We are happy to update you with news from the first term of 2019.
Athletics
This year we were fortunate enough to be able to participate in the zonal athletics competitions competing against nine other local schools.
Two of our pupils, John Kamondia and Beatrice qualified to the next level in the 5000 metre race.
Beatrice, who is 11 years old, amazed everyone by winning her race and beating the runner-up with a gap of 200 metres on the finishing line. Unfortunately, whilst competing in the sub-county level races she became sick in the last lap and went on to finish in 6th place. Despite the set-back Beatrice will still qualify to the next level.
We recognise that Beatrice has focus, perseverance and talent. We will do all that we can to ensure she reaches her full potential by helping her to maintain good health and become more self-confident.
Water Tank
We are so very grateful to have received £550 from the Rotary Club of Narberth and Whitland to purchase a 5,000 litre water tank.
We have now become self-sufficient having a permanent supply of drinking water and reserve water for the kitchen.
Pupils and staff maintain good water drinking/ hydration habits so they do not develop any unnecessary health issues as a result of dehydration or suffer from the illnesses associated with poor water storage.
We fitted three taps outside the pre-school classes so pupils have easy access to drinking water as well as a constant supply for hand-washing.
A big thank you to all those who made this possible.
Level ground for the playing field
Rebecca and Matt, two volunteers from the UK, are doing great work assisting teachers in class and on the playing field developing football and athletic skills.
Shocked by the state of our playing field, which these days rather resembles Mount Kenya as the incline has become quite steep, they decided to start a fundraising campaign in an effort to help us fund levelling of the field. Their JustGiving campaign did tremendously well and they exceeded their target raising £620.
During the recent school holidays we hired large machinery to level the soil. We dug deep trenches to prevent soil erosion and have plans to lay tarmac on the field in the not so distant future. Pupils will be thrilled when they return to school for Term 2 to find a playing field which will allow their game to improve.
Big thanks to Rebecca and Matt as this is a huge step forward for Roko 20.
Roko 20 depends on the generosity of people like you, to raise funds and give precious time to helping us improve.
We are indebted to our staff on the ground who, despite considerable challenges, are dedicated to making Roko 20 one of the best performing schools in the area giving pupils an opportunity to change their lives for the better.
Thank you all so very much!
Roko 20 is a community making a difference to those who are most in need and all of this could not be done without your amazing support. Thank you for helping us get this far.
2018 was, without a doubt, a turning point for Roko 20. This was due to the collaboration of two very special people, Benoit and Florence. A recent life changing decision brought them to Kenya to volunteer at Roko 20 in early 2018. During their time with us both were struck by our commitment and passion for the project, were in full support of Roko 20's Mission and Vision and were swept away by the resolve of our children. Notwithstanding this they recognised an urgent need for organisational advancement relating to management, communication and systems of administration.
Ben and Flo's decision to fully commit to Roko 20 came at the right time and we could not have been more delighted. This was the start of a collaboration which has already resulted in us having a clearer and more efficient organisation.
Their five-step plan of improvements starts with Item 1 simply called 'Organisation'. This item establishes how we operate, obtain our goals for future growth, defines our hierarchy with the school, indentifies each job, its function and where it reports to within the organisation and establishes school and disciplinary rules. Working closely with Job, Roko 20's Manager, the preparation of Item 1 has taken many months and involved intensive management communication training, staff consultations, workshops and extensive research. Implementation of Item 1 began 3rd January at the start of the new school term and the new Year. So far it has been a huge success.
We are about to commence preparation of our next item 2. This item will deal with Pedagogical rules and define, explain and control the official teaching program, extra-curricular lessons, teaching and examination methods. Items 3 and 4 will deal with Management of Teachers and Staff, define global HR policies and profiles, the assessment process and administrative processes. The final item 5 will deal with the role and interaction of volunteers.
Roko 20 has started its journey of improvement and things can only get better.
On Thursday, 24th January the United Nations and people around the world will be observing the first-ever International Day of Education. 265 million children and adolescents around the world do not have the opportunity to enter or complete school— we’re working to change that! Celebrate International Day of Education by supporting our work.
By simply spreading the word about what we do to encourage friends and family to sponsor a child you could help us to reach our target of having all our pupils sponsored to receive a full-time quality education.
Contact Tracey at roko20academy@gmail.com or visit http://roko20academy.weebly.com/how-you-can-help.html for further information.
Wishing you the very best from all of us at Roko 20 for a healthy, happy and successful 2019!
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Roko 20 Academy continues its mission to provide a quality education accessible to all, to transform the lives of the disadvantaged children within the community and to work with less fortunate families to make them self-sustainable. We are achieving all of that thanks to your continued support. Here's a short update on the past few months at Roko 20.
Classroom Construction
A special thanks to all who donated to our latest GlobalGiving fundraising campaign to build a new classroom for Class 5. Unfortunately we didn't reach our goal. Admittedly it was a high bar we set and the shortfall is close to £3,000. Plans are underway to host a fundraising Bingo event in the UK this November which we hope will bridge this gap. However if you would like to help us reach the target there's still time to donate on our Global Giving page.
Pupil Achievement
One of our stars shone particularly brightly last term when Nancy, one of our sponsored pupils, achieved second place for her year out of all the girls in the 12 schools in Gikundu Zone in the end of term two exams. We are very proud of her.
Welcome back!
At the beginning of last term we were pleased to welcome back, Job, our Manager. As he takes over the day-to-day operations at Roko 20 we are confident that we will no longer find ourselves in the difficult financial position we experienced earlier in the year.
We were overwhelmed by the responses received from our supporters to that call for help. Your generosity ensured that we were able to continue operating for quite a number of months.
