The last counseling room was painted on Saturday 20th August. It was painted with the help of three students from Dagoretti high school: Conrad Gitare, Chris Hani and Gordon Junior.

I was impressed by these guys drawing skills but what really took me aback and deeply touched me was their willingness and even sacrifice for this project. Dagoretti high school closed for the holidays on Friday 19th, so this meant I had to trust that these boys  were going to leave their respective homes and show up in Adams for the project(for the other branches, I picked up the students from their respective schools and returned them after the project.) To be honest, I was psychologically prepared in case they did not show up. But imagine the surprise when I received a phone call, a few minutes to 9am,  just as I was leaving my own house, confirming that two of them had already arrived. These boys woke up early, got ready, used their own bus fare, came even prepared with their own painting brushes…I could not be more grateful!

Joining them too were a few girls from my former high school precious Blood Riruta: Twafle Abdulla, Jackie wambui and Nyaguthi.

The project began at around 10:30 am and was completed at around 5:00pm.

Day’s highlights

Of course the boys showing up!

Having the executive director GVRC Grace Wangechi and the Programs manager, Medical and psychosocial support, Alberta wambua join us in the painting.

Again, having my mum and my best friend Beda around, livening the mood of the place, supporting me, filling in for me when I was up and about running errands and also ensuring everything was running smoothly and quickly.

Day’s lows

Having to terminate one of the contracts with the people I was working with. That was really really hard!

Before...

Left: GVRC'S Executive director, Grace Wangechi

From left: John Chege GVRC, the painter- Kim, Ansally, Gordon Junior, Chris Hani, Conrad Gitare and Twafle Abdulla

The result....

I was sick, my photographer was sick, my driver was sick (there is some terrible flu going round) but we still managed to paint the second counseling room in Ongata Rongai yesterday! (17th)

Three students from Laiser Hill Academy, Aristedes Marinda, Samuel Ndung’u and Martin Nyanumba helped with the painting.

We began at around 11 am with a brief introduction of the project and GVRC. We completed the work a few minutes to 9 pm!

Before...

From left: John of GVRC, Aristedes, Martin and Samuel listening to a brief introduction of GVRC

Right, Hilda Nyatete a GVRC counselor giving the introduction

After...

.... 🙂

More pics under the child counseling rooms (photos) page.

Notes:

I have been approached severally with the idea of painting the paedriatic wards too, which I think is a brilliant idea. The coast branch is not yet open, so I have been thinking I might as well use some of the money to paint some of these wards.

The Paedriatic room in Rongai was painted today, Thursday 18th.

Tomorrow I spend the whole day being a kid again…. How? Shopping for toys with my mum…You should have seen and heard me squealing with delight last time we went window shopping….Am still a kid at heart and anyway  the toys nowadays are so fascinating!!! 🙂 🙂

The first counseling room (Hurlingham branch) was finally painted yesterday!

I cannot describe the feeling of relief and excitement that comes with this accomplishment.  🙂 🙂 🙂 Schools in Kenya are currently closed for the holidays. This has really challenged the progress of the project. The project idea was not just to paint the rooms but also to involve secondary school students in the painting and thus promote child participation in issues affecting them. Thus, majority of the students being at home and the school managements being uncomfortable with the idea of involving their senior classes (most senior students are in school for the holiday tuition in preparation for the national exams later in the year) was a serious setback to the plans. At some point last week I even considered dropping the idea and just have the rooms painted by a painter alone because I was panicking. I had two weeks left to finish the project and zero confirmations from the schools. Fortunately though, we were to get two confirmations on Thursday from Laser Hill Academy and Dagoretti High school. The two offered to assist us in painting the Rongai and Adams branch on the 17th and the 21st respectively. The third school, which was actually an alternative to another school that had already declined, also declined.

So I decided “to go back home.” I approached my former high school Precious blood Riruta on Thursday and they gave me an almost immediate confirmation for Saturday (this past-13th). They say home is always best! 🙂 I could not have been more grateful!

We thus spent the whole of Saturday at the Hurlingham branch with three great girls: Valentine Ondieki, Vanessa Lubira and Esther Mutungi. They had a tour of the hospital facility and a briefing about the work of the Gender Violence Recovery Centre before we began the painting. The painting was completed at 8pm. (I returned the girls at 5pm as agreed.) 🙂

Nairobi Art Academy supervised the activity.

Days highlights

My mum and my friends coming to show their support and also helping with the painting. I am still counting my blessings…

The three girls hugging me goodbye after I dropped them back in school and telling me they had a lot of fun! My heart literally smiled.

