Category Archives: Children

A Most Unusual Friendship

Posted on by Standard 1


In the heart of a bustling city, an unlikely pair found solace in each other. A sleek, ginger cat named Oliver and a tiny, gray rat named Luna shared a bond that defied expectations. One sunny afternoon, as they strolled through a park, Oliver spotted an ice cream vendor. With a mischievous glint in his eye, he suggested a treat.

To everyone’s surprise, Luna agreed. Hand in hand, the duo enjoyed their frozen delights, a testament to the power of friendship, no matter how different the participants may seem.


After their ice cream indulgence, Oliver and Luna decided to explore a nearby pathway. As they ventured deeper into the narrow passage, they stumbled upon a group of stray cats huddled together for warmth. The cats were visibly hungry and shivering.

Without hesitation, Oliver and Luna returned to the ice cream vendor and purchased more treats. With their newfound generosity, they shared the ice cream with their newfound friends, fostering a sense of community and compassion among the strays.

Scholarship

Posted on by Standard 2

It is incredibly surprising that most of students who do well in National examination in Kenya come from poor families. These are families which the parents cannot be able to afford three meals in a day.  After primary school, such students end up doing manual jobs so as to be able to support their parents and siblings.  If these students do not get help from relatives or well-wishers their dreams get shattered and we end up losing very important individuals in the society. The social media has played a big role in ensuring that needy and bright students are brought to public’s domain so that they can get necessary help.  My goal in this article is to highlight the impact of scholarship to such children and encourage more donors and well-wishers to continue supporting them.

However, my driving force to write this piece is the commendable work being done by Maendeleo Foundation which offers scholarship for both Secondary and University students in Kenya. Over the years the Organization has offered sponsorship to students right from Secondary to college/university level. The students undergo an interview to ascertain the level of their vulnerability before they are offered the assistance. An interview is one of the most effective strategy to ensure that you get the right candidates for sponsorship. This is due to the fact that most people are malicious and hence you cannot just trust what they tell you. Therefore, even if it means visiting their homes to ascertain the truth then it can be of great help. Individuals, churches, banks and also Organizations are doing a lot to make sure that the needy/bright children are given educational support.

Students who get sponsorship for university are lifted the burden of taking loans to cater for their university education. It is noted that most of students work several jobs over the course of their college and graduate school years in order to pay for their classes, books and hostel. This certainly detracts students from the time they are required to study and learn and hence academic performance can greatly suffer, (Community Force, 2017). Some other students engage in immoral behaviour to enable them to raise tuition fees and also hostel money. In the recent years Kenya has lost many promising young people in college and university. Their causes of death could be in one way or other another be associated with lack of finances while at the college or minimal support from the parents. There is also a certain percentage of students who do not graduate from college/university because they are not able to raise the tuition fee. On the other hand, students who manage to get sponsorship are able to attend to their classes well minus fear of being taken out of class due to fees arrears.

The needy students who are supported to either join secondary or universities are empowered such that after school they can change situation in their community. Therefore, sponsorship of needy/bright students is one way to reduce poverty rate in Kenya. The sponsorship mostly comes in handy with mentorship programmes for students so that they can remain focused in their education. Maendeleo Foundation for instance, conducts mentorship programme for sponsored students in secondary school every vacation. The learners a meant to review their goals and given support and guidance where necessary. Generally, there is a close monitoring of sponsored students by parents, mentors and the sponsors.

Sponsorship is an effective channel to contribute your help to individuals and communities in need, (Darrah, p Nov 2016). It is a pathway to touch a child’s life in a special way and changing their destiny for good. Students who get these sponsorships work very hard and most of them emerge successful citizens who impart the nation positively.  As mentioned earlier, sponsorship is a way of combating poverty and nurturing responsible citizens.

The efforts being done by sponsors cannot go unmentioned since Kenyan students are benefitting in a big way. The living standards of many families have been improved as the sponsored students succeed in their education.  However, the sponsorship slots given to needy students is not enough and hence the need for sponsors to increase the number in order to reach many students.

References

Appeal for Bible Camp Scholarship for Needy Children. (2022) Retrieved April 2022, from / https://churchletters.org/church-letters church-donation-stewardship-letters/appeal-for-bible-camp-scholarship-for-needy-children

Community Force. ( 2017) ‍ The impact and importance of scholarships.

www.communityforce.com/the-impact-and-importance-of-scholarships/

Darrah, P. (2016 .6 reasons to sponsor a child. WordPress. www.goabroad.org/why-sponsor-a-child

FIVE WEEKS LATER

Posted on by Standard 1

 

The reality of empty bank accounts belonging to 288,060 teachers with 40,000 claimed to have been paid, denote an enormous injury for the teachers. It has been a take up arms between the Teachers Service Commission and the teachers’ unions, which has led to the government showing a valiant spirit of defying court orders. After a long cross swords, it’s a question of who had the last laugh between the TSC and the teachers. Mr Justice Abuodha ordered that there would be no victimization of teachers and their September salary, but according to the Secretary General William Sossion , TSC and the government are up to the violation of those orders. The unions have put it clear that they have suspended their strike for 90 days as ordered by the court, it however remains unclear; should we expect another strike early 2016? Let this be pondered because the unions expect the government to comply with the court order awarded by Justice Nduma Nderi awarding teachers 50-60 per cent pay rise.

