Kileva Centre contributes to community development

As you may know from previous posts, in addition to being used to distribute food and medicines to the local community, the Kileva Centre is also used by the provincial administration to host meetings to discuss matters of general interest such as community development, security, food for work program, and human wildlife conflict. 

Below is a letter I received recently from the Assistant Chief of the Ndara Sub Location regarding such a meeting. 

 

Another meeting (attended by the local councillor) was held later that week to discuss the KIMWA (Kirumbi and Mwakoma) water project.

Below are a selection of photos from the meetings.

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Sickness in the Kilele family

From: Godwin Kilele
             Voi, Kenya
             6^th Feb

Hi Cliff and Jane, Davy, Ally, Katie and the entire Kileva family in England,

I wish to inform you that my lovely kid [my only son--Cliff Evans junior] has been unwell for whole of the past week and we have been moving from Voi to Mombasa for medical attention.

Cliff in Voi last November

It was one cool morning, and as usual, Grace [my wife] who has had malaria for the past two weeks, prepared tea for Naomi [1st born daughter], Joy [my 2nd born daughter and Cliff junior [last born son] and off they went to their respective schools. Joy and Naomi are in a public school while Cliff is in a private academy. After they took off, I also went out to KWS [Kenya Wildlife Services] meeting with the Tsavo East game warden [Mr Boit] to discuss how people have been happy with our Kileva Beehive Fencing initiatives which help the farmers from elephant raids.

But after few minutes, I got a call from Grace telling me that she has  been called to go to Cliff’s school as Cliff was seriously ill. It caught us all unawares and with pani, ran to Moi District Hospital where Cliff junior had been taken. He was there, not talking, just looking straight and we were chased out of the room by the doctors and from there we all wondered what was wrong…we just stood outside praying and praying hard enough, and because God is a mighty God, we were called and when we went inside Cliff was there and was complaining that he was hungry, funny, vey funny, the guy was ok.

When I asked the teacher what happened, the teacher said that it was during maths lesson and when teaching she thought of going back to the staffroom and because Cliff is the brightest in his class, as usual she called cliff infront of the class so that he can continue doing their stuff at tha blackboard, and she called,cliff evans,cliff evens and there was no response and when she moved closely, she noticed the guy was just freezing, eyes opened, and the worst part of it is that, there were no those black things in his eyes, they were plain white, then the lady teacher started screaming and the staff came for help, thats how it happened.

Cliff in Mombassa with medical notes

Iam just back today from Mombasa where I hve bee with my boy for the past few days and still we are comfortable as he is sleepy everytime and so far we have been advised by the Doctor at Pandya Memoial Hospital to send him back after he finishes the dose prescribed which means we go back on 17th this february which of course has been quite expensive to me and I can say Kileva has been generous to facilitate my kids medical expenses throughout all this time. 

Love and regards

Kilele

Footnote from Cliff senior: Since Kilele sent the above note Cliff junior has undergone further tests and has been diagnosed as suffering from pneumonia. His treatment is ongoing.

The Waitrose Classroom

Last summer a team of Partners from Waitrose took part in the Three Peaks Challenge which involved walking the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales. They undertook the challenge in support of the Kileva Foundation, and as a result of their efforts and the generosity of their supporters (just under £1,000 was raised) we decided to name the 5th classroom at the Kileva Eastfield Primary School the Waitrose Classroom.

The Waitrose Classroom

Below are some ‘photos taken during the building of the classroom, of the plaque we placed on the classroom wall when we were there last November, and of me with some of the kids in the new room.

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Thanks again to the Waitrose Supply Chain Team and their supporters for their great efforts!

Best wishes

Cliff

Origin, migration and settlement of the Taita community

Hi Cliff.

During the December holiday my cousin came home to visit my grandparents. His name is Aggry Mtalaki.  He schools at Pwani University, 4th year now. He later sent me this report about the Taita. I hope you will like it.

Margy

By Aggriey Mtalaki Pwani University, Kenya   The Taita people are a coastal Bantu tribe living in the Taita hills near the border between Tanzania and Kenya. The Taita consist of 3 tribes ·        Wadawida ·        Wasaghala ·        Wataveta The Taita hills consist of 3 main hills: Dawida, Sagalla and Kasighau. Dawida is the most fertile and densely populated area of the Taita community. The Wadawida living on the slopes of this hill practice different forms of agriculture, selling the bulk of the food they produce to the residents of coast province living in Mombasa. Origin of the Taita community There are three versions explaining the migration of the Taita. ·         The first version asserts that that the taita came from west Africa around Cameroon highlands and bauchi plateau of Nigeria; therefore this points to the Niger basin as the possible cradle land of the Taita. ·         The second version points that the taita came from the Katanga region in south eastern Congo. They spread east ward of the forest edge near the lower Congo or Zaire and lower Kasai. ·         The third version points that the taita came from a place called Misiri around Southern Sudan  moved into Turkana area then into Mt Elgon then moved into Nyanza and later into central and eastern regions Taita movement The Taitas are believed to have migrated from central Africa along side other other coastal Bantu tribes. Arriving in present day Kenya from the south through Shungwaya. The settlement at shungwaya but with the attacks from the Cushitic communities (the Oromo/galla), the taita migrated back to the Taita hills. The hills provided the taita with refuge from raids and attacks by the neighboring communities such as Maasai tribe Today the Taita have settled on the Taita hills and they mostly depend on Agriculture. Taita dialects In dialects Taita people have very many dialects. The Mbololo Taita have their own, Bura Taita have onother, Wisu, Kidaya, Mghange, Chawia, Mwanda, Kishamba, Weruga, Wundanyi. These are the so called Dawida Kisaghalla and the Kikasaghau are rather independent dialects. Reasons for the Taita migration ·         Drought and famine- climate in their cradle land had become unreliable/ unpredicted. ·         Population increases which resulted into overcrowding – It led to scarcity of grazing and agriculture land. ·         The constant attacks (external pressure). They moved due to external pressure, especially due to the migration of the Arabs into West Africa and the migration of the cushites into the East Africa. ·         Internal conflicts – internal misunderstandings/ conflicts between the different clans. These conflicts concerned the ownership of Agriculture area, shortage of grazing land and watering areas. ·         Epidemics and diseases/ natural calamities. They moved due to natural disasters e.g.  earth quakes, over flooding of rivers like river Niger, sickness diseases such as Nagana. ·         Search for fertile land for Agriculture. ·         Love for adventure – The Taita wanted to find out what was happening in other areas. ·         Group influence they had seen their relatives and friends move. ·          The need for water and pasture. ·          To export their Iron working culture. Effects of the migration and settlement of the Taita The migration of the Taita had both positive and Negative impact. Positive ·         Introduction of Iron working into East Africa. ·         Introduction of new crops e.g.  Yams, bananas. ·         They absorbed other tribe’s e.g. the gatherers. ·         They introduced centralized advanced station. ·         Introduced substance Agriculture Negative ·         Led to depopulation due to frequent attacks. ·         Loss of culture due to cultural absorption.  Bantu intermarrying with the non Bantu people, whom they came across.

Kileva Eastfield School Report : Problems with the Water Tank

From:  Margaret Kiriro
             Kileva Eastfield Primary School
             Mwakoma, Kenya

24th January 2012

Hi Cliff

Iam doing well here at school just trying hard to improve educational perfomance as the school has grow now to be big village

As you know we have reached class five and we have just 3 classes short for the school to be a full primary by 2015,we will producing our first batch of class eight candidates who will be sitting for KCPE [Kenya Certificate of Primary Education]examinations.  May God help me live to see the outcomes of their perfomances in 2015.  As iam seeing it might perform very well if we maintain the tempo under the same morale we have.

Also there is a problem which has just happened with the gate valve of our water tank here in school. We  cannot get water until one climb climb on to top of tank to get water so the children a getting problems. We need to repair the tap by puting on some other including new tap and a small water pipe. Attached are the photos too.

.
Update from Cliff
17th Feb 2012

You’ll no doubt be pleased to know that we’ve now fixed the problems by purcashing and installing the following parts so  the kids no longer have to climb up onto the tank to get water!

