Educating 70+ children in Mathare Slum Kenya

Although we have not completely overthrown the shadow of Covid, life seems to have progressed to more or less normal times. Since the last report pupils have been partaking in target setting sessions. This first target/goal setting session was to assist the learners to set 'SMART' goals for their academic term. Target setting will allow them to track themselves academically and even boost their self-esteem and confidence. St Benedicts will be able, hopefully, to record better grades than previously achieved, and for individual pupils to extend themselves.

 

As part of our 'Lifeskills' program, adolescent girls are educated in menstrual hygiene. Each girl who regularly attends our SoH is given a sponsored pack of sanitary pads each month and also encouraged to empower themselves by not necessarily conforming to the expectation of their communities whereby they leave education and have children at an early age. 

Each School of Hope is trained on the making of reuseable sanitary towels, liquid soap making, shampoo, and disinfectant making to help achieve sustainable income for the SoH. 

ChallengeAid is currently looking into the possibility of producing fortified rice flour milk which can be used as a baby formula to sell into the community by the Schools of Hope to help generate income to assist them in achieving self-sustainability. We will report more on this in the future. 

Another new initiative which only commenced this weekend is to train the Science, Maths and English teachers who teach in the informal schools around St Benedicts which the pupils attend during the day to upskill them in their knowledge and teaching of those subjects. The pilot program was initiated by volunteer teachers in the UK leading a 4 hour inset in Physics for 60 teachers in Kibera and Mathare. Tips on motivating pupils and best revision techniques to achieve exam success were also discussed along with indepth knowledge on a number of Physics topics. The session will be followed up each weekend by the other subjects. The initial pilot project was such a success that the teachers have already requested another session later in the year.