In July 2010, knowing very little about Jitegemee, outside of a general notion of what it was and that it was being led by someone I look up to and respect, I endeavored to help raise funds to build a new education center for kids in a town far far away, with a name that I could barely pronounce. That July, with the help of many of you and some very generous matching donors, we raised over $60,000 for the new school, putting us more than a quarter of the way toward our ultimate $200,000 goal. A couple months later, still never having been to visit the actual program, talk with the kids, or meet the staff, I was asked to join the board of the organization. Honored to receive this invitation, I immediately accepted. At that point, the next big item on my life agenda became to make the journey to Machakos to visit the program in person. This past August, almost a year after being asked to join the board, I was able to make the trip.

Before boarding the bus in DC to make it to JFK airport I purchased a small notebook to capture my thoughts as I traveled. The very first line in the notebook, written as I was about to land at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport reads, “7 minutes from landing, still no idea what to expect…”

With that frame of mind, I passed through customs and met up with Farah, a familiar face in uncertain surroundings. She escorted me to a car driven by Captain Amos (Amos, by the way, is the best there is – if you ever make the trip to Kenya, I have his contact information), and we were off to Machakos—marking the beginning of the experience of a lifetime.

Jitegemee students and me having fun with the camera.

Over the next ten days, I would be shuttled between five different cities, experiencing everything from sitting in on community planning meetings for the new education center and meeting the architect Musau Kimeu; to sleeping in a bunk bed underneath a mosquito net at a primary boarding school after an 8-hour cross-country bus trip. In the course of my travels, I had the opportunity to talk politics and the future of the country; witness firsthand the excitement around the Kenyans for Kenya fundraising campaign; float along Lake Naivasha next to very large hippos; taste traditional Kamba food; and visit the slums where some of our students grew up.

When I made my first journal entry on August 5th, I had no way of knowing the truly profound impact this trip would have on me. However, by the time I left Kenya on August 13th, I was absolutely humbled by the dedication of the Jitegemee staff, and the spirit, intelligence, and gratitude of the Jitegemee students. On my fourth day in Machakos, I spent time with Valentine, Peter, Grace, and Christine, the first two are students in our formal schooling program, and the latter two are students in our vocational training program. As we walked through the city, visiting their apprenticeships, and exchanging stories and questions about life in our respective worlds I came away impressed with the students’ recognition and appreciation of the opportunity they were being given. At one point, as we walked past two street kids, one with a glue bottle literally stuffed in his nose, one of the girls whispered to me, “That used to be us.”

Our students are excelling in school and in the workplace. They’re focused on taking full advantage of the opportunities given them through Jitegemee, and are working even harder at creating additional opportunities for themselves.

A year into my board experience, I get it now, much more clearly than I ever did before. I see the connection between the money raised here and the impact it has on the lives of children a world away. I get the opportunities that $10 affords, and I feel extremely blessed to be in a position to help make a difference in another’s life. As we enter this holiday season, if you haven’t taken the opportunity to contribute to the great work that is going on at Jitegemee, I would implore you to consider it. We are still fundraising to meet the goal of our 2012 operating budget. It is only through your generosity that we can continue to literally change lives!

Asante Sana (Many Thanks),

Clarence Wardell III

P.S. For more updates throughout the year please follow us on Twitter (@jitegemeeinc), or “like” us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/JitegemeeInc)!

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 check out the full report.

In March 2010, I had the privilege of spending two weeks at Jitegemee, working with students and staff as part of a consulting team from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. We were working with the vocational training program, learning about the trades Jitegemee students were training in, the economy in Machakos, and other potential employment opportunities for graduates.

We got to meet Jonathan, who had recently completed the vocational training program. He worked with an electrician during his attachment phase, and stayed on at the same business after graduation. He was shy at first when speaking with us, looking down more at his soda bottle than at us; I can only imagine how it felt to have these three American strangers suddenly peppering him with questions. 

But Jonathan was polite and patient and eventually wanted to show us where he worked. He walked us through Machakos to the electrician’s shop where he told us more about his work. We asked him what type of electrical equipment he could fix.

“Everything,” he said, without hesitation. “I can fix everything.”

 

He spoke with such confidence, and I know that it was largely thanks to Jitegemee that he felt so self-assured. The educational opportunities afforded to bright young men and women like Jonathan wouldn’t have been available if it weren’t for Jitegemee’s dedicated staff and mission.

We also spent a day with the young students that Jitegemee was sponsoring at primary schools throughout Machakos. They taught us Kenyan games and songs, and had so much energy that by the end of the afternoon, I felt exhausted but exhilarated.

I was embarrassed as I realized that I had always taken being able to attend school for granted. But with Jitegemee’s help, the new students would be able to secure their educational future.

