Something to think about

I found this image on Facebook and it really made me think. There is always two sides to every story, and what we think is normal may not be normal at all! The way of thinking this image describes is actually so much more "normal" than our western standards and really makes sense to me. How are really the screwed-up ones?

Vacation!

This is where I'm going to spent the next week.... Capetown in South Africa. I will have a great time! So, there will be NO BLOGPOSTS from me in a while!

School news

Finally, we are able to buy the last room in the school area. We actually bought two others last week, but now we are able to get a school with all rooms in one block. It makes it easier to build one house for almost all of the school. This will also make it easier to fence in. The problem is that we need to raise a lot of money to rebuild the new block with proper rooms. We might be able to reuse some of the corrugated iron sheets, but we still have to cast concrete floors. almost everywhere. Some of our Swedish friends are taking care of the staff room, fixing it up so I can put the nice desks I got from the Swedish society there, but we still need to start planning for the major construction. It's going to take about a million kes, and I don't have nearly that amount. Even with the upcoming Christmas drive, I doubt that we'll be able to raise that kind of cash. I guess the solution to the problem is to build in phases, but that is quite inefficient when it's going to be cheaper to build the whole thing at one time. I guess I'll have to check with the Swedish girls how much they made so far... and maybe make an extra plea to my current donors. We will also need a few more toilets, so that will be an extra expense.

Global grant

My mother found a Swedish organisation called Global grant. Just by register your project, you get the possibility to get bou 150 000 Kes. She applied for membership and now we can search this site for companies that possibly could donate money to Excellent Care center and school. By becoming a member, the project also will be displayed in their registry, for interested companies to see.
I haven't had the time to go in and search it thoroughly, but will do that very soon.
It is fascinating that if you just search the net a bit, you'll find lots of great opportunities and new ways of forming alliances. I just wish I had the time right now to do a more thorough search and find more good opportunities - I'm inspired right now!

Goals To Go 2012

Me and two other friends participated in the ISK organised friendly tournament Goals To Go. The money would all go to Shangalia school (I think that was the name)

As part of the guidelines for the tournament, a group of three were to be combined with another group of the same size. I paired up with Eben and Mathew from 11th and 10th grade respectively, and we were combined with a very young group from the Shangalia school. These children were between 5 to 17 so there was a huge mix. However each of the had more technical talent than I could ever imagine and so it became very fun to play. I did my best to ensure that everyone I played with or against felt welcomed and confident of playing. It did become hard on occasions, especially when I was fouled several times but it is all part of the game. Despite captaining the loosing side, and myself missing a penalty which eliminated us from the tournament, my group felt happy of being able to play with such a big group with huge potential. Ms Houriez later told me that I should win the Fairest Player Award (if there was one) but I believe that my type of conduct today was something all athletes should strive for, as a game can not be enjoyable without sportsmanship or respect for your opponents.

I wish the tournament was better organised but I can understand the problems they encountered because not all people who signed up actually came to the event. However, we shared laughs with so many new people and I particularly enjoyed playing football again since I have not had the time to play the game.

Planning with Ebba

My sister, Ebba who is in 7:th grade wants to help out with Excellent. I had a plan to make a photo collage for the school because the kids love to see themselves on photos and this is a project that would be great for her. Christmas will be coming up soon, so she can design the new Christmas cards and help me sell them. She can also take over my responsibilities with the Swedish Society (I know they always need help, and she's been helping out before).
My mom thought it would be a great idea if she applied for money from them next year. I was planning to do that, even if my CAS work will be done by them, but I guess it's only fair to let her do it if she's doing all the work I did last year.
I was also thinking that she could help mom and her friend with informing about the menstrual things, but I don't know if she is too young for that.... I will think about it and decide later.
I think this is enough work for her for now, even though she wanted more.

Ebba in the school

Goals 2 Go

I've signed up for the charity "Goals 2 Go". The fee is 1000 Kes per team of three players and we'll be paired with another team of three, to play a football tournament. The whole tournament take place in october and all the fees are going to charity. I'm looking forward to a fun day, and it's going to be interesting to see how we can do with totally unknown team players.

And after a while.

We had 84 likes! That's something to like! After not so long we were on third place and got a spot on the frontpage. Keep on liking and maybe we will be in second place soon. The number one application has over at 1000 likes... hard to catch up, but we might not have to be in first place to be considered for the money!

More social media stuff...

