Batting AIDs out of Kenya with Cricket Without Boundaries....

Huge thanks  to "Cricket Without Boundaries” .. what a great job they are doing with their cricket coaching in Kenya.  In two days with us they will have taught cricket to over 500 kids in four schools.. in addition to training up a batch of over 20 very keen Maasai men and women. 

The energy and enthusiasm and great organisational skills  of their team has meant that the riotous fun of Pancake Day that started the week at Kimanjo Primary has just  continued to the week -end.

In addition to learning  a new sport the schools have been expertly, and highly imaginatively , taught about HIV/AIDS infection... the first time any educators have come with boxers and knickers for all teachers and older students  (boys and girls) .. boldly entitled  ‘Spread the Word Not the Infection.....‘   The girls were so amused there were tears of laughter. The ABC message was very clearly and creatively made. So how on earth does ‘C  is for Condom’ transfer to a cricket game? Ooh yes ... Condom = Protection =  protect your wicket- Inspired teaching!

Kids here are so quick to learn any new sport being fit, well coordinated and highly enthusiastic that it wouldn’t take long to get them playing a match. Cricket also allows the girls much more equality over the ubiquitous football that tends to dominate the school ‘field’ every break time. The trainee  coaches have enjoyed their sessions so much and the coaching has been so good that I am sure we will be able to get  some cricket clubs into operation this year.

                Both students and teachers are being motivated by the wonderful success of the local Maasai Cricket Warriors at Il Polei- due in no small part to Aliya Bauer their dedicated South African coach and coordinator. These ‘Warriors’ are currently having fun in Mombasa on cricket tour, as a prelude to  a tour to S Africa for The Last Man Stands  tournament. The Maasai Cricket Warriors’ also promote health messages against FGM and HIV and act as role models for their community: their own AIDS Awareness slogan is  "A BALL is my SPEAR and a BAT is my SHIELD in the FIGHT against A I D S"

                Sport is such a wonderful way to break down cultural divides and to act as a learning tool for other messages, and there are many great sporting initiatives throughout Africa. But without doubt Cricket Without Boundaries deserves to have all the recognition it can get, not just from dedicated cricketers, for the work they are doing in East and Southern Africa in schools and orphanages opening up a new sport, giving bat-loads of fun,  and an excellent  AIDS awareness message. Another  “Good news Africa” story then? We seem to have many of those this year.  After all- it is the energy and enthusiasm in the face of extreme adversity,  and the sense of community-that is the main reason for us choosing to be mzungus in Kenya ... and good sportsmen everywhere know a good deal about these qualities. 

                On tour with Cricket Without Boundaries is plenty of hard work in some fairly basic conditions... but this team  are at least able to enjoy a little bit of luxury and a chance to recharge their batteries at The Sanctuary at Ol lentille for a couple of nights.  Richly deserved!

Pancake Day Maasai style- Making friends across the world!

Give a child (or adult) of any age one pan, one pancake, and tell them to get tossing.... and defy them not to have riotous fun....

We certainly had an afternoon to remember at Kimanjo Primary School to celebrate Pancake Day. Our noble chefs Rebecca, Chris, Paulina and Rose cooked 620 pancakes.. enough for all children and staff with quite a few left over for the tossing competition... 

Enormous thanks to all our friends at Leamore Primary School in Birmingham who raised the money for all students here  to be able to have a very good   lunch... ...followed by pancakes for all. Leamore raised the money through their ‘pancake  and chapatti cafe’, which  gave all Leamore pupils a good deal of fun too... and thanks also to their own noble cooks...

Leamore are part of our Become a Friend network of schools who partner with Primary and nursery schools here.. always looking for creative and fun ways to make links. Food of course is near to everyone’s heart  and this was a great idea from Leamore to make an educational, fun sharing experience. Pupils here all know about Lent from their Religious Education lessons, but the idea of Pancakes and Mardi Gras was a new one. In addition Leamore pupils learnt how to make Kenyan chapattis.

