Street Children

Street Children
by Sharon Khatondi

They sleep in the streets
with nothing to eat.
They beg for money
to fill their tummy.
With the money they buy glue
and sniff it till their nose turns blue.
Reach out a helping hand to the street children.

They search in the bin
from bottle to tin.
But some use their head
and with that money they buy bread
Reach out a helping hand to the street children.

Making New (Pen) Pals!

The Red Rose middle school students are now engaged in a pen pal exchange with the Hickman Charter School outside San Francisco, CA and PS 86 in Kingsbridge Heights, Bronx. The students are eager to learn about student life in the US, and our American friends seem equally as eager to exchange information with the Red Rose kids. There are vast differences between primary school life in the states and here in Kenya, and we're excited to see the kids gain valuable information about their brothers and sisters abroad.

Inspirational Library

Thanks to former CoKF intern, Jacqueline Espana, we now have a small but blossoming "Inspirational Library" dedicated to the high school scholars. We've collected books like Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, Infidel, Mountains Beyond Mountains, and 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa to challenge our students and keep them engaged in real-world stories and issues during their school breaks. The stories that these books tell are incredibly important for all of us, but especially for young people, who are still forming ideas of how they'd like to make change in the world.

If you have any books lying around and you feel they'd be a valuable addition to our small collection, feel free to contact Joscelyn (jostruitt@gmail.com) and we'll figure out a way for you to get your books over here.

700 Books

Last week the 700th book was checked into the new Red Rose middle school campus library. Over the past two months, books have been collected, donated, organized, and then shelved to provide class 4, 5, and 6 their own collection of stories.

Ranging from textbooks to novels, from magazines to children's books, the library covers a wide range of topics. Although at first the most popular were short stories like Berenstain Bears, the students have been encouraged to challenge their minds and pick up chapter books, with the most popular being the Magic Tree House series and The Chronicles of Narnia.

With the new library comes a new vocabulary. During library orientation, students are introduced to words like 'autobiography', 'fiction', and 'reference' for the first time. Students are also taught how to properly treat a book, and are informed about the 'check out' process. Many students have also taken to picking up a book and reading during their breaks- yet another sign of the Red Rose students' desire for learning.

Thanks to all of our friends who helped make this a library, especially Hadley and Lillian Pierce!

Music Festival Success!

For the past year, the Children of Kibera Foundation has been hard at work planning the second annual Kibera Music Festival that took place this past Friday and Saturday. With thirteen secondary schools participating, ten local organizations tabling, over 300 in attendance on Friday and 500 on Saturday, the festival was deemed a success.

The music festival was the last chapter of the End the Violence against Children at Home and at School campaign. Secondary schools were invited to perform acts related to the festival's theme in four different categories: Drama, Song and Dance, Solo Verse and Choral Verse. All thirteen schools participating were rewarded with donated books and vouchers, as well as certificates of participation. Winners in each category were also given additional vouchers and trophies.Besides the students, many local artists and organizations came out to preform, including the Kibera Preforming Arts, JackyZebraz and the Conquerors. Even a group of Red Rose students preformed a traditional dance and a choreography to 'Waka Waka'. Groups were also invited to pass out information about their organizations. Carolina for Kibera, another NGO, conducted HIV testing for free!
All entries to the poster contest held in August were hung up, adding an art portion to the festival.