The bell rang today on 5th October 2015 for assembly after 34 days later after schools were desserted and padlocks remained on the gates in all Public Schools. Teachers were on low tones and could not fail to show their disappointment on the back to class order. They had nothing to rejoice about and hence the learners as innocent as they looked; they could not understand why the “holiday” was too long. Perhaps the USA president Barack Obama changed term dates when he visited Kenya in July. It is for fact that all the candidates fear had started to practically eat a hole in their hearts because they were uncertain of undertaking their national examinations which hang around. The teachers had an opportunity to encourage the learners to embark on their school work, having in mind that examinations are just about to start.

The whole controversy will then shift to the relief teachers employed by TSC this week on contract basis. The TSC had earlier advertised 70,000 vacancies for teachers, which looked like a weapon to scare teachers, especially those who are about to retire and those who had received posting letters in August. The employment and Labour relations Court Judge Nduma Nderi stopped TSC from hiring the teachers which is a case filed by the Trade Union Congress of Kenya. Rumour has it that 10,000 applicants had already entered an agreement of three months before the exercise was stopped. To these teachers, confusion and nightmare will mingle together before the whole issue is resolved by the court. Since everybody is moving to court for justice, the relieved teachers may also move to the court to seek for fair play. There is still a huge shortage of teachers in Public schools. Instead of the TSC taking these teachers into a contract basis, it is actually an opportunity of employing them permanently.

After five weeks on strike, teachers’ expectation has to be put on pending and lamentably enough, the teachers lack the pay rise as well as their September salary. They have gone back to their duties mournful and thinking of unpaid September bills. The schemes work and lesson plans were ready for the content to be delivered today, despite the teachers’ employer shying away from addressing the September salary issue. Teaching is a call and therefore, teachers have opted go back to school to perform their task diligently. The parents and learners especially the candidates, have a reason to smile again following the back to class order. Teachers weep NOT.

Chemistry, ain’t ready!

Posted on by Standard Reply

 

Am not ready for Biology, and heck am not ready for Chemistry and to be more precise, me myself and I are not ready for the entire 2015 Kenya National Examination, which starts on 12th October. I feel like my rights have been violated by the people I trusted the most and I won’t let any folk drag me into blaming my teacher, neither will I blame myself. This very moment, I wish I was the Cabinet Secretary for education or even an official at the Kenya National Education Council because, I would act with speed and precision to save the suffering students of Kenya. The issue of the teachers strike has dug a hole in my heart and what I am feeling is what animals feel when an earthquake looms. Spare me your opinions since I don’t have phobia for examinations neither am I an indisciplined student because trust me, I have never been summoned to the principal’s office.

What troubles me even more is this question, Who the hell will mark my exams? Rumour has it that it could be the NYS, the mention of NYS makes my heart jump into my throat. Perhaps it could be the Kenya Defense Forces which leaves me more faint-hearted that they will confuse my well written composition paper for an Al-shabaab leaflet. Therefore, let me remain idealistic that our teachers will soon go back to school and take us through the examination process. But even with the return of the teachers to schools, I still insist that am not ready for Chemistry. My classroom hours have not been utilized well and yet I will still yell. My teacher completed the syllabus but she was to go through remedial classes during the entire third term. Even as I lament now, the topic Matrix gives me a migraine and what saddens me most is that, the last time I had a talk with my dear teacher, she assured me that this term, she would take my dismay on disturbing topics.

Somebody needs to revisit children’s rights because I have a feeling that somebody has slept on his/her job. My guardians have invested so much in my education through a lot of strain, and they have high expectations from me. My counter parts at Private Schools are doing final touches on revision and I know they won’t suffer the panic that I will go through, especially the initial day of examination. I think the invigilators should let the ‘Mwakenya’ trend in examination rooms in 2015. This won’t be cheating; on contrary esteemed Kenyans, the students will be confirming what the teachers had taught them earlier. Is it not so, that the teachers confirm the answers from a pile of books too when marking our exams? Yes they do for accuracy.

It won’t be a blow to me that mine will remain a voice in the wilderness because my feelings are so true and real. The consequences will be so bitter in that it will affect the youth of tomorrow and that generation is us, the 2015 candidates. Failure in exams will not be received with gratification but instead, there will be a lot of disappointment in every student who will have performed unsatisfactorily. Some will not even attain grades which will enable them join secondary schools of their preferences. And to form four leavers, the reality will dawn to them that courses that they intend to pursue will be out of the question. It is alleged that the government of Kenya has been trying to curb the menace of drug abuse and youth radicalization. If so therefore, I don’t know what this honoured government is doing to ensure that more youth do not become vulnerable to the same. Let it be known today that the outcome will bring awful repercussions in us who are the youth of tomorrow. Oh! The migraine again.