 We began this learning experience two weeks ago with a  cooking session for the teachers and  senior pupils.. we made chapattis (Kenyan style )and sent the recipe and videos  to our Leamore friends, see   and pancakes (English style) following the Leamore recipe ...as an added bonus Leamore school got to see us taking photos and videos on their ‘old’ Leamore video cameras.. and we have been able to   display these on the  ‘old’ Leamore laptops for the Kimanjo pupils and teachers to view. 

 Become a Friend aims to  expose children to different cultures whilst focusing our learning on healthcare and conservation messages: but always remembering  that learning can be made as fun as possible.

Elephant Poaching- Stop the Ivory Market!!

It was a very sad day last week when a lone young male elephant was killed by poachers nearby.

The market price of ivory is at an all time high of over $700 per pound in China and Vietnam, the demand being fueled by the newly rich middle classes desiring ivory carvings. Kenya’s elephant population is estimated at between 32,000 and 35,000, but estimates for Africa remain vague  - between 400,000- 650,000. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) considers that as many as 100 elephants a day are being slaughtered across Africa - even if this number is exaggerated the problem is still massive.

Kenya banned hunting in 1977 and banned the selling of ivory, symbolically burning all its old ivory stock in 1989 and again last year, but the problem of poaching in neighbouring Tanzania where ‘controlled’ hunting is still legal is far greater, and it is from Tanzania and Zambia that most of the illegal ivory is shipped.

Until all ivory trading, legal and illegal, is stopped, there will continue to be an incentive for the poorest Africans to risk their lives shooting elephants to fuel  demand.  Priority now is to convince the older Chinese that they no longer want to buy ivory. Engaging constructively with Chinese people, who currently number over a million resident in Africa, with numbers fast rising, is clearly key.

Back to the dead elephant. The tracker dogs (bloodhounds) did a first class job of tracking the Samburu poachers to a distant village, but from here they are able to melt away. Even when this investigation is concluded and if they are apprehended, so long as there is a market and an order, there will be other poverty stricken Maasai and Samburu warriors ready to take their chances for the few dollars they can receive for two tusks. This time our Rangers were able to drive off the poachers and recover the tusks. These were passed to the Kenya Wildlife Service with a good deal of formal paper-work. They are then indelibly tattooed - taking them forever out of the market place.

So the radio network gets busy as security is increased across the whole area and the location of all herds and lone individual elephants is monitored ever more closely.

Meanwhile we treated this as a learning opportunity for all the local schools: environmental clubs and teachers from Ngabolo and Kimanjo Primary plus all the Kimanjo secondary students came to look at the now putrid carcass.  Vultures, tawny eagles, martial eagles and ravens are fast assisting the hyenas and jackals to dismember the carcass carcass. These Maasai kids have all been brought up to live alongside elephants. Despite their daily life being made hazardous by elephants they all value them as part of their landscape and heritage and they know that shooting elephants is not only illegal and dangerous but morally very out of kilter with their culture. They are taken back to school to consider how they can help to ensure the survival of elephants for their own children. 

Secondary Students on Safari

Only by stopping the market will these tusks be totally saved

Quantity or Quality for Maasai and Samburu Education - can both be achieved?

I remember breathing a heavy sigh in our first year here when I realised the community wanted a new school... and I had thought we had our hands full supporting the existing government Primaries to improve their standards.  Did they  really NEED a new school? In the first year of opening 180 pupils had registered in the new Ngabolo Primary and 5 years on there are 400 pupils. Presumably Ngabolo has met a need for those 400 kids. Certainly some of these pupils have transferred from other schools, but the numbers in those schools have remained fairly constant with a slight growth.  Fair to say that the majority of pupils would not have been accessing education without Ngabolo Primary.  Last year we realised we had to begin again - by registering Nkiloriti Primary, for pupils unable to travel the distance to Ngabolo. Thankfully  (for our budget at least) this will be a less meteoric  rise in pupil numbers as the community there is smaller. At the same time we realised that we had now to build and finance the beginning of a cheap Day Secondary School...or else many of the Primary graduates would be left hanging: in the first year Kimanjo Secondary took in 29  of the poorest students... but this year it is prepared for 50...It is fair to say that NONE of these students would have gone on to secondary education without this new school.

