Puppet parade

Puppets for social Consciousness! We had a great visit by Mr Anderson of Clay and Paper Theatre in Toronto to ISK. He is a puppet maker and helped us make a big puppet that we used in a parade. I was an industrialist (in the black outfit) representing industrialism and modernism versus nature, later turning good by nature. I think everyone enjoyed it - I certainly did!

The Fringe at ISK

I'm currently rehearsing for the Fringe at ISK. It's going to be different plays, where a few are original plays  written by the 12:th graders. I'm participating in my friends play, an absurdist drama.
Last summer I visited Edinburg for a visit to the university, and found myself in the middle of their Fringe festival. I saw about four plays and a lot of street performances in the two days we stayed and it was fantastic. As an Higher level Drama student I love these things and I just hope we can get close to the Scottish experience in ISK!
Today was the premiere! I think it went quite good. People were laughing and seemed to get it - even though it was an absurdist play. My friend Tommy wrote, directed and played in it.

And here is some pictures from the premiere:

Information to the Swedish adoption community

Due to the money problem, most of the 8:th graders have a hard time finding money for continuing their studies. My mother has some connections in the Swedish adoption community and the plan is to get them to sponsor the school for as many kids as possible. The cost for this is about 50.000 Kes a year. This includes school fees, supplies and uniforms. I designed this information document so that interested families can get some more information. When you adopt a baby from Kenya, you have to stay in the country for at least six months. This is why there is a quite large number of adoptive parents here and many of them are interested in supporting the local community in some way. I hope and think this would be a project many of them would be interested in and that they will commit to sponsor the students through their secondary education.

Combining Taekwondo and Excellent school

Today I paid a visit to the school. Mainly I wanted to give Reverend George some money for our ongoing projects, but I also introduced him to Max.
Max is working on a very interesting project: He is going around to the slums trying to pick out a few kids that he can train in Taekwondo. He was working with the National team this year, but they were not making the cut to participate in the Olympics. Max is thinking that he needs to start finding the next national team and by picking a few talents at a young age he thinks Kenya will be unbeatable. It's also a good way to get a few talented kids out of the slums. He realized that the school actually was located a short way from where he trained as a youth.
I also got to see the chairs that our money bought for the teachers and some of the desks under production.
It's always humbling to go to the school, but today I mainly focused on getting things done and looking out for our guest. One person that joined us has the capability to give us some much needed help and I felt responsible to give him a lot of information and also that Max would be able to get what he needed to move forward.

Max sitting on the new desks                  Chairs for the teachers

    Max talking to the kids                      Birgitta saying hi to a kid outside the school

Max and Reverend George

Inter cultural trip to West Pokot with ISK

The trip to West Pokot was an awesome trip. We built a playground for the kids and a bridge for the local community honoring the teacher and her daughter that got killed when attacked by an elephant in 2010 . However mostly we had fun. It was a very beautiful but hot place. I was surprised and impressed to see the local women carrying water and climbing a high mountain in extreme heat. They do it every day and we did it once - and it was exhausting! Sweet was pouring from me, and I still find it hard to accept that these women have to do it everyday, it seems so unrealistic. Now we're back in Nairobi and ready to go back to our usual routines (school) and many of my classes have aimed to allow us to reflect on this year's intercultural trips. This journey provided me with immense experience and joy, and I feel proud to have done a trip has benefitted others and I hope to do this same trip again.

Daily life in Mathare

I know I have written about the daily life in Mathare and facts about the school before, but I really feel that a general description of the community adds to the understanding of the problems.

Mathare Slum is one of the oldest and the worst slums in Africa. Situated three miles east of Nairobi city’s central business district, Mathare slum is home to over 700,000 people occupying an area of two miles long by one mile wide. Because of congestion, survival is a daily battle for the resident’s against the backdrop of diseases, crime, prostitution and lawlessness.

Life in Mathare slums is unbearable for everyone who resides and visits the slums. Most residents are engaged in small-scale petty businesses either in their 6 x 8’ makeshift housing structures or on narrow open raw sewer filled alley ways. However the manner in which the slum polulation carry on with life is owe-inspiring and remarkable.

Apart from having no access to basic amenities like clean water, food, clothing, shelter and healthcare, the close to 1 million residents also suffer the misfortune of having no roads that can allow for any emergency services like fire outbreak. The housing structures are either made out of mud or metal. There is absolutely no government security inside the slums leaving the residents at the mercies of lawless tribal gangs.

A closer look of the slums reveals a depressing way of life for all. The environment is unhealthy, there are very few filthy public bathrooms but payment is demanded before one can use them, there is no garbage collection system, leaving open sewers to run the fronts of the shanties. A walk through what is called “the main road” is a poor lesson in a waste disposal. The most disheartening of all is to learn that children who would be in school run about in tattered clothes hassling for something to eat and looking for any open space to play. 

The children and youth in Mathare slums live under heavy conditions. Most of the children come from single parented homes, while others come from very poor families since their parents are sick, unemployed or underemployed. Orphans who are helpless after both or one of their parents die of HIV/Aids or other causes are forced to face the harsh reality of unbearable slum life. These children and youth have no one to care for them in this dangerous slum.

The situation is worsened when orphaned children and those from poor families turn to fend for themselves in the alley way, the young girls live under the fear of being raped, some turn to prostitution to earn a living, leading to the rise of teen pregnancies and abortion cases which further damages their emotional well being. The young boys often join gangs in the slums to rob and mug people in and outside Mathare slums leading to insecurity in Mathare, the city of Nairobi and the whole country of Kenya. Apart from robbery, use of drugs and alcohol, these young boys are often recruited by powerful drug cartels to peddle drugs which lead to other forms of criminality.
This is why the work of the staff in Excellent School and Care center is so important. Besides to provide for the education, they also help families in need. They give the kids who are infected with HIV/Aids their meds, supplied by the governemnt. When the kids in 8:th grade does well as they do, they inspire the rest of the students to study hard. Hopefully, with some help, all of them can go on to their secondary education.

Having fun in Taekwondo class

I had a little problems with my foot in Taekwondo. Max was massaging it with Tiger balm. I was mainly supporting the others and telling them to kick higher. We also did the poomses a couple of times. We all went a bit crazy and had fun.

The foot massage was painful.. but helped.     

 My sister trying to grab me while on Max's back.

Report to donors

This is what I'm mailing out to my friends and family who contributed with money to Excellent Care Center and School. The purpose is to update them, while I also hope that these people will contribute more and spreading the words of progression.