CoKF Scholars Attend the 2012 Kenya Gender Festival!

CoKF Scholars

Inspired and modeled on the bi-annual Tanzania Festival that has been taking place since the early 90s, the Kenya Gender festival has now taken root in Kenya. A section of the Children of Kibera Foundation scholars had the honor of attending the third edition of the Kenya Gender festival! 

CoKF believes that holistic development of the Students is imperative and therefore encourages exposure to various positive centric environments that will elevate the growth and development of the students. The gender festival is very vital as it illuminates and counters the various gender issues emergent and calls for gender parity and gender mainstreaming whereby there is provision of equal opportunities and resources for all. This was an event CoKF couldn’t afford to miss out on!
As the country heads towards the 2013 general elections, the Gender Festival 2012 looked into issues of actual implementation of Constitutional provisions for gender parity in exercising leadership.
The focus was to mobilize support and strong advocacy campaigns for enhanced women's participation in leadership spaces through electoral and other processes as provided for by the Constitution of Kenya, taking advantage of the 2013 general elections. So this year, the main objective of the Gender Festival was “to strengthen women’s movements in their pursuit of creating a conducive environment enabling them to access their rights to participation in leadership, peace building processes and access to gender justice.”
The festival had amazing plenary speakers in attendance, amongst them were Ms. Atsango Chesoni, the Executive director of Kenya  Human Rights Commission(KHRC),Wangu Kanja of Wangu Kanja Foundation, Ms. June Ashioya of FIDA Kenya and Emmah Nungari of ACORD International. Some of the topics covered included; Women representation and decision making, Peace & Reconciliation and Women’s access to and Ownership of Land and other property.
At the end of the session, the scholars got the opportunity to personally meet Ms. Atsango Chesoni who other than being the Executive director of KHCR,has extensive experience on gender issues and very passionate about gender empowerment. They got a chance to talk with her and many of the other speakers who were more than happy to share their experiences.

KHRC Executive Director,Atsango Chesoni with CoKF Team and Scholars

The festival ended with a lot of great performances, dance and a scrumptious lunch!
“My best part was learning the history of land ownership, the customary land tenure systems and the distribution of land amongst gender. I would say this event was very insightful and I am looking forward to the Kenya Gender Festival 2013.”-Linet

Celebrating Five Years of Integrity, Vision and Excellence.

The evening was breathtakingly beautiful; the ambiance just right and full of promise for this special event. So much preparation had gone in for this special day; the music, the food, the drinks… All was set for the celebration of Children of Kibera Foundation’s 5^th anniversary.

 Guests arrived. Ladies looking stunning in their dresses and the men looking dashing in their suits and African attires. We would have loved it if all our donors, partners, friends and supporters from all over the world could have joined us but wherever they were, we knew that they also share in the joy of that special evening. We had so many guests that came to embrace and celebrate the success and accomplishments of CoKF for the last 5years.Amongst them we had our scholarship beneficiaries, teachers, parents, friends and various supporters.
The celebrations officially started with an electrifying performance by Kayamba Africa that got everyone dancing gracefully all round the room. This was then followed by deep reflections of just how much CoKF has achieved with great help from our donors, partners and friends. Through them, CoKF has been able to touch and greatly change the lives of so many children in Kibera. It has offered them something so beautiful, it has offered them hope. Hope that they can achieve anything they set their minds to and that they can achieve their dreams. It has indeed been a fruitful and tremendous journey. We have even seen the very first group of students to join High school program now join University.
We had some of our scholars, friends and supporters express their sentiments and talk about their journey and experience with CoKF.   

“Four years ago, I never had the dream of going to a good high school but today I see my dreams of joining Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) almost coming true. Thanks to CoKF” – Attellah

 CoKF is full of gratitude and largely at awe to all who have come with us this far. Our dream is to continue to give this beautiful gift of education to many more children and touch more lives.
It was an evening full of laughter, dance, deep reflections and even greater plans for next year. We are grateful and highly appreciate the efforts of everyone who has made it possible for Children of Kibera Foundation to come this far.

 

Men getting down to business

A section of our scholars and a friend of CoKF

 

It is an honor working with you

A Getaway to Relax and Strategize.

After four years of commitment, focus and successful completion of high school education, our high school scholars- class of 2012, had the opportunity to spend two days at a getaway camp to unwind and strategize for their next stage in life.

At exactly 10 am, a group of 11 scholars and three CoKF staff left Nairobi for Lukenya Getaway. This trip was organized to give this group of extremely motivated youth from Kibera a chance to unwind after a month long end of high school examination exercise in a relaxing, quiet environment away from home.

