Urafiki Link - Update from Ms. Bain

Hello Bodwell staff & students,

The past few weeks have been very busy in Kenya! As usual, I have been continuing my weekly program: Tuesday to Maai Mahiu Secondary, Wednesday to Longonot Secondary, and Thursday to Karima Secondary. On Mondays and Fridays, I either arrange to visit the same schools again, meet with local organizations, or travel to the nearest city (about 1 hour away) to send and receive email, upload webpages, and print out your letters.

Guns in Schools

When I walked into the school on October 23^rd of this month, I saw a tall man wearing camouflage pants, camouflage shirt, and a small military-style hat also in camoflauge. Seated outside one of the classrooms, he held in his hands something long, black, metallic – a metre-long gun, loaded and ready.

I greeted him with a ‘Jambo – habari?’ which means “Hi – how are you?”. Nervously looking at his gun, I tried to act casual, though really I was scared and worried… why is there a police officer outside the school? Does he need such a large gun for such a small school? Is something happening to one of the students?

As it turns out, I had no need for concern. In Kenya, all grade 12 students must write a comprehensive national exam from October 22^nd till November 12^th. In Canada, some of your school mark counts for the final, you can re-take the exam, and you can choose which subjects you’d like to take. In these Kenyan schools, all students must take: English 12, Kiswahili (language) 12, Math 12, History 12, Geography or Christian Religious Education 12, and TWO grade 12 sciences.

When students finish the exam, the first thing they want to ask is “what was my grade?” – but grades will not be released until February of next year! Even then, there are many students – about 30% - who have not yet paid their school fees (even public schools in Kenya charge fees). If a student has not paid their school fees, they cannot receive their examination certificates. Many students will wait years before they are able to pay the $100 - $1000 remaining to be paid.

We hope that as time goes on, we will be able to sponsor more of these students who are unable to pay their fees, and allow them to continue.

Why walk when you could dance?

On Saturday, November 3^rd, the entire community of Maai Mahiu came together for a walk to launch the Urafiki Link – the link between Bodwell and schools in Kenya. Students, teachers, parents, and children from local orphanages joined together to travel a total of 15 kilometres as a fundraiser for their school. Some walked, some ran, others danced. One girl, only 5 years old, walked the entire 15 kilometre distance!

HARAMBEE is the word for this type of event. Harambee means the entire community comes together to help each other. Each person has a small card on which they should write the names of well-wishers – one person might donate $1, another 25 cents, another $5, some perhaps even $100. After the walk, the money is collected and counted.

Kind friends

A friend from Canada donated a gift of $500 to be used toward student sponsorships for members of PCYI – the group which so warmly welcomed Marina, Ji Yun, Pauline, Rosa, and Nichole in August. Many of the members of PCYI have not completely paid their school fees, and so have not received their graduation papers from grade 12 (Form 4).

The $500 was enough to pay the remaining schools of three PCYI members, the hospital bill of a woman unable to afford treatment, and two of the bunk beds in the newly renovated Good Shepherd Children’s Home.

The students were extremely thankful for the sponsorship as it allowed them to collect their graduation certificates, and hopefully plan for their future.

In addition, another friend donated $250 towards Urafiki Link costs, which I have directed towards much-needed infrastructure for the Link. We will purchase a modem for the one school (Longonot) which has access to phone lines and has a (donated) computer lab. The other schools do not have any phone lines; I have purchased a combination cellphone/modem, which will allow the remaining two schools to check email using the Bodwell-donated laptop.

Most teachers and students here have never used the internet, but they are excited that they will be able to communicate more easily with their friends in Canada!

Thank You!

Students in Kenya are very happy to be receiving letters from students in Canada – Ms. Raymond’s AP 8/9 class has sent letters, and Juan and Andy have been doing a terrific job of sending the profiles which all of you wrote. Mr. Ng’s Geography 12 weather reports were a surprise to the students, and students here are working hard to create their own weather reports.

Keep in touch and keep sending photos, poems, letters, etc.

Ms. Bain