Green Education Center for Kenyan Street Children

For the past few years we have had the opportunity to partner with students and faculty in the Master of International Affairs program at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).  During this period we have benefited from the great work of students and faculty in the program, as they have repeatedly traveled to Machakos to conduct interviews and surveys aimed at providing impact assessments of various aspects of our programs.  Their work has been a vital resource as we continue to grow our services and refine our approaches to educating and rehabilitating students.

This year the SIPA team performed the first ever outside evaluation of Jitegemee's Formal Schooling Program.  The team conducted a comprehensive impact assessment of the program, with an emphasis on health and social outcomes for participating primary school students and their families.  The initial findings of the evaluation were very encouraging:

"We found that the Formal Schooling Program leads to both positive overall health and social outcomes. One of the major contributing factors to improving students’ health is the feeding program, which provides free lunch on a daily basis during the week. In addition, regular check-ups from the Jitegemee doctor and access to medication have had a large impact on both students and their families. With regard to social outcomes, we concluded how Jitegemee’s financial support – especially in terms of providing uniforms and shoes - has helped the students to feel like they belong among their peers, allowing them to focus more on their studies and less on social stresses. The financial support has also had a major impact on families, enabling parents to put the money they save toward other household expenses, as well as to better outfit the students’ siblings for school.

We also found additional positive financial, educational, health and interpersonal relationship outcomes based on the four areas of impact that we identified during Phase II, and determined that Jitegemee’s impact on relationships was the area where there was the most room for improvement."

We are sincerely grateful to the SIPA students and faculty for all of their hard work.  Their recommendations for improvement will help guide us as we continue to build a better Jitegemee for our students.  When you get a chance, please read the attached report in full.

Thank you for your continued support of Jitegemee!

• SIPA 2011 Final Report (PDF)
  

Read below for the latest on the ground update from our intern, Calum.  He's been doing some great work with the students at Jitegemee.  Also, consider donating to help support the completion of the new "green" educational center on March 16th, via GlobalGiving.  GlobalGiving will be matching all donations at 30% on this day, so your contribution will go even further!  Thank you for all your support thus far.

After my hottest week in Machakos, it rained. Really rained. It started Sunday afternoon and it actually only stopped raining earlier today. Now there is heavy mud everywhere, or “ndaka” in Kikamba, which a man in the matatu told me I had collected lots of on my shoes .

Unfortunately the rain has come several weeks too late to save the crops. But a few weeks ago my family was able to harvest a massive sack of beans and some thumb-sized bananas from their shamba farm. Many of Jitegemee’s families are hit hard by the increasingly unpredictable rains so it was a good time to talk about protecting the environment with the students.

Two Saturdays ago, all of the primary school students came to the center. We talked about what the term environment means, the interdependent nature of ecosystems, and why it’s important to protect it. I tried hard to make it relevant to their lives. Not just “recycle used peanut butter jars and decorate them for fun” as my Google search had suggested. I wanted the students to understand that pollution and dwindling natural resources pose a serious threat for our generation. If we throw our litter on the ground, livestock/a small child could mistake it for food and choke on it. We could further pollute the water. Climate change affects the rains. We will eventually run out of fossil fuels.

With Jitegemee about to start the construction of a new, “green” center, we wanted the students to understand that it doesn’t mean it will be painted that color, as one primary school student suggested. The new building will have solar panels for electricity, a solar hot water heater for cooking, toilets that use little/no water, a roof designed to collect water, and a large shamba.

I organized 3 activities: an environmental scavenger hunt, the “taka taka challenge!” (just a rubbish pickup), and some typing and drawing activities on the computers. The kids excitedly ran around the center looking for the different things I had asked for. One group even found a turkey, which I didn’t think lived in Kenya, let alone Jitegemee’s grounds.

-Calum

Links:

• Jitegemee Official Site