2012 begins with our campaign to get more bottoms on seats; particularly in the samburu communities who currently do not access education as well as the Laikipiak Maasai. We have monitored the dropout in the Samburu nurseries, affecting the girls primarily, who do not proceed  to  Class One in equal numbers to boys. We are assisted in this campaign by the education department’s new and sensible 2012 campaign to stop children being held back  to repeat classes to raise their tests scores, as has traditionally been the case,  . That policy inevitably led to a high drop- out rate, especially for adolescent girls found to be in classes with much younger pupils. Crunch time: This focus on more kids starting school and on preventing drop-outs along the way will inevitably put more pressure on school quality.

What to do? Of necessity to continue to take a holistic approach to education. In order to get bottoms on seats the usual ‘incentives’ are offered.. uniforms is a major incentive here- as are footballs ! But the main way is (of course?!) education... educating families to see the value of education through the local Chiefs  and  Head-teachers, and through our Liaison Officers  and Health Workers (for education means better healthcare access) visiting each manyatta in turn.  And this intervention is virtually free (... can breathe a sigh of relief on that one then)... but how to keep up the quality of this education when government funds remain so small?  No magic solutions. Every community across the developing world is different, there is no one size fits all approach. Even here we have to monitor the differences carefully between the Maasai and  Samburu ranches and we must continue to rigorously collate data. The  solution paying the greatest dividends so far, is to identify our strongest and most dedicated Teaching Assistants to send for Teacher Training, is paying dividends. Whilst the training itself is affordable, we do, then have to pay larger salaries for them on their return, making a hefty increase to our ongoing teacher salary budget.  A constant classroom building programme is also essential, and very expensive.  Quality education needs classrooms of a reasonable standard. A water programme is also essential. School feeding is an important human right but our (admittedly very patchy) data does not show us that it adds significantly to attendance or test scores. Textbooks, electricity, computers,  desks, and resources are also important but  not as significant as other interventions.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the most significant factor for improving schools, after improving teacher numbers and teacher training is to have good Head teachers. The best of the Head teachers that we work with would compete very well with the best Head teachers anywhere in the Developed  world- and what Head teachers in the developed world  would work so enthusiastically for  a 14 week term, beginning at 7.30am, with no mid-term break living in remote and very basic conditions where you are lucky to get one bucket of water per day?  They have a huge management role, with no secretarial  or bursary assistance,  in addition to a heavy teaching commitment, and they work on a daily basis with illiterate parents to encourage, reassure, and assist them in getting their children to perform well.  Kenya, taking too much from its former Colonial Master , the UK, is assessment driven -still valuing test scores above all. But all the great Head teacher that we have the privilege to work with put as much focus on school ethos, pupils with Special Needs, individual student counselling, sport, school feeding, dance and drama and after school activities as they do on academic work. We are very privileged to work with them. It is these dedicated Head teachers who will have a bigger impact on raising quality in Kenyan education than any other single intervention we can make. 

Its never to young for a school uniform.. or a school book... the simpler                   interventions! Christmas Day Party for Nkiloriti Nursery children!

Fmeale genital mutilation-Towards an end to the Cloak and Dagger ?

The Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) education campaign progressed remarkably smoothly in Laikipia North this year, now in its third year the 28 established NHP Health Workers and their support team , led by NHP Nurse Rose, are now proving to be a self motivated and highly efficient team –Rose’s smile and calmness have maintained a positive effect on the whole community, deflecting the fiery exchanges seen in our first year.