Development
Roko 20 has recognised the need for a clearer and more efficient organisation and currently the management team is busy developing governance and operational policies to ensure the long term success of the school. Our first policy sets out the organisational structure to establish how we operate and assist in obtaining goals to allow for future growth. By January 2019 we will have everything in place.
Improving lives
A number of our pupils suffer from Jiggers, (Tunga penetrans or chigoe flea). This is a parasite insect that burrows itself under skin, particularly the feet, and if left untreated, can lead to secondary infections that can be fatal.
Jiggers burrow into the skin of animals like dogs, cats, rats, pigs, cattle and sheep, so people living in rural areas like ours are more likely to catch them. In addition they are found in the dust and on dirt floors of many homes and schools. Timothy faced these difficulties and many more.
Whilst we regularly treat a small number of pupils each day at school to keep jiggers from multiplying it is simply not enough.
We recently received enough funds from two sponsors to replace the dirt floor in Timothy's home with concrete. Donations of crocks and plastic shoes as pictured here, and provided by Narberth and Whitland Rotary Club, also helped. Jiggers are no longer a problem for Timothy and he is now painfree, healthy and happy.
Thanks to all concerned for enabling us to make a difference to this boy's health and future and for your continued support of Roko 20.
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We would like to sincerely thank all our sponsors for having such a caring and giving heart because without your financial support it would not be possible to continue the work we do at Roko 20 Academy.
An update on activities at Roko 20 Academy
Day Care Centre
In response to requests from our sponsored mothers we are pleased to announce the opening of our new Day Care Centre.
Following a recent instruction from the Ministry of Education preventing children younger than 4 in the classroom we decided that a Day Care Centre would enable us to help the younger siblings of our sponsored pupils to an early start in education as well as allowing the parent free time to search for work.
Always thinking of ways to become self-sustaining financially we opened up the Day Care to children of working parents who are looking for affordable child minding facilities.
Yvonne is 3 years old, the youngest in a family of 8 children. She used to be carried by her mother from village to village in search of casual work to feed her family. Now she is at the Roko 20 Day Care Centre with other young children enjoying games, making art, reading books and watching videos as we prepare her for formal schooling.
Parents Self Help Group
We are happy now to be fully supported by parents of our sponsored pupils as they continue to volunteer twice a month at school as a way of paying back for assisting their children. Its humbling to see everyone working together doing what they can for the sole purpose of providing pupils with a decent education. Their help goes a long way to lighten the load of our two cooks who have a lot of work preparing breakfast, breaktime snacks and lunch as well as cleaning the compound, classes and latrines.
To further help these parents become financially self-sustaining we have formed a Self-Help Group. This is a new group of mothers who meet at school every month to discuss ways of raising money for start-up businesses and projects. They are each regularly contributing a small amount towards a savings scheme.
Kind regards.
Tracey Neale-Ferreira
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We started the new term in January 2018 on a high! Never before have we had so many sponsored pupils. We are delighted because this is our mission being fulfilled. The 65 sponsored pupils now outnumber the fee paying students.
We are also rather thrilled to have had 3 fee paying pupils transferred from other local schools to Roko 20. We must be doing something right!
A school trip to Nairobi with a group of 84 pupils, 10 staff, 2 parents, 2 volunteers and 2 elderly ladies from our Elderly Ladies Group, was held at the start of this term. We visited Daphne Sheldrick’s Elephant Orphanage, which is the most successful orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation programme in the world, followed by a visit to Nairobi’s Mamba village famous for its Crocodile Farm. Everyone had a fabulous day.
Early this year we were delighted to have formed a link with Narberth Community Primary School in Wales and thanks to their children, staff and members of Narberth and Whitland Rotary Club we received a lot of flip flops, shoes and crocs in aid of the ‘Flip Flop Campaign’. The campaign helped to highlight a disease called jiggers which affects many of our pupils. Jiggers, or chigoe fleas, are sand fleas found in the rural areas that burrow into the skin and lay eggs. They cause swelling, itching and infection and if left untreated can lead to amputation and even death in the worst cases. The footwear helps to protect their feet from the fleas which multiply in the dust floors of their homes.
We are very grateful for the donation of 12 computers received at the end of last year. Volunteers from overseas are doing an excellent job bringing our pupils into the 21st century. Pupils starting from Class 1 are very eager to learn all about computers and it is their favourite lesson of the day.
Many of our new pupils are from the surrounding villages or the town of Murang’a, although this term we admitted a brother and sister from Nairobi. Their family were evicted from their home because they couldn’t meet the rent and so ended up living on the streets. Fortunately they knew someone from our area and moved to help out on a local farm living rent free in exchange for work. Despite the holes in the roof of their tiny two room mud brick house, and the dirty water they have to drink from the river, they feel they have landed on their feet. We accepted the two children from the family on the sponsorship programme and both have settled in really well, enjoying their new school.
As is usual before each rainy season, we assist each of the 40 members of our Elderly Ladies Group by donating a kilo each of maize seeds and beans. Last week the group visited the school and we had the pleasure of donating to each one of them. In addition we were able to donate some balls of wool for certain ladies to make their beautiful traditional kiondos (baskets). These are sold to visitors from abroad or in the UK and also helps to bring in an income for these ladies.
Our work at Roko 20 continues and we are all committed to providing our children with the best education and opportunities that we possibly can. Our pupils are thriving in our environment and are so happy to be at Roko 20 that you can find them running to school in the mornings as they are so eager to start the day. I am not exagerating. I heard one boy say that he wished there were no school holidays so he could be in school all the time.
On behalf of Roko 20 Academy I would like to say a big thank you to all of you for believing in us and continuing to support us.
Asante sana!
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