Written by Alison | 01 February 2010

Last Summer Philip (centre of pic), a PE teacher at Catcote School in Hartlepool, volunteered in Naivaisha, along with colleague, Andrew (right), delivering football coaching sessions and assisting with a local man's dream to create a football academy for the street kids.

They made strong links with the coaches over there, including their FIFA-trained local host, Michael. All three see football as "a fantastic tool to help the children develop socially and physically".





Since his return to the UK, Philip has been discussing the issues he witnessed with his own pupils, who decided they would like to help. As a class they decided on the project name ‘Kick it Back to Kenya’. They hope to receive donations of old boots, shirts, balls, cones "anything that you might consider to be worthless could be priceless to a child". They have posters around their local sports centres and are contacting the local media to raise publicity.

On March 21st the Catcote School will be participating in the Sports Relief Mile in Hartlepool, a chance for the young people involved to raise money to send over the first collection of items. Anything that can be donated would be extremely appreciated. Please contact us if you can help.

Written by Alison | 21 January 2010

Thanks to the generosity of certain bikers [you know who you are] and the awesome attitude and proactive Jedi force within director Douglas, "now free and can breath after two days busy working on the Shamba planting and fencing" we can all see the results.

Douglas tells me "Now the Shamba is secure and free from cattle getting access ....It took ten men to fence the shamba today and 13 women and men planting yesterday."

And you can see the skill and the collaboration involved in getting results like this in only 2 days. This is real innovation that comes from only a little bit of support. Ingrid Angels runs a feeding program so each of the children attending classes can be fed a meal. A generous G.A.Y.E (Give As You Earn) commitment is now covering costs for this program but suggestions and discussions went on about the centre becoming more self-sufficient. No sooner had this been discussed and Jedi Douglas got to work!

There is another Shamba next to this that can be used to plant a tree nursery and hosts from last Summer, CWOSUP and Edward Wata are hopefully advising Douglas on getting into a govt-funded tree nursery  programme to further increase funds. Edward has an established nursery in Yala, western Kenya.

[Ruth watering seedlings]

 

Written by Alison | 17 January 2010

Written by Alison | 16 January 2010

The Mwelu Foundation is a self-help group operating in the Mathare Valley slum of Nairobi, founded by born-and-raised Mathare resident Julius Mwelu.

Julius became involved with Lana Wong's Shootback Project at the age of 12, a well-funded project teaching photographic skills to children in the slum. Julius' success led to him becoming a professional UN photographer  who also educates countless people around the world about what life in a slum is really like, through the eyes of the children. The Gallery depicts this extraordinarily and the Foundation have had three films accepted into the Kenyan International Film Festival (KIFF). Ghetto Girl, Flying Toilet and Inevitable Pain will be shown along side other entries in various locations in Nairobi.

"Children have vivid and important stories to tell, and cameras are dynamic tools for this expression". Lana Wong and football coach Francis Kimanzi started the Shootback Project to help give young people in Mathare the means to tell their own stories.

Here's an example of the kids work [by Stephen Ochieng aged 12] :

The Shootback Project continues to train young photographers in Mathare today through Julius' Mwelu Foundation and their photos are displayed both in the slum and in international shows. Introduced by colleague and volunteer, Kami Munderu, AVIF hopes to assist this fantastic work by possibly sending volunteers starting next month.