(More pictures to come -on the page child counseling rooms)

2/8/2011 – Shadrack Kimalel Primary School.

91 essays were submitted. (This time the essay writers were class 7’s)

There were 18 class eight students who helped with the marking.

The session was attended by 110 students: 40 boys and 70 girls.

Right, second runner up Yvonne Akinyi

Left, first runner up Cathrine Wandia

Right, winner of the best essay, Loice Neumbe

More pictures under the page child abuse awareness campaigns (photos).

27/7/2011: Today’s child awareness campaign was in Arap Moi Primary School in Kajiado district.  A similar procedure to that of yesterday was followed.  We however changed something slightly today. We did not allow the students to write their names on the essays. Instead we gave them numbers which they used on their essays and asked them to write their names on another piece of paper against their corresponding numbers. This was to avoid favoritism during marking.

The sensitization session was attended by 150 students (88 girls and 62boys).

A section of class eight students writing the essay.

John Chege, Ken Otieno and I spend some time with kids from the lower primary as we wait for the class eight students to finish writing their essays.

Kennedy Njuguna one of the class seven students, marking an essay.

Right: Second runner up Allan Kimani

Right: First runner up Philomena Wanjiku

Right: Winner, Florence Sanae

Sanae reading out her essay to the rest of the students during the sensitization session.

She broke down when explaining to her colleagues, the "dos and don'ts" following sexual assault (there was a creative slot during the session where the kids were free to -sing, rap, give a speech etc on child abuse). This was definitely one of the most memorable times during the awareness campaigns

26/7/2011: We had the first child abuse awareness campaign in Lower Kabete Primary School.

The aim of these outreach campaigns was to learn from the children themselves, the various types of child abuse that they might be facing or know of, to help the children identify other forms of child abuse they might not be aware of, to educate them on where they can find help if they are or ever face child abuse, to promote child participation in decision making in areas affecting them.

To identify the common types of child abuse/ see how aware the children are about child abuse, we engaged the class 8 students in a timed (40 minutes) essay writing competition.  The title of the essay was child abuse. 72 essays were submitted.

Class eight students at Arap Moi writing the essay

To promote child participation in decision making, we soon after collecting the essays, asked the class 8 students to choose 18 class 7 students to mark their essays.

John Chege of GVRC jotting down the names of the class seven students selected for the marking

Ken Otieno of GVRC going through the marking scheme

We released the class 8 students and gathered the class seven students. Together, we made a marking scheme. (In each of the essays they would be looking for a definition of child abuse, various forms of child abuse, current intervention measures and possible prevention measures). We all agreed that we would not be marking the grammar but the content. Each of the 18 students was then given 4 essays to mark and identify the top.  The students were then grouped into six groups of 3 and given 3 of the 18 essays from the previous round to come up with the top essay. They were then grouped into 3 groups of 6 students with 2 essays.  The 3 top essays identified from this round were read out to the whole group and the winner, 1^st runner up and 2^nd runner up chosen.

Some of the class seven students marking the essays

The class seven students also decided who among them would present the awards to the winners.

The 2^nd runner up received a bag, a T shirt and a certificate. The 1^st runner up got a bag, a T shirt, a certificate, a geometrical set and writing materials. The winner received a trophy, a bag, a T shirt and a certificate.

Right: Second runner up Dennis Njuguna

Left: 1st runner up Purity Nabwire

Left: Winner Grace Karanja

Ken Otieno of GVRC then had an interactive session with the students on child abuse. Students were either rewarded with T shirts or other goodies for correct answers to questions he asked. This session emphasized to the students that ANYONE was at risk of being abused, ANYONE could be an abuser, that any abused person must seek medical help within 72 hours of being sexually abused and the reasons why, the places one can find help, (Nairobi women’s hospital, calling childline Kenya free on 116) and the correct procedures that must be followed after abuse in order to preserve evidence etc.

After this session, all the students were given snacks before being released for home.

The sensitization session was attended by 47 girls and 46 boys

More pictures under the page child abuse awareness campaigns (photos).

Let me begin by saying thank you so much to all of you for your generosity. This project would not be possible without your assistance whether financial or emotional. Thank you for all the advice too.

Thank you to the GVRC team for all the help in the preparations we are currently undertaking to ensure the smooth implementation of this project. Thank you for all the advice but most importantly for giving me and all those who contributed to this project, an opportunity to make a difference, no matter how small, in the lives of these children.

As some of you know, I returned on Tuesday this week from the Republic of Gambia where I was on an internship programme. (I was interning with the Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (GAMCOTRAP). The traditional practices include Female Genital Mutilation, Gender Based Violence and Forced Early Marriages. It was quite an enriching experience both culturally and academically.) This blog was to come up the latest Tuesday evening but unfortunately I lost my hand luggage which contained all my important things, my charger included. Fortunately, I received the bag late last evening (Friday 22^nd) and I am happy I can finally give you all an update on the project.

Many of you, know the project as “Let children be children” because that was the title I used to fundraise on Middstart. However, Let children be children is the first part of the one big project: “Helping abused children heal while moving towards a society free from Gender Based Violence.”The second part of the project is the “Child Abuse Awareness campaigns targeting school children.” This part of the project was funded by Middlebury College’s Alliance for Civic Engagement (ACE) Cross cultural programme.

Let children be children- Refurbishing the Children counseling rooms

Proposal and Implementation steps:

i) Four different secondary schools near the four branches of Nairobi Women’s hospital will be contacted on the possibility of three students from each school volunteering to paint the children counseling rooms on one of the days in June.

ii) Before the painting, the three students will have a session with a facilitator who will talk to them about Gender Based Violence. They will also have a tour of GVRC and briefed on its work. It is expected that these students will share everything they learn with their friends in school and at home.

iii) Afterwards, these students and I will paint the rooms under the supervision of a professional painter.

iv) Lunch and tea break will be provided for the volunteers. They will also be awarded certificates.

v) Toys will be purchased for the counseling rooms after the rooms are ready.

vi) The process will be documented so that the pictures can be used for the report following the successful completion of the project.

vii) Some paintings (with the consent of the children) will also be framed and hang all around the walls of the counseling rooms. As these paintings are definitely bound to tell a story, I feel this will be crucial in assuring all the children who visit the counseling room that they are not alone in their situation.

Updates on this part of the project:

We have gotten in contact with three Secondary schools all located near the three currently open branches of Nairobi Women’s hospital to help with the painting of the rooms.

The schools include:

1. State house girls
2. Dagoretti High School
3. Laser Hill high school

All the schools managements asked as to check in this coming week for confirmation.

Meanwhile, we are getting cost quotations from different painters and also looking at samples of their work.

Child Abuse Awareness campaigns targeting school children

Proposal and Implementation steps:

i) Once I receive funding, with the help of GVRC personnel, three school managements situated within localities that have been identified by the Gender Violence Recovery Centre (GVRC), as those with the highest incidences of Gender Based Violence (GBV), will be consulted on the possibility of availing their students for the awareness campaign on one of the afternoons in June. After approval, a date for the campaign will be set for each of the schools.

ii) Each school will then be requested to ask its students to compete in writing an essay that addresses the issue of child abuse in our society and a deadline for submission set. Having a writing competition prior to the awareness campaign will allow the children to think about the issue beforehand and make the campaign more of a sharing session.

iii) To promote child participation in decision-making, we will work closely with Plan International (an organization that promotes children rights to end poverty) to come up with a panel of about 10 students from each school to form the essay-marking panel The panel will read all the submitted essays and decide on the three best from each school.

iv) On the day of the campaign in each school, the students will be educated by facilitators from GVRC, Plan International and Childline Kenya (works closely with GVRC to provide rescue services for abused children as well as free counseling) on the ills of gender violence and the importance of respecting others irrespective of gender, GBV warning signs, the prevention measures they can take and where they can get help in case of abuse. Fliers with this information will also be given to the students and some given to the libraries in the schools so that there can always be some copies for reference.

v) The winners of the essay writing competition will be given their prizes which will include trophies, books and bags. Snacks will be provided to all students to encourage attendance.

vi) After the campaign, some of the essays and information shared during the campaign will be compiled into a report that can also be disseminated to other schools to help resolve GBV issues.

Updates on this part of the project:

Three school managements have already been contacted.

1. Lower Kabete Primary school in Nairobi
2. Arap Moi primary School in Kajiado
3. Shadrack Kimalel Primary school in Nairobi

While we are still waiting to hear from Arap Moi primary school, Lower Kabete has given us the go ahead to hold the campaign on Tuesday 26^th of July and Shadrack Kimalel has allowed us the 2^nd of August.

This will be a whole day affair which will involve the essay writing, the marking, a sensitization session on gender based violence with emphasis on child abuse (courtesy of GVRC, Plan international and childline Kenya) and finally the awards ceremony for the best essays.

22/07/2011: Purchasing trophies at the Nairobi sports house for the award ceremonies.

19/7/2011: From left to right> Me, the head mistress Shadrack Kimalel Primary School and Ken Otieno of GVRC in a meeting.