Return 35 street-children from Kibera to school

Esau had fallen about three years behind his schoolmates academically but teacher Collins saw Esau’s determination to catch up and committed to walk the journey with him. Teacher Collins became his mentor and is working with him to set goals and problem solve. Since Esau joined the transition programme, he has made huge progress, he still has a lot of catching up to do but he has come out of his skin, made friends and grown in confidence.

In our last update we shared that we have adopted a new approach by running the Transition programme inside the school rather than in a separate centre. Overall, this has been a great success. Like Esau, the 21 new students have found their place in the school community with help from student buddies and mentor teachers.

We still have work to do to improve the remedial support for the students, finding ways to assess each child’s learning needs and condense the curriculum in a way that helps kids catch up faster are all big challenges. But we are learning and making progress each term.

Thank you so much for your support to enable children in Kibera to return to school and complete their education. 

We are so pleased to announce that the 'Return 35 street-children from Kibera to school' has now been fully funded. We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us to get this far.

Nancy lost both of her parents to HIV/AIDs and was sent to live with relatives. She was passed around different uncles and aunts, none of whom were able to send her to school. One of aunt's, Judy, noticed that whenever she went to visit one uncle she came home very depressed and withdrawn. Judy soon discovered that the uncle had been abusing Nancy and immediatly put a stop to it. She brought Nancy to Turning Point where she joined Transition Class and is now catching up on the studies that she has missed. In January 2015, she will be ready to rejoin formal education. For Nancy, the Turning Point centre is a place of safety, a place to belong, a place where she knows people care about her and will protect her.

Thank you all who have donated to support this Turning Point programme to keep running and growing to help more kids like Nancy. On their behalf, thank you.

Links:

• Our website

The new year has begun and Transition class is ready to admit new children, already new children are turning up, including some who were turned away last year because the Transition class was over-subscribed.

Mercy is one of these children who was waiting for the new school year to begin so that she could join the transition class. As she was welcomed to the class she reported that she had reached Standard Four in Primary School, however when she was asked her name and the spelling, she was unable to spell her name. When given a pen, she was barely able to hold it correctly to write. Teachers suspect that Mercy has some learning difficulties, unfortunately these are rarely picked up in local Primary schools and children are allowed to get far behind their fellow students.

In Transition class, Mercy will have the individual support she needs to catch up with the other children and teachers will do all they can to encourage her and restore her confidence. 2014 will be a year of great change for Mercy now she has new hope to return to school and get an education.

Thank you for your support for the Transition class, your contributions ensure that children like Mercy get the education that is their right.

Links:

• Our website

Mid-term is here and we are happy to report that the mid-term exams are in progress in our Transition Classes.

Exams in Kenya are an important part of the education system. Exams assist teachers to evaluate and monitor the children's progress academically. Throughout the term the teachers have been teaching a total of five compulsary subjects (Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Social Studies and Science) this is what the children get examined in.

This being the third and last term of the year, the kids have to prove themselves capable and ready to go to the locally available formal public school which they are expected to join next year. Both the teachers and pupils are positive that the results will be excellent.We at Turning Point are excited with the progress and growth being witnessed in these children's lives.

We are grateful for your continued support from the beginning of the year in keeping our Transition classes up and and running. We could not have succeded if it were not for your constant and continued support. God bless you and make your cups overflow.

We are very excited to report that the new transition class in Kianda has gained a new teacher, Caroline. The class was becoming too large for teacher Magdalene to provide quality care for every child so Caroline has stepped in to focus on the older children while Magdalene continues to teach the younger children.

This is a very exciting development because it means we can keep our doors open to kids from the streets who want to go school. We prepare them to return to school by catching them up on studies that they have missed, according to their age or according to the level of education that they have reached.

We welcome Caroline to the team and we say a huge thank you to our supporters who have enabled us to employ another teacher in order to keep growing the Transition class and keep reaching more children.