The Five With Drive Fanikisha Foundation
Soweto Slums, Kayole Estate, Nairobi Kenya, East Africa
Members meeting held on 23rd October 2010 at Jan-Kean Learners School at 9am.
Members Present:
1. Elijah Ngugi...................Jan-Kean Learners Center
2. Steve Wanjie...................Wisdom Nest Primary School
3. Francis Kinyua.................Shilo Community Center Prep. School
4. Millicent Oriyo...............MerryLand Community Center
5. Salome Muturi..................Waylight Education Center
6. Everline Nabwire...............Emmanuel Children & Care Support
7. Maureen Ombima................St. James Academy Soweto
Absent With Apologies:
Benjamin Maina.............Country Representative- FWD Fanikisha Foundation
Agenda:
1. Election of interim group officials
2. Why we started non-formal learning centers
3. The common needs prioritization
4. Any other business
The meeting was opened with a word of prayer from Pastor Kinyua.
Minute 1 - Election of interim group officials
MR Ngugi proposed that members hold elections to put an interim office in place for better coordination of group functions. He proposed that Pastor Kinyua be the chairman and was seconded by Everline. Pastor Kinyua was elected by 5 votes against 2. Therefore, Pastor Francis Kinyua was elected interim Chairman.
Maureen proposed Steve be elected the Secretary and was seconded by Salome. Steve garnered 4 votes against seven casted. Therefore Steve Wanjie is the interim secretary.
Steve proposed Millicent for the post of treasurer and he was seconded by Pastor Kinyua and by a show of hands all members voted for her. She garnered seven votes. Therefore Millicent Oriyