Expansion Of The Centre

DSTV PROGRAMME / TENTS AND CHAIRS BUSINESS

A.O.B

SPORTS

Balls for playing, ropes puzzles, soccer boots and uniforms, most of these can be even 2nd hand or used by children e.g. schools or clubs in Kenya and Europe.

The year has been really a great one, soccer has been played, children have gone to school and Kibera Mpira Mtaani has expanded in various way.

The number of children really went up this year 2011, again where every kid was rushing to get support in the resource centre in terms of education with an excellent after school tuition programme to add value to what they get from day to day school programme the lovely children of Kibera did all they could not to miss any of this evening classes. Right from the age of 4yrs – 19yrs were all welcomed. We managed to register a total of six hundred children into the education programme all together. Kudo’s to all the children who managed to excess the centre was great being with you all.

Parents support, this is one of the great thing that we have been looking for so many years in our programme. Many of the mummy’s and daddy’s have come very close to the Kibera Mpira Mtaani programme and have walked with us through out the year in ensuring the children are punctual to the lessons, and paying regular visits to the centre to inquire on the progress of the children. It’s very rare in African – Kenya to see parents leaving their duties to come out and support the children in sports and after school activities, but its now happening in Kibera Mpira Mtaani, this is a big step toward preparing our children and young people for the future, because children are human and sometimes they have issues that disturb them and no one is there to listen because, we don’t create time for them. But listen unless you come down and be like them you will never understand even your own child, this has been a great year of listening to our young lovely children and I tell you they have a story to tell thanks to Kibera Mpira Mtaani because we listen.

This really worked very well in addition to the P.A Education classes that were being conducted by our secondary student to primary children, this really opened up the hearts of many and even the question they had in life answered, we had a team of six high school P.A Educators who went through a training by Care Kenya in various areas of life and life skills to help build confidence in children and youths. This really opened up many children in they started realizing themselves and there dreams, because every living human being must have a dream to chase. Thank to the good work from our high school students you are great because you listened on behalf of many of us and you also empowered your fellow brothers and sisters for a great future.

My big thanks goes to parents who lastly managed to make a parents board for Kibera Mpira Mtaani, and hold hand together in all our activities this year in funerals and fundraising for individual students who didn’t have enough fee to be in school or missed one item to settle in class. Crispin who donated by parents to join Ofafa Jericho secondary school. Parents, also lost a colleague and stood with the family in funeral arrangement, through the same committee we managed to support Stephen Onyango to join Nairobi University undertaking Bachelor of Education. Thanks to Myrobi organization for working with this committee to settle our first student into university. Today Kibera Mpira Mtaani has first student in our big best Nairobi University Kikuyu campus good job Mummy’s and daddy’s of KIMMTA.

Since March 2009, Anisa and Polly have been involved with Mpira Mtaani in a number of ways, they have frequently visited Kibera, teaching on Saturday mornings and bringing donations from various sources. They gave support to the Football Tournament, handing out medals etc and they hosted a party at The Banda School for 100 pupils who took their exams last year. However, in February this year, Polly and Anisa initiated a project which would benefit the whole community…

Our project was to build an Education Centre for the children of Mpira Mtaani. Thanks to a generous donation of £500 (56,839 Kenyan Shillings) from the Blandford Stour Rotary Club, we have been able to use the money to start a project that will benefit hundreds of children. After much discussion about how best to use the funds, we decided to buy a small plot of land in Kibera which could be built upon. Land is hard to find in the slum, but we managed to find a good area, which is close to the current classroom/library set-up. We then started our plans to build an Education Centre that would become a place where the children can always go to, a facility that Mpira Mtaani will own and be responsible for. We then worked hard to raise funds to pay for materials, labour and tools in order to start building on the land.

The project has been a huge success, the total amount of money we have raised is: 5,000 GBP = 645,315. KES. As well as our schools, many friends, family, parents and colleagues from England and Kenya have also generously donated money and resources. We have been overwhelmed by how much support and enthusiasm we have had from people we know and even people we do not know – it has been amazing!

The building was finally finished in August 2010 and since then, hundreds of very happy children have been using the facility for extra tuition, playing games, watching educational DVDs and simply a place to see their friends and feel safe. Vincent said that many children feel like it is ‘their second home’. The building is light and well-designed and consequently, it has proved to be a wonderful space for the children to use. The floor has been tiled and electricity has been put in. However, there are many occasions when they cannot rely on electricity and have to use kerosene lamps, 17 of which were donated by children at The Banda School.

On Sunday 3rd October we had our ‘Official Opening’. A group of parents, guests and visitors watched many of the children perform a variety of songs, poems and dances to celebrate the opening of the Centre. The volunteer teachers made a speech and we were all very moved by how grateful and positive the children were. It was very uplifting and extremely rewarding.

Many of the children who come to the Centre are from very underprivileged backgrounds or single parent families where education is not a priority, compared to having enough food and water. Mpira Mtaani provides free tuition and a place where the children can study in the evenings. Mpira Mtaani has made a difference to their lives and we will strive to continue to benefit many more children in the future.

We hope that this will be an on-going project as there are still many things we would like to be able to provide. For example, an outside seating area with shade netting for the community to use, guttering and a tank to provide the children with drinking water, more shelves and desks for the children to work at.

Finally, we would like to thank the parents and staff of The Banda School and Peponi School as well as our kind friends and family who have been so supportive with their time, money and donations.

With thanks,

Polly and Anisa