Margaret’s Exam Results

At the end of last year I posted an entry explaining that Margaret had successfully finished her teacher training course – click HERE for details.

I can now report that she has received the results of her exams and am delighted to say that she came in the top 5 out of a class of 54 students.

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This means that Margaret is now fully qualified to teach pupils from pre-school to standard 3, and can also teach students attending the same course (Early Childhood Development and Education) at college.

I must confess that I am extremely proud of Margaret, and encourage you all to join me in congratulating her on her fantastic achievement.

Best wishes

Cliff

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Sponsorship from the Rotary Club of Loddon Vale

Rotary Logo

I delighted to say that the charity recently received a generous donation of £250 from the Rotary Club of Loddon Vale (where I’m a member) and that the money has now been used to purchase some much needed supplies for the Kileva Eastfield Primary School as mentioned in the following thank-you letter from Margaret:

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Thanks to all the members at the club for their support; this means a great deal not only to the pupils and everyone else at the school but also to the whole Mwakoma community.

Best wishes

Cliff

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End of Easter Term Results at Kileva Eastfield Primary School

As regular readers of this blog will know, schools in Kenya hold exams at the end of each term, and last month was no exception at the Kileva Eastfield Primary School.

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Once again the kids did really well, and the details of the marks achieved for each child in each class are shown below.

Many congratulations to the pupils and to the teachers and parents for all the support they are giving them.

We’ll be organising a prize giving day towards the end of this term to hand out certificates and medals (again sponsored by Comptel)  to the best students in each class.

Best wishes

Cliff

Athletics at Kajire

Another school that we have visited during our trips to Kenya is in the village of Kajire.  I recently received the following note from Margaret regarding the attendance of a team from Kileva Eastfield at a school athletics competition held there:

Athletics at Kajire

By Margaret Kiriro

Hi Cliff.

On Friday 22nd March a team from Kileva Eastfield went to Kajire to attend an athletics competition.

The team performed well and were all chosen to participate at district level on the same on Tuesday at the Moi stadium in Voi.  That is good start for the school.

One of our Kileva Eastfield boys (James) won the 5000m race for boys , and also took position 4 in a walking race. Another (Edwin) took position  5 in the 3000m race for boys.

Below is a photo of the team, Edwin and James and James on his own.

Best wishes,

Margy

New classroom wall for Marie Primary School

One of the schools that the charity has helped over the years is the one in Marie at the top of the Sagalla mountain.  Marie is the village where Margaret was born and where her grandparents still live.  It’s also one of the places that we visited when my friend Darren came to see the Kileva projects back in 2007, and since then he has been a regular contributor to Kileva and has also helped to install new water tanks and a new toilet at the school which he has grown very fond of.

Consequently when we heard last year that a wall of one of the classrooms at the school had collapsed, Darren decided to fund the rebuilding of the wall so that the classroom could once more become usable.

Damage to the wall

Rebuilt wall

I’m delighted to say that the wall has now been rebuilt and everyone at the school would like to thank Darren for his generous support.  They also wanted me to tell him that he is very welcome to come back visit any time!

When Tanja Came To Stay

When Plamen (a colleague of mine at Cisco) called me last October wondering if his friend Tanja might be able to spend a month working as a volunteer at the Kileva Eastfield School in Mwakoma, it was the beginning of what turned out to be an unforgettable experience for Tanja, the people of Mwakoma, and most importantly for the pupils of Kileva Eastfield.

Although I subsequently explained to Tanja that the school is somewhat remote with no running water or electricity, far from putting Tanja off she became even more interested in going there to live and work with the people at the school and in the local community.  I therefore asked Margaret to be her buddy during her stay, and Tanja eventually flew out there on 22nd January, and stayed until 18th February.

Below is a report from Margaret about how they got on.

When Tanja Came To Stay

By Margaret Kiriro

First meeting

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When Tanya came she called me and told me she was at Annedore’s place, and because I was at my grandfather’s place (at a funeral) I promised to meet her at evening.

When I reached school, I was accompanied by Mr George and Madam Agnes when going to meet her.