The trip itself was something I talked about for months afterward, and I still think about it often. I describe the work that Jitegemee does, and the amazing students and teachers, and feel incredibly lucky that I had the opportunity to meet them.

-Kiri

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

As mentioned on our Twitter feed and Facebook page (you are following those aren’t you? ) Jitegemee welcomed its first intern to Machakos a little over a month ago. Calum is taking a gap year to travel the world, experience life, and hopefully make a difference along the way. We’re happy to have him working with our students and staff at Jitegemee, and we are excited to hear about his time there. Throughout the course of his stay we will occasionally be cross-posting updates from his blog “Merry Go Round,” here on our site. Below is the first such post, ENJOY!

For over a month now I’ve been working with the NGO Jitegemee in Machakos, Kenya that rehabilitates street children through formal and vocational education. I’m their first long-term volunteer and I’m working on developing a basic computer skills curriculum, a networked computer lab and a litter management program. Living with a local family has given me an opportunity to fully experience life here. They have made me feel like their son always referring to each other as “mom” and “dad”. Many of our conversations are spent comparing our cultures and asking each other questions. What I’ve found most interesting is how surprised they are when I explain how different life is back home. I remember their shock when I explained I didn’t know how to make chapatis because I don’t eat them back home. But they’ve made sure to teach me and now I’m pretty much an expert- I’ll post some instructions soon.

Over the first two week of January, we had many visitors to Jitegemee. Two Columbia graduate students studying international development came for 10 days to research the impact of the formal schooling programme. Not sure how they got anything done as we spent most of our time together dancing with all the students. Their findings fully support the huge, life changing impact that Jitegemee has on children’s lives. Just read ”REFORMED“, a poem written by several vocational students, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Last Friday we had three donors visit from the US who shared a day of performances and celebration with us here. Hopefully soon I will be able to find the internet power to upload some pictures.

Slowly I’ve been making progress teaching the students how to use computers. We have five (if we’re lucky and they all decide to work) in a mini-lab that is now decorated with some posters the students made about the different parts of the computer. Since the most of them had never touched one before, I start by teaching them about the parts, why its important to learn computers, and how many jobs can benefit from using them. Then we move into turning them on and off correctly, and how to hold the mouse and use the left click. My first major activity involves the paint application and they have all loved learning how to draw and color on the computer. It’s a fun way to learn about interacting with the computer using the mouse. Some of them have been able to create really detailed portraits, maps of Kenya and Africa, and 3D houses. It’s amazing to think that a week ago most of them had never used a computer before and now they’re able to do all that. This week I’ve been introducing them to the keyboard, going through what all the keys do and having the students practice using them. In the next few weeks we will continue to work on typing and formatting. I’ve also been working with the teachers on typing, word processing, powerpoint, and video editing. Hopefully by next week we will have the entire center connected to the internet so everyone can start playing with it.

For the litter project, we now have five bins for taka taka trash and a bottle of soap. I made some posters about keeping Jitegemee clean and healthly and put them up all over the place. I’ve started to explain it all to the students and already I’ve seen many people putting their trash into the bins instead of throwing it on the floor.And we’ve nearly finished the bottle of soap. Great success! Hopefully we’ll be able to get hand sanitizer dispensers which I think will be better for the limited water supply.

Now I’m off to Nairobi to spend the weekend with my host brother. What a crazy life!

By Calum

I have been a board member for nearly ten years, but the chance to travel to Kenya to spend some time with the staff and students of our program is still a rare treat for me.

This July, I spent an exhilarating week with them.

I met our newest teachers for the first time and found them as dedicated as I had been told. I spoke at length with each member of the staff, and saw in greater depth what our vocational students are learning and how our lunch program is impacting the lives of students. I also saw the lovely piece of land that will be our future home. All of us at Jitegemee – students, teachers and American volunteers – are greatly looking forward to having a building better suited to the program’s needs, and much more space.

The staff, the students and the community are hoping that our new center will include this city’s first public library. To help with our efforts to plan, I visited libraries across Kenya with our staff, and talked to several librarians about how to create a library that can serve Machakos well and meet our students’ growing and diverse needs. Our teachers have begun thinking broadly about how to make it a true community institution, with input and donations from business leaders and ordinary people in Machakos.

After each visit, I come home humbled by the extraordinary work our staff manages to do on limited resources. Do you know that Jitegemee has a retention rate near 100%? Anyone who works with such vulnerable children will find that amazing.

This great success comes from the fact that our staff takes the time to know each child well, to understand the family situation and the challenges the child has faced in school, and to help each child develop confidence that he or she can become a contributing member of society.