The new Bill outlawing FGM, passed on September 7th, has helped this campaign dramatically. The Bill, proposed by Mt Elgon MP Fred Kapondi back in 2010, provides that a person convicted of carrying out FGM will face seven years in jail or a half million shilling fine; causing death via FGM can result in life imprisonment. Aiding and abetting FGM also carries heavy penalties. Three years ago it was difficult to get local politicians to support the campaign to, at the least, delay female circumcision, since they were not sure on which side votes lay; but the new law has made things clear for all. We have been fortunate that the local Chiefs have taken a very positive and forward thinking stand, ensuring that progress over the last three years has been fast. Traditionally, as soon as a girl has been circumcised she is pronounced ‘ready’ for marriage, leading to the end of her education. But in many cases the Chiefs have actively insisted that girls not be taken out of Primary school and have also assisted them in registering themselves in school, where local teachers have identified girls being kept at home.

Our campaign in Isiolo is in its first year, with a brand new team of highly enthusiastic Health Workers. Here many lessons have to be learned concerning logistics- particularly as we are currently drowning under a sea of mud, wiping out roads on a daily basis.And never underestimate the infinite time required for Kenyan politics ! No one can focus on education until the all important decisions of how many ‘lunch’ goats to be assigned to each village has been settled. Perhaps such precise allocation decisions have more priority in the Samburu community than in the Masai community where NHP was formerly based. We still have the biggest Baraza (meeting) tomorrow, and rains permitting, we will meet our last year total of over 2,000 attendees.

The team are promoting an alternative public ‘Blessing’ for the girls as their Coming of Age ceremony- rather than the Cloak and Dagger (..literally) ceremony that has been taking place behind closed doors for so many years. Since the average age for circumcision is puberty this has meant few girls accessing secondary education.

The health problems begin with the infections and heavy bleeding caused by the non-sterile and unprofessional operation, proceed via the hazards of early pregnancies, for girls who often have several more years of growing and are already poorly nourished ; through to large areas of scar tissue causing horrific and often life threatening tears and haemorrhaging during birth. In addition mothers will starve themselves during pregnancy, even when food is plentiful, in order to limit the size of their baby to limit the danger and pain of a healthy birth weight baby.

I cannot say that I am taken in by the argument given against the cut by many men and women, at every baraza that the lack of sexual satisfaction obtained by the women causes more female 'promiscuity' or as generally translated from the Maasai 'prostitution', but I guess I am not one to be able judge this question.

Whilst meetings can be highly charged, and to some it is still seen as a controversial and emotive topic; if each year another cohort of young girls is given the choice to delay the cut until after secondary schooling that has got be a good thing for Kenyan development.. and Kenyan politics.

Girl's Education.. Family Planning Choices.. and Fertility Rates...

On Tuesday,leaders from around the world meet in Senegal for the International Conference on Family Planning. As the population in Kenya has soared in the past 30 years by two and a half times, with an average growth of 3 percent per annum, this topic needs to be top of kenya’s development agenda.

The current Kenyan population level is 41 million, up from 21 million in 1989. There is no greater challenge to development, as over-population tends to nullify economic progress. With the advent of Free Primary Schooling in 2003, kenya did a great job of getting Bottoms On Seats. Access to education has improved enormously, but as population levels rise the GOK and donor governments have been unable to meet the required funding, particularly in the poorest rural areas where fertility rates remain highest. In schools we work with, if we removed our teaching support, class sizes would rise in some cases to 120 pupils to one teacher. Education for sure: but based on Quantity not Quality.

There is a clear correlation between levels of female education and female fertility rates. Education leads to delay of marriage, to increased knowledge about contraceptive choices, to greater economic choices for women, to increased autonomy in women’s decision making and to greater communication within marriage: all of these assisting in access to Family Planning and increased exercise of choice. As effective FP choices increase so greater education is required. With the advent of three year Implants, choices increase in both number and complexity.

