CoKF Interns Teach Life Skills at Kibra Academy

After spending just one month in Kibera, Jackie and I are ecstatic to have become CoKF's new interns. Upon visiting the organization when we arrived in late September, we were instantly impressed by CoKF's staff and connections to Red Rose and Kibra Academy. As recently graduated social work students from New York University, we felt we could utilize our skills working with the students at both schools. Fortunately, Kibra Academy and Red Rose Primary School immediately welcomed us as Life Skills teachers. We began teaching three weeks ago, using the standard syllabus but adding a flavor of our own. The students at Kibra Academy had already begun Life Skills courses, and we were excited to hear about the ideas that the students and teachers had already established for these classes. The staff at Kibra recognized that their students are experiencing the challenges of the average teenager, in addition to the challenges of living in Kibera. They also reconized the benefits for the students to have an outsider, not a teacher, with whom to facilitate the discussions and establish a form of trust. Jackie and I strongly believe in leading class with open discussions, confidentiality, respect, and honest questions, answers, and opinions. So far, we've covered self-awareness, self-esteem, and are approaching lessions on coping with emotions and stress.

The students completed their first project, which incorporated art with self-awareness. Each student was given a traced image of a human body and collage/art materials and instructed to fill in different parts of the body with cut outs, drawings, or words.

These images served to depict their dreams and motivations, people who are important figures in their lives, where they feel they come from, and their strengths and weaknesses. In covering self-esteem, we asked students to prepare a short skit informing us of ways in which self-esteem is raised or lowered. In between lessons, we have allowed free debates and discussions; so far, we've covered male and female gender roles and inequalities that still exist in an otherwise rapidly modernizing country.

We have been so impressed with the students thus far, as they have to much to articulate about the world they're experiencing. As most of you probably know, Kibera was the epicenter of political tension during the post election violence in the 2007, and our students witnessed the traumatic events first hand. Part of our purpose here is to provide them with a safe space to talk and debate about local and national issues, and to express their feelings about their community and ways to address these problems. Tribal tension, disease, lack of government support and services, hunger and poverty, and indecent education are are all the forefront of our students' minds, and we're excited to continue exploring their views.