On my first classroom visit, the children were eager to recite in unison the poem they had written about themselves:

REFORMED

They laughed at us
When we roamed the streets
They scorned us
When we overturned the dustbins
They spat at us
When we passed near them with tattered clothes
And stinking bodies
They sneered at us
When we lay on the streets
In the cold nights
And heavy rains
They stared at us
When we sniffed glue
They never took notice
When we begged for food
But today
We design their clothes
We build their mansions
We dress their hair
We drive and repair their cars
We fix their appliances
We make their furniture
They no longer despise us
For we no longer stink
We no longer beg
We no longer sniff
We no longer starve
Our donors have seen us
We are reformed and refined.

We are deeply grateful for this support. For those of you who have not donated this year, we hope you will consider writing us a check to help us keep this program going. While we have been delighted by the success of our fundraising efforts for our future building, it has meant that we have to stretch more than usual to raise what we need to pay our teachers, buy food for our lunch program, and pay for school supplies and other program costs. Please help us meet our operating expenses for 2011, as generously as you have helped us in the past.

Thank you all for your support for this work!

Cordially,
Helena Halperin
Board Chair

They laughed at us
When we roamed the streets
They scorned us
When we over turned the dustbins
They spat at us
When we passed near them with tattered clothes
And stinking bodies

They sneered at us
When we lay on the streets
In the cold nights
And heavy rains
They starred at us
When we sniffed glue
They never took notice
When we begged for food

But today
We design their clothes
We build their mansions
We dress their hair
We drive and repair their cars
We fix their appliances
We make their furniture

They no longer despise us
For we no longer stink
We no longer beg
We no longer sniff
We no longer starve
Our donors have seen us
We are reformed and refined.

Alex Mutiso composed the “Reformed” poem with Jitegemee’s vocational students.

It was during our school vacation, in August 2009, when the Director informed me about some visitors who were to come that year. The visitors were none other than architects Mark Palmer and Rayya Newman, board member Shu Kahn, her daughter Jenya, and husband Kevin, and teacher Emily Gasoi. These guys were led by dear Madam Farah. Their idea was to share with us about how to come up with a design for the new Jitegemee school.

A planning committee was formed composed of parents, staff and students. We met early in the morning to travel to Nairobi University School of Design where we met with professor Musau Kimeu. We saw different buildings with different designs, though they appeared to be very expensive. Professor Kimeu led through our discussion in coming with an affordable plan to our new school. It took us not less than two hours! Every point discussed was put down in paper for future reference.

Then we went to Catholic University where we saw a rainwater catchments system and very huge concrete tanks, so big that they could hold large amounts of water that could be used if a drought occurs. Both parents and students came up with such an idea so that Jitegemee can have such tanks—but these tanks seemed too expensive.

Then we were able to visit a solar panel shop. It was not encouraging because the solar panels were not very affordable. The day was coming to an end and everyone was tired. But the next day, we still had one more place to visit: The Limuru School.

It took us one hour to our destination. When we arrived, everyone was pleased because it looked affordable. We saw their program was just like Jitegemee. This was the kind of school we had been looking for. It had a nice and spacious library where kids could learn without interference, good classrooms, and plastic water tanks to collect rain. It gave us hope that we can have a school just like that.

It was an amazing and very important journey that was taking Jitegemee another step after many years.

Bravo, Jitegemee sponsors!

By Charles Wambua Kieti

Today, thankfully, rain has returned and our economy has begun to recover. But the price of food and basic goods has remained too high for many poor families. Many children dropped from school due to lack of food and money for small expenses, such as after-school tuition payments. But thanks to the friends and supporters of Jitegemee, we managed to walk the year without registering any school drop outs.

Our work with street children is driven at all times by understanding that each child is an individual with a unique set of experience, aspirations, needs and challenges. We conduct comprehensive surveys in schools that our children attend to assess their academic progress. We also ensure that we conduct personal evaluations of all Jitegemee-sponsored school children, especially during the three month-long school holidays that they spend at our center. This assists us make the right decision on how to support the kids. Talking with their teachers and classmates helps Jitegemee staff understand our children’s challenges even better. Each one of us does his part and considers that the welfare of these children is our own responsibility.

This year, we held a graduation ceremony for 54 vocational students (21 girls and 33 boys) who have made the transition from the streets to the workplace. “I don’t know where I would be now if it were not for the Jitegemee program,” said Lucy Ka-vunga, who is now a qualified tailor and dressmaker. “It is amazing that I play a very great role in supporting my family with food and school support for my siblings.

“Before I joined Jitegemee I would not express myself, I was untrustworthy and did not care what happened,” said Stephen Mwanzia, who has been trained in motor vehicle wiring. “My mentor has a lot of trust in me. I am the person keeping records for this business and I do help him manage his work. He says he has a lot of faith in me and the customers give him similar information. Thank you Jitegemee supporters for helping me become who I am.”

