easy as you might think! My kicks are really powerful, but I still need to work on my flexibility. Max says that I just have to continue to stretch a lot and it will come. A big part of the training is actually stretching - so I'm working hard on it all the time. One problem I have that has been following me since football is the hamstring and because it is vital in this martial art, Max focuses a lot on them during the stretching! This semester I'm going for doing Taekwondo twice a week, I just hope I'll have the time for it! 

Me, in a very funny pose!

Results from the Christmas drive

We managed to raise a lot of money before Christmas. The ladies from the North made a big contribution and we sold christmas gifts for a lot of money. The total amounts to about 488.000 Kes. The money will go to more classrooms, flooring etc for the rooms and fencing around the school. The school is open after their long break and hopefully I'll be able to visit soon.

Excellent result from Excellent School

Yesterday I got an e-mail from the Reverend and was very happy to learn that ALL the students passed the exam! Not only did they pass, they did really well! I actually got the results for each student and the mean score was 336 out of 500. Well done! I am also very happy that I managed to raise the money for the exam fees. Now all of them can apply for secondary school.