Computers in Use!

The Computer Centre set up by Emily and Ray is now fully functional. UJS children have a computer lesson every day while children from the neighbourhood have a chance to enjoy the facility over the weekend. The various educational software that came with the computers from Wadsworth Fields Primary school and those installed by Emily have proved very popular indeed.

During their recent visit, Catherine and Orla had the opportunity to train the teachers and to watch them deliver lessons to children using the computers. The two have now left for Mombasa from where they will proceed to London and then Belfast. We wish them safe travels.

I wish to thank everyone whose support and contribution has made this possible. I also wish in a special way to thank Emily for her continued support through her networking activities. We will do everything possible to ensure that her efforts bring about positive improvement at the school. This is the direction we would like to see the school go, and given the many hurdles we face, we would not have come this far without everyone,s generous support and contribution through Emily and our friends elsewhere.

The visit by Emily and Ray opened us up to many new ideas which we hope to implement in due course as a way of improving the day today running of the facility. And Cat and Orla helped make many teaching aids and introduced new childhood games to the children.

Thank you all!

Cat and Orla Visit

Next week the school will host Cat and Orla from Ireland. Cat has just finished her PhD at Manchester University. I met her during one of the UKGRAD Schools held at Exeter University in 2006. Together with her sister, they will be at the school for about 8 days during the time which they will train the teachers on how to use the various computer programmes in their daily lessons. The duo have also kindly accepted to undertake some DIY at the school. For this they will be bringing with them a number of paint brushes and rollers and aprons! I have warned them about the high cost of living here and the lack of electricity at the school. They have no problem fueling my old car to get them to places and will be part of the cooking in the kitchen they say! On behalf of the teachers, children and the community, we say karibu sana and safe flight to Kenya. We look forward to seeing you here soon.

Thank you all

On behalf of the teachers, children and on my own behalf, I would like to thank everyone who contributed in one way or another towards Upendo Junior School through Emily and Ray. The software, the digital camera, the pens and pencils will all go along way in making the learning and teaching very interesting for all of us at the school. In a special way, I wish to thank Emily and her husband for taking all the trouble to fly out to Kenya to make this happen. Everyone was so happy to have them around and their contribution in setting up the computer room will have a huge impact on the children for many years to come.

With the computer room up and running, we have no doubt that we will be able to achieve our vision in being a model school in our area. I can only hope and pray that our partnership and friendship with Tribalgroup UK Ltd will continue to grow and that we will be able to see the school grow from strength to strength. Our next task is to have electricity in the school and get connected to the internet in the near future.

Once again thank you all and hope that both Emily and Ray will return to you safely and with stories to share...especially one about climbing the Endebes Bluff on top of Mt Elgon!!

Ray & Emily visit the school

Well we made it to Kenya with a suitcase full of software to help kick off the I.T. computer room for Upendo Junior School. Took a couple of days to get all the computers up and running, but we managed with bits of a crocodile clip acting as the only screwdriver.

The teachers and children all excited and have had a play on the computers already. My only regret is not enough time to train the teachers in the use of the computers and the software.

Emily Tredoux

A Big Thankyou

I would like to thank the various people who have contributed to Upendo Junior School:

• Tribal staff for their hardwork at putting together in excess of 15 sets of educational software to be taken over to the school, surprise packages for the teachers and for a digital camera.
  

• The National Science Learning Centre in York for the Science Books, science multi media resources, pens, pencils, posters, etc. for the children.

I am now getting very excited and looking forward to being able to hand over these goodies to the school. My husband and I will be helping out for just over a week with the pc's, training, DIY, etc. and we will attempt to update the blog via mobile phone with some pictures.

Thank you,
Emily Tredoux

This weekend UJS received a generous donation of £500 from a gentleman who wishes to remain annonymous. On behalf of my wife, the teachers and the children, and on my own behalf, I wish to thank him most sincerely for his magnanimous gesture.

We plan to use the money donated towards kickstarting a cyber café.

We will be able to:-

• pay rent for a shop in the local market
• install the computers we received from Stevenson Junior School, Nottingham.
• make desks and chairs for the computer room
• offer printing, photocopying, scanning and laminating services once we finish with the computers.

The advantage of the proposed cybercafe is that we will be able to generate some income for the school as well as use it in teaching the children ICT skills.

The computer room should be up and running by September, when Emily from Tribal visits, we are praying that she will be able to bring along some software for children’s programmes and hopefully train the teachers and myself in how to use the software.

We may not be able to connect to the internet soon as this may be slightly expensive for us at the moment.

Once again I thank you for your contribution and assure you that the seed you have planted will be watered and nurtured so that it benefits as many children as possible, now and in the future.

Thank you.
Masibo Lumala

Open Day / Sponsored Walk - 26 07 2008

The open day went really well…we had children playing football, swing, rope skipping. They also entertained visitors with songs and verses. At the end of the day, each child received a present for working hard during the term that ends next week. They received exercise books, pencils and colours.

The sponsored walk did not however take off as very few people had sponsored the children (obviously because of the high cost of living at the moment and the fact that many families are going without food). Instead, those who had pledged offered to give us the money and asked that we organize the walk later in the year when the locals would have harvested maize. We raised KShs 10,000/= (GBP 80) which I used to pay the three teachers honoraria as they had not received any payment for the last three months they have worked.

Karibu (Welcome) to the UJS Blog

Jambo (Hello),

The school and home for orphaned and needy children was my and my wife's idea of us contributing to the community that supported me so much when I was coming to the UK for my studies. We actually converted our own home and three rental houses into UJS. We however have the support of the local village elders and churches who have been instrumental in providing the much needed guidance and spiritual counsel.

To date we have over 80 children-49 boys and 36 girls- in the school. We could have had more but for lack of space. We have four teachers, one handling the Baby Class and Nursery and the rest with the primary section.

During the violence, our school kitchen and store were vandalized and torched by arsonists. We are now putting up one temporary kitchen , thanks to a donation of £200 from a women's church group in Sheffield, UK.

We also recently received 5 computers donated by Stevenson Junior School in Nottingham and generously delivered to our school by DHL at no cost. Our aim is to offer the children an opportunity to acquire ICT skills and to be a model school in this field.

The lack of electricity in the school has made it impossible for us use the computers or even set up an internet connection. In the short run, we intend to run cyber café at Kiminini market with a view to generating some funds for the school project as well as facilitating school communication. At the moment we have no single cyber café on the market and we have to rely on my mobile phone for internet access.

Closely tied to this is our wish to design and run a website for the school. Internet access will also help us run the Global Citizenship course at the school, which we hope to use to develop a curriculum on the proposed citizenship education in Kenya.

Our desire to achieve the best for the children is hampered by a number of factors:

• We have no electricity in the school
• We have no dormitory for the girls
• We have no piped water (We using a borehole at the moment - no pump as yet)
• We urgently need a sanatorium

We continue to raise funds for the charity, our next event is a sponsored walk on the 26th July (if all goes well). You are all invited to sponsor the children.

Ahsante sana (Thank You)