Many of the vocational graduates have been employed by the mentors who taught them their trade. Others have opted to start their own small businesses. Street children are robbed of their dignity through communities’ ignorance and fear; but Jitegemee has come out strongly to empower them and reaffirm their potential. Contrary to when the children were in the streets, now the majority of community members want to be associated with Jitegemee graduates. Street children need support to succeed in life.

Our secondary school program has not lagged behind. Currently, Jitegemee supports 13 scholars in prestigious secondary schools. This year, Nzioka Paul, who just began his first year at Kitondo Secondary School, has so far scored an A in all subjects, including science and mathematics. Sophie Mutuku, an orphan who began her first year at Misyani Girls High School, posted a B in almost all subjects.

Jitegemee is also pleased to report outstanding success in college. One recent graduate, Mwende Musyoka, is already employed in early education, while another, Musa Tom, is working as a trained electrician.

We attribute much of this success to our “attachment” program, where secondary school students spend school breaks working in an office or an institution as an unpaid intern. This program has built up the career ambitions of our students. After spending time working at a state-run wire news service, Jitegemee scholar Muli Kieti will be joining Kenya School of Mass Communication. Another recent secondary school graduate, Mbithe Mutinda also intends to pursue a Diploma in Journalism, while Lilian Syokau will be joining the Kenya Medical Training College for a Diploma in Nursing.

Through experiences like these, Jitegemee’s children are developing personal esteem and are fulfilling their responsibilities for supporting other children. This year, we invited our secondary school kids to orient the younger Class 8 candidates on what happens in secondary school. Secondary school graduates also gave a talk about their life experiences after school to all Jitegemee scholars, demonstrating how former street children have developed aspiration and ambition for the future in addition to a sense of commitment to others.

In 2010, Jitegemee is working hard to realize our goal of building a new educational center with offices, classrooms, a library and a computer lab on an acre of land that we purchased last year. Although we have faced some unexpected hurdles along the way, we know that we shall realize our goal. We sincerely appreciate your donations which have made all this possible. Together, we will continue to make a difference in these children’s lives.

By Mike Kimeu

Overview

• Three classrooms to be separated by removable walls, which can be taken out to create a large hall for big assemblies.
• Solar shading and strategic building orientation (positioning the building to take advantage of the sun path) to keep our new facilities cool naturally.
• A large garden, which could be used to grow produce for meals, families in need or sale in the marketplace.
• A play area for our youths.
• A library and computer room equipped with tables and chairs for studying and reading. Parents will be able to take classes and have access to the Internet in the library, and the local community will be invited on certain days of the week.
• A well ventilated kitchen with a fuel-efficient stove, hot water, cool storage and enough food preparation space to prepare meals in an efficient way.
• A solar hot water heater providing hot water for cooking, cleaning and other purposes.
• Separate latrines for boys and girls. The latrines will be well ventilated and will compost waste into fertilizer for agricultural use.
• Roofs designed to collect rain water and direct it into storage tanks for later use.

Photos

Please click on any of the photos below to enlarge the photo and start an album screen show.

Our Current Facilities

Our current building doesn’t have a large enough outdoor gathering space to accommodate our growing student body.

Our current building doesn’t have solar shading to keep the building cool naturally.

We currently only have one classroom. It isn’t big enough to accommodate our entire student body.

Our small library has no room for tables or chairs for reading or studying.

The shed we use for a kitchen lacks the food preparation space necessary to prepare meals in an efficient way.

Our current kitchen is very simple and doesn’t have a fuel-efficient stove, so it requires a lot of firewood.

Boys and girls share use of our single pit latrine, which isn’t ventilated.

Our Future Facilities

Solar shading and building orientation (positioning the building to take advantage of the sun path) will keep our new facilities cool naturally.	Our new compound will have a large garden, which could be used to grow produce for meals, families in need or sale in the marketplace.	Our new compound will include play areas for our youth.	We will have not one but three classrooms. They will be separated by removable walls, which can be taken out to create a large hall for big assemblies.	Our new classrooms will have lots of storage space.	Our new library will have tables and chairs for studying and reading.	Our new kitchen will be ventilated and have hot water, cool storage and enough food preparation space to prepare meals in an efficient way.
A solar hot water heater will provide hot water for cooking, cleaning and other purposes.	We will have separate sanitary facilities for boys and girls.	Our new latrines will be ventilated, reducing flies and smells and improving sanitation.	Our new latrines will compost waste into fertilizer for agricultural use.	Separating solid and liquid waste will allow the solid to be mixed with ash and become fertilizer.	The roofs of our new facilities will be designed to collect rain water and direct it into storage tanks for later use.	Water collection and storage will ensure we always have enough water for cleaning, crop irrigation and grey water.