We finally met her and Annedore, we had a drink, talked for long and thereafter went back to school at around 6:30.

The next day

The following day Tanya came to school in the morning and i introduced her to the rest of the staff and took her class to class and round the school compound to show her school buildings.

After that we assembled the whole school and the pupils welcomed her with songs and dances, thereafter went back to classes as Tanya went to different classes with her note book and a pen to learn also.

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It was nice and encouraging for both of us to see such a friendly, loving, caring and socialised Bulgarian lady who came and adapted with our local and ordinary way of living.

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Buying, preparing and eating local food

Tanya stayed with me in school for all those days.  She ate our local food, ie ugali with kales, pan cakes with peas, rice with beans and so many other types of food without having any stomach problems.  I even taught her how to prepare some foods e.g. cooking ugali (mixture of maize flour and water), cooking vegetables, rice, tea etc.

Staying at school

During school days we used to wake up very  early with her, prepare ourselves for work and go to school.

She learnt how we conduct our lessons (as she was sitting in class as our pupils, i.e. she was one of our pupils in class) and learnt how a teacher can prepare schemes, lesson plans and notes for teaching.

Sometimes she wrote notes on the board using chalks, which she said was different compared to how people learn in western.  She did if perfectly for me so I am very sure one day she will make a very good teacher.

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Tanya was very friendly to all children.  She played with them during break time and children really enjoyed staying with her. missing her so much.

Gifts

She bought a lot of things for the kids because she said she was being encouraged by how our children behave, how they are and how respectful our children are, compared to the few things they have to share.  She was feeling so sorry for them.  She decided to buy them football, school ties, sanitary towels for girls, fruits, sweets, and she gave individual assistance to orphans ,issuing t shirts and other many things. She really left a mark to Mwakoma people.

Visit to Marie

One weekend we went to our home at Marie. We stayed 2 days. She met my grandparents and there she ate a traditional meal called kimanga (mixture of cassava and peas, then smashed) taken with black tea. She enjoyed the place including seeing the hills and vegetation. I took her to Marie which is at the top of the mountain and had an aerial view of the lower places e.g. Mwambiti and Kajire.

Learning local skills

Apart from going to Marie she had a trip to Kajire and Gideon Mosi where she met men and women from different groups where she so a lot of handcrafting.

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She learnt skills also, apart from that she enjoyed the big hill called Goe and its surroundings.  She bought a few baskets from the groups.

Water catchment

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Since Tanya came we visited different places such as water catchment areas, and showed her places within the community. Only that she run out of time I could have taken her round Sagalla.


The coast

During her last weekend we went to Mombasa and went to Nyali beach where she saw the Indian ocean.

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The following day she booked for a hotel where she was to sleep and go to the airport for her flight. the last eve in Mombasa  I took her to fort Jesus. I left her in the new palm hotel at Nkruma Road at around 6.30. On the following day we communicated at around 4 as she was at the airport waiting for her flight.

A great friend

Tanya has been a great friend to me and everybody who was around us. She was kind and could help with what she had without hesitating. Her mind was in children and she really liked and wished to help them with the little she had. I really appreciate her concern.

May The Almighty God bless her so much. She is still welcome to come and live with us again!

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Prize Winners

certificate

In my last post I reported on the recent Kileva Eastfield School prize giving day, and so in this post I thought I’d list the names of the top 3 students in each year that worked so hard last term to receive their Kileva medals and certificates.

(For the position of each class in the Voi District school tables click HERE)

Year 1

  1. Peninah Mwasi
  2. Mathew Mwakina
  3. Evan Mkali 

Year 2

  1. John Nzaro
  2. Thomas Mwapulu
  3. Dinaice Walugha

Year 3

  1. William Nzumu
  2. Mwachoo Mwasi
  3. Zablon Mwovu

Year 4

  1. Margaret Konde
  2. Tabitha Mwashinga
  3. Mwanyezi Mwamadi

Year 5

  1. Nzumu Mwashinga
  2. Naftai Mwambaia
  3. Rachai Mwangome

Also here are a few more ‘photos of the kids (and their proud parents) receiving their awards:

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