It is inevitably the economic cost of education, versus its perceived benefits that will be the prime determinants of parents sending kids to school in the poorer rural areas. When the drought of 2009 in the Ol Lentille Community killed over three quarters of domestic livestock, not only did the schools see a large increase in enrollment of younger children, but also many Morans, who would formally have been out herding, entered primary school for the first time.

Seven or more years in school cuts fertility rates in half; but it is years in Secondary Education which has the greatest reduction in fertility rate for girls and the greatest delay in marriage. Educating mothers decreases child mortality and leads to healthier infants.Access to Family Planning is a basic Human Right which cannot be seen in isolation from those other basic Human Right- Female Education and the Right to Health Care.

Pictured are the Nabakisho Health Care nurses in action at a mobile clinic at Rumate where FP choices are discussed... levels of understanding of their full range of FP choices will remain hazy for many of these women who have no education.

Amazing Maasai Ultra Marathon ....2012

Entries opened today for the 2012 check it out and come and support Girls Education in Laikipia! Runners, volunteers and sponsors all needed!

The inspiration and support for the 2010 Kimanjo Community Marathon.. with the whole community running in support of the new Kimanjo Secondary school.. introduced Molly Fitzpatrick to the Group Ranch Community as the only ‘International’ runner.. (...we were expecting a Chinese girl... but found Molly to be most definitely American... at the time resident in China..) also Molly was the only ‘woman’ to complete the 42K!....as a result of this Molly bravely set up the Amazing Maasai Ultra Marathon 2011... in aid of girls secondary school sponsorships. 15 girls from community Primary schools will receive four years of secondary Boarding full bursaries from this achievement!
Race Director Solomon is pictured below with fellow Ol-Lentille work colleague and marathon running partner, Johnson.

As the first Kenyan Ultra Marathon the 2012 race should really fill a gap in the market and it will be great to introduce more of the Maasai community to these longer distances.. see last year’s winner below... Il Motiok school boy David Simpiri, many miles ahead of the rest of the field... he finished 75K without breaking a sweat...

Musul Group Ranch member Sapuk Safiri is here celebrating his 42K win.. Sapuk is a very useful Kenyan marathon runner and a popular local winner.

Female Genital Mutilation -moving away from The Cut

This is a busy week for the NHP team at Lentille. Prior to the December circumcision season they are organising as many 'barazas' as they can cope with.

A Baraza is a big community meeting, under a tree, with Chiefs, Community Leaders, men, women and youth.. and much food to be consumed! The subject of discussion is alternatives to female circumcision.. last year over 2,000 people attended these meetings.. as we extend now into Isiolo District this number is expected to rise. This week 3 barazas will be organised in an attempt to keep girls in school in January- and prevent the medical horrors of The Cut which leads to so many child- birth problems. Traditionally, as soon as girls are circumcised they are taken out of school to be married -and childbirth quickly follows. Since the traditional age here for circumcision is puberty (13 years) the medical complications for these young girls giving birth when they are still growing rises further. Often the girls starve themselves during pregnancy in the hope of giving birth to a smaller baby... not a healthy state of affairs for mother or child.

However tradition is changing very fast and in the two years we have been running these barazas we have seen a huge sea-shift in the attitudes to girl-child education and a far greater understanding of the dangers of circumcision. Increasing numbers of girls are now being allowed to delay circumcision until completion of secondary school when they can themselves make an informed choice. Health care here is tied directly to education- with the buiding of the new classes at Kimanjo Secondary school parents and daughters can see a real economically viable alternative to marriage. By incorporating the new government secondary Principal, and the Primary head-teachers, into these barazas we try to join up the education/health-care work.

This year we are also trying to positively incorporate the female circumcisors into health care work by offering them incentives to become agents of referral in bringing pregnant Mums-to -be, to the clinic... so they no longer need the added revenue stream of conducting circumcisions. We look forward to following up this post on how lively these barazas are this week! Change will not come without contoversy for sure!