Swimming was the first activity in the program of activities; the group enjoyed a quiet pool under the clear skies of Ukambani plains. After two hours of ‘free styling and breast stroking’ the team took a five minutes drive to the summit of the campsite where a sumptuous lunch of chicken, vegetables and ugali was beckoning. After lunch was free time. Some slept while another group went for a nature walk.

In the evening everyone gathered and pulled African armchairs to watch the orange fireball sink. As a surprise, just before super was served, our Executive Director showed up at around 9 O’clock with a big cake in hand. At a round table, each scholar had the chance to share his/her experiences in high school and as a CoKF scholar. Ken took this opportunity to congratulate the scholars and got them thinking of the limitless opportunities that lay in front of them. 

“Let not our investment in you go to waste, stay focused, keep off bad company, don’t do drugs”- Ken Okoth

The conversations was followed by a huge feast, a whole goat was there to be eaten, grilled and stewed. And as a mark of accomplishment everyone had a piece of the cake. As Ken drove into the pitch dark woods back to Nairobi, the volume of the stereo was cranked up. Some only danced for an hour and left for their tents to retire for the night while some danced till the small hours of the morning.

As we drove back to Nairobi the next day, everyone seemed re-energized and ready to tackle their next stages in life: preparation for SAT, community service, upcountry journeys… we wish our class of 2012 scholars all the best in their endeavors.

"Were it not for the CoKF scholarship, some of us would not have attended high school"-Apollo Hospital Hill High School

Children of Kibera Foundation would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone who in one way or another contributed and enable this group attain high school education. 

 To enable us see more children through high school, please make a generous gift here

Sisters in swimsuits

Serene camp site

This is NYU library

Class of 2012 scholars

Graduation, Prize Giving, Thanks Giving Ceremony at Red Rose School.

Wednesday the 21^st of November saw Red Rose School hold a ‘three-in-one’ ceremony. 24 children graduated from kindergarten and are set to join first grade in January 2013, on the same day a thanks giving ceremony was held for the 16 pioneer eighth grade students set to sit their national exams (KCPE) early December, their ticket into high school education. Academic and extracurricular excellence was also rewarded.

 With the District Education Officer and other community leaders in attendance, the program begun at 10:30 am. To set the mood right, brilliant and thrilling performances from each class were showcased, this was followed by awarding of top performers in the academic and extracurricular activities. Top three pupils in each class received books, pens and other gifts from the school management.

The awarding ceremony was followed by the graduation ceremony of the 24 kindergarten pupils from Red Rose School. Neatly lined up and looking spectacular in their silky navy blue gowns, the sense of accomplishment and pride could not be hidden in their faces. With cheers from the other students and their parents urging them on, the procession and awarding of certificates was truly inspiring. If only you could see each student step forward to receive a certificate and a symbolic solar lamp; all these with their parents beside them under a flood of cameras flashes.

“It’s amazing how my girl has grown up fast!”- A parent (overheard)

The journey through primary school for a child from Kibera is often long and full of uncertainties. Coming from a challenge filled background, dropping out of school is a usual issue for this kind of children. However, the Red Rose family had something to smile about. Being a registered examination center, the school is set to have its first ever candidates sit national exams from December 4^th-7^th. This is the exam that determines their high school entry.  We wish all our 16 candidates the best.
The ceremony was concluded with speeches from: our Executive Director-Ken Okoth, Cooperative Bank, Kibera branch Manager-Mr. Evans Agina and the District Education Officer-Madam Ann Shiundu. With the importance of, and investing in education being the overlying message.

“We have to invest in our children’s education for
they are the ones who will be running our economy some years to come”-

Madam Ann Shiundu District Education Officer
 

Red Rose School Class of 2012

You can proceed to the next class

All the best in your national examinations

Congratulations for the brilliant performance

looking fabulous

we are proud of our achievements

Solar Lanterns for Kindergarten Graduates As a Symbol of Hope

CoKF attended a string of kindergarten graduation ceremonies over the past two weeks. This is a decisive and arguably the most important step in the lives of these children. This is their gateway into primary school education and subsequently into secondary schools and even university.
Still, the number of students from Kibera graduating from universities is very low from. As a symbol of hope and accomplishment, CoKF gave out 80  solar lanterns, one to each child.

A part from symbolically lighting their academic futures, the solar lanterns also offer these children a free, clean efficient way of studying at home. The solar lanterns thus replace the dim dangerous and kerosene polluting lamps.

We at Children of Kibera Foundation would like to see this lot have more amazing graduation experiences in coming years--- high school, university or college, and even graduate school.

This solar lantern project would not be possible without our partners: LitWorld and the LitProject who enable us give out the lamps free or at a subsidized cost. 

Let the solar lanterns brighten your futures-

Madam Anne Shiundu D.E.O Langata.

To help us brighten more households, make a generous donation by clicking here.

Class of 2012

Brightening futures

Shinning bright

Celebrations are in order