I just realised that to get the Weleda stipend, It needs to be "liked" in facebook as many times as possible. That means that I have to e-mail and facebook all my friends to like the page on facebook. I sent a group mail with about 40 recipients, asking them to help me by liking the project on facebook. I got 25 within 2 hours, so I'm hoping it will improve. The problem is that the webpage is in Swedish, and most of my friends are english speaking. I'll se how it goes and translate the page for my international friends, so they can like it. I noticed on Facebook, that this is what my god mother, Birgitta, who lives in England did. I'm currently in 6:th place and I'm hoping I'm bumped up over time. So, anyone reading this go to the weleda page: http://stipendium.weleda.se/ansokningar/excellent-school-i-mathare-slummen-nairobi and "like" the fb icon UNDER my image! Thank you in advance!

See the little facebook icon above - that's were to like it!

Trying Judo

My sister needed someone to do some Judo training with, so I joined her for a class. It was quite hard, and it's clear that she has a blue belt! She was throwing me around with great skill. I have to say it was a challenge, but I think I could do well if I trained it some more. It was very technical and tough. You really have to use your whole body! I also think it would help with MMA training. To get your opponent down with a good throw and then do ground fighting is really what MMA is about. Then add some punches on that and you're done... Sadly, I usually have tutoring on mondays so I think I'll have a hard time to fit it in to my schedule. I'll have to wait and see and take all the opportunities I can to try it again.

Having fun

The kids in the school are so sweet, loving and happy! My mom lost half her hair while letting the kids touch it. Lots of hugs today! We even got to visit during a kiswahili class. One girl was reading aloud from the blackboard and we were following!

I also met a few guys outside the school. They wanted money and my watch. I asked them why they were not in school and one of them answered "I don't want to". I told him that he looked like a clever guy, and that going to school was the smart thing. Maybe, he would become the future president of Kenya if he just went to school. He looked happy and we parted in a much more positive way. My heart was breaking when the other guy said his mom couldn't afford the school fees.

It is still quite shocking to know that some kids in Nairobi is still still not in school, even though it is mandatory. The recent article in the daily nation that i wrote about a month ago, telling us that parents could be sent to prison if not sending their kids to school seems to not have made an impact on the Mathare parents. The caregivers in the area are often not the parents, because many people die from Aids and other diseases in the slums. Children are often brought up by relatives, siblings and even neighbours. 

Weleda information and application

I was going crazy while trying to submit my application on the internet. Nothing was working and it got later and later. I think I wrote it about ten times, but nooooo - it was not accepted. Finally I just deleted a whole paragraph, because I was almost panicking. How can the internet be such a good help and such a nuisance at the same time?? Ours has been very good recently. After having severe problems during 3,5 years, dad switched to fiber. It's been fantastic generally, but as soon as you need to do something really important it fails! Internet is provided at high speed in big cities all over the world nowadays, so saying that it's down or that you have a poor connection is almost not believed in. I've had this problem many times, trying to skype with friends around the world or while trying to stream a tv show. It is just not understood that the line is down or the connection is poor! Another reflection concerning this is: Why do we get so frustrated and irritated? It's not that you could change anything, so why get upset about it?

Fantastic mail

I can't believe it! I recieved a mail tonight from a company in Sweden called Weleda. They wanted me to apply for a scholarship of about 200 000 Kes from them. I have no idea how they got my name or mail adress, but I'm incredibly happy and excited. It is so encouraging that a company operating in Sweden takes the time to send me an e-mail, asking me to apply for this. Of course I did it right away. I had some problems though, My application was to long and I couldn't submit it. Finally i erased the conclusion section... maybe not a good idea. However, I'm sure that they will look at the web page or this blog to obtain more information. After all, they took the time to e-mail me, so I truly believe this fantastic company will take the time to learn more about my project. From now on, I'm only going to buy Weleda products. They are my new heroes! Keep your fingers crossed that my application will reach them and that I was able to communicate the idea with my involvement with Excellent Care center and school!

Translation of the e-mail:

Hello Emil!

My name is Linda and working with Weleda and Weledastipendiet - a scholarship for sustainable utveckling. The scholarship was established last year and is awarded to an idea or a project that aims to improve everyday life or the future of people with various difficulties. Last year the scholarship was awarded to the project Dump tees that works to transform the lives of young boys who live at the dump La Chureca in Nicaragua.

We have noticed your project Excellent Care Center and School, and think it would be a very good candidate for the scholarship and therefore we urge you to look!

Unlike many other types of grants are you looking Weledastipendiet online, your contribution is public for all and so you can also use your application to get extra attention for your project. The scholarship consists of SEK 20 000 and the application period started on Monday. Visit stipendium.weleda.se for more information or go directly to the application page on stipendium.weleda.se / leave the funding to add your contribution. The jury Carlos Rojas, last year's scholarship Patrik Appelquist, Cathrine Westerlind from Åhléns sustainability department and representatives from Weleda.

Please contact us if you have any questions or comments!

Sincerely,

Linda Bogren Ericsson

commissioned by Weleda