Item	Unit Price (Ksh)	#	Total (Ksh)
Gatevalve-3”	1,050	1	1,050
Union	330	1	330
Socket	240	1	240
Elbows	150	3	450
Bends	150	3	450
Taps	980	2	1,960
metal pipes	1,250	2	2,500
Labour	1,800	1	1,800

Kileva Centre Appeal : New Furniture

Since the 2012 Kileva Centre Appeal began I’m delighted to say that £450 has been raised to buy furniture and equipment for the centre and to help local people pay for the medical help they desperately need.  Many thanks to the people who’ve contributed.

Here’s a letter from the Assistant Chief of the Ndara region thanking us for providing furniture for the centre from the Kileva Centre Appeal funds:

To: Cliff Evans, Kileva Foundation Chairman From: Alex Mwambingu, Assistant Chief Ndara region Date: 29th Jan 2012 Hallo sir. Thanks for the 10 benches 2 tables and one chair for the Kileva Centre. I got them yesterday 28th. The baraza [meeting] was good in Kirumbi, I gave madam Margaret of Kileva the minutes and agenda. God bless you!  Alex

I’ll post the agenda and minutes that Alex mentions soon together with some ‘photos from the event.  Meanwhile here’s a couple of photos of the shiny new benches ..

New benches at the Kileva Centre

Benches in use

Photos & certificates received by Kirumbi Primary School

Kirumbi Primary School is only a few minutes walk from the Kileva Dispensary & Community Centre, and is one of the first schools Jane and I visited when we first went to Sagalla back in 2006.

Here’s a letter I received recently from the Headteacher at the school:

The certificates mentioned by Mr Maghanga had to be replaced as there were spelling mistakes in the originals that were handed out to the top 3 pupils in each of the eight year groups when we attended the school prizegiving event last November. 

The following slideshow shows some of the ‘photos taken at the event.

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Community Support Grant for Kileva Eastfield Pre-School

Good news!  The Kileva Eastfield Pre-School was recently allocated a Community Suffort Grant by the District Education Office as outlined in the letter below.

 

 

The following note is from Margaret explaining how the grant (18,368 Kenyan shillings, about £140) will be allocated.

 

“About the money,the pre school should have its own account and the money will be used to buy anything as long as it has been discussed by the school committee, like some schools have decided to buy furniture,others they have renovated their schools and so on. We are going to sit and decide what we are doing with the money.i will send you the minutes of the discussed budget“

The Kileva Foundation Board of Trustees would like to thank the DEO office for the grant.

Regards,

Cliff

Kileva Eastfield Pre-school and Staff Room

Running for Kileva

Mauro (on left)

A friend of mine (Mauro) lives in Italy but will be coming to Reading on 1st April to run the Reading Half Marathon on behalf of Kileva. 

Below is an email he sent out recently asking for help with sponsorship.

“Dear friends,I decided for the first time in my life to run for charity.  On first of April I will run Reading Half Marathon and I will do for Kileva.  Kileva is a small foundation created by a friend of mine (Cliff) that takes care of under priviledged children of a small village in South of Kenya. My request to you is, today, skip some useless expenses (too many coffes, or candies, or …) and what you save,  donate to this foundation.To make donation use this link. http://www.justgiving.com/mauro-carobeneFeel free also to forward this emailThanks and have fun!!!!!!!Mauro“

If you too would like to support Mauro and of course Kileva please go to http://www.justgiving.com/mauro-carobene.

Thanks and good luck Mauro!

Cliff

Mauro & I on an outward bound event (hence the paint on our faces!)

Do you recognise this knife?

A friend of mine has had the knife in the ‘photo below for about 50 years. An aunt of his brought it back after a visit to Kenya in the early 1960s.

 

Click on the photo to get an enlarged image

 

He’s now interested to find out more about its origins.  The hilt seems to be made of ivory (in those days acceptable but of course nowadays illegal) and the finial, if that’s the right word, is silver.  It balances perfectly on the brass band between the blade and the hilt, so could it be a throwing knife ?

 

It was given to the family just after the conflict that took place in Kenya between 1952 and 1960, where the Kikuyu-dominated Mau Mau tribe fought against an alliance between of the British Army, auxiliaries and anti-Mau Mau Kikuyu.  My friend seems to remember talk of the Kikuyu at the time, so wonders if it may be linked to that in some way.

 

Anyway if anyone recognises the knife (or this type of knife) please let me know.

 

Thanks,

 

Cliff