Harambee for Upendo

Started in 2008, Upendo Junior School has quickly grown to become a household name in the community. Having started as a school and home for displaced children following the Post Election Violence here in Kenya, Upendo now offers quality education to over 120 needy children around Kiminini. The school is located on what used to be our home and the half-acre piece of land has been quickly overrun by the current population. While we espouse the value of sports, we have no space for the children to play. We have only four classrooms and even after occupying the old house, we still urgently need to put up a tuition block to accommodate not just more needy children but Standards 6, 7 and 8 required to complete the primary school cycle. We also recently received a book donation from UKAid worth £3000 but we have no library to facilitate the good custody and use of the books by the children and teachers.

The proposed Harambee for Upendo is therefore aimed at enabling the school purchase at least one acre of land in the neighbourhood. The proceeds will also be used to put up a tuition block cum library and to improve the sports facilities at the school as per the following budgetary breakdown:

1 acre land – Ksh. 650,000/= (£5500)

Tuition Block/Library – Ksh. 600,000/= (£5000)

Sports facilities – Ksh. 60,000/= (£500)

TOTAL – Ksh. 1,300,000/=(£11000)

It is against this background that we are appealing to all friends of Upendo, both locally and abroad, to help us by contributing towards this cause. A Harambee has been scheduled at school on 24^th June 2011.The Guest of Honour will be Prof. Josephine Arasa of the United States International University, Nairobi assisted by among others Mr. Robert Masinde (Moi University), Mr. Ayub Savula Angatia(CEO,Africa,Nairobi) and Mr .Felix Sialoh(Mount Kenya University,Eldoret Campus)

It is hoped that all those who have pledged forms and are abroad will be able to send in their contributions by 20^th June 201.

Upendo Junior School - Making the Difference

The Kenyan Spirit of Harambee in Perspective

Harambee is a Kenyan tradition of community self-help events. The word Harambee literally means ‘’all pull together’’ in Swahili, and is also the official motto of Kenya and appears on its coat of arms.

Kenyans believe in doing things as a community. This is the basis of the 'Harambee' spirit. This defines how the people look at each other. One’s problems are not his alone but the community’s. Often people come together to raise funds for someone in need and help those who have lost loved ones cater for medical bills and other needs that may arise on a day-to-day basis. Harambee events may range from informal affairs lasting a few hours, in which invitations are spread by word of mouth and in the local press, to formal, multi-day events advertised in newspapers and national TV channels.

Harambee is not new but a traditional principle which existed in every traditional society in Kenya. Each society had self-help or co-operative work groups by which groups of women on the one hand and men on the other organised common work parties, for example to cultivate or build houses for each other; clear bushes, harvesting etc. The security and prosperity of the group was therefore dependent upon the persons being mindful of each other’s welfare. Different names were given to this term in different communities: Kikuyu-Ngwatio; Luo - Konyir; Luhya - Obwasio; Kamba - Mwethia; Maasai - Ematonyok

Among the Masaai community, the women were the ones who build houses for the family. A single woman could not be able to build a house on her own. She would therefore invite others to help her and when her friends want to build, they can rely on her too. Those who did not participate in community work did not get any help when they needed it.

In the modern Kenya, the Spirit of Harambee was introduced by the First President of the Republic. This was Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Since the communities were divided on ethnic basis, he wanted something that would bring them all together. Therefore, the spirit of Harambee was used to build schools, hospitals and other facilities needed. It was even used to fund raise for students who were going to study abroad.

At Independence

The philosophy of Harambee was established at independence. In order then to translate the political aspirations of the populace into tangible benefits, the government initiated measures for rapid economic and social development. "The envisaged Social development objectives entailed the promotion and implementation of programmes aimed at enhancing the quality of life of the nation’s families."

Later, on the day of the state opening of parliament on 13th December, 1963, he further reiterated the need for co-operative effort for a successful Kenya:

Forms of Harambee

What normally comes into the minds of many Kenyans when this term harambee is mentioned is the the important aspect of fund raising; but harambee is much more than this. It also entails the contribution of materials and labour to various development projects. Among others, Harambee is based on four major principles:

i) Bottom up development strategy. This means that people at the community and grassroots level participate actively in the planning and implementation of the local development projects.

ii) Participation is guided by the principles of collective good rather than individual gain. What this means is that the end product benefits the public rather than just an individual.

iii) The choice of the project is supposed to be guided by the felt needs of the majority instead of leaving the task to the government and other change agents whose priorities in terms of project selection may not be those of the people, the ultimate beneficiaries.

iv) The project implementation is supposed to maximize the utilization of local resources such as labour, funds and materials which would otherwise have remained unmobilized or expensive (Akong’a 1989).

The harambee projects are mainly locally initiated and implemented. Contributions, (especially money) come from the more affluent sections of the society. Other contributions may come from across all socio-economic groups in the country. These harambee projects are normally in two main categories:

i) Self-help activities geared towards the construction of public utilities which cannot easily be provided for by the government. Some examples are primary schools, secondary schools, health facilities, water projects, cattle dips, churches, gully control and afforestation projects. They are usually assisted by the government and Ngos in the form of materials and manpower.

ii) Women Groups - these are aimed at alleviating situations of poverty and work overload. This comes from the realization that women are over loaded with work and that they are poor. The activities that they are involved in are like contributing money (merry-go-round), marketing of commonly held goods to obtain money for buying and operating flour mills, poultry keeping. domestic water tanks construction, bee-keeping, iron-roofed houses construction, farming and basketry. These groups are registered by the District Social development Office so that they can receive aid from the Ministry of Culture and social Services, Ngos and the Women’s Bureau.

Other forms of harambee aimed at helping individuals have also picked up momentum. Examples are like Pre-wedding fund raisers, hospital bill harambees, harambees to assist youths go for further education locally and abroad etc. These forms of harambee have in one way or another improved the quality of different people and communities in Kenya.

The Contribution of Harambee towards the Improvement of the quality of life of Kenyans.

The harambee concept embodies the ideas of assistance, joint effort, mutual self responsibility and community self-reliance. As such, it has been responsible for substantial developments in the provision of basic needs and social service facilities. It has brought about near miracles especially in the country-side. Aided by the government, Harambee self-help projects have been responsible for the building of over 200 schools, 40 health Centres, 60 dispensaries, 260 nursery centres, 42 bridges, 500 kms of rural access roads etc throughout the country. These social service facilities started on harambee basis, whether taken over by the government for operation and maintenance or not, provide "basic needs" to a large segment of especially rural people.

The Harambee sipirt has by far had the greaestest impact in the education sector where it has been responsible for the growth of ‘harambee’ schools. These have played a very major role in the provision of both primary and secondary education to pupils who could not be admitted to government schools. To date there are about 600 harambee schools. In fact, many of the government aided schools were started on harambee basis.

As a result of such initiatives, literacy rates continue to go up due to accessibility of the institutions in terms of their availability and distance. Some of these learning institutions are nursery centres, primary schools, harambee Secondary schools, Institutes of Science and technology, village polytechnics etc.

Harambee efforts therefore have been providing productive infrastructure with potential significance for employment creation and improved livelihoods.

The size of harambee has increased steadily in aggregate terms. Many projects have been under-taken and completed through the spirit of harambee. Some involve colossal sums of money which the government could not have managed to disburse to the various communities concerned. As an example, during the period 1967 - 1987, contributions for self-help projects in the country amounted to K£ 294,381,870 according to government sources.

The success of harambee in Kenya is attributed to the sharp awareness by Kenyans of the benefits to be reaped. This has encouraged them to participate and contribute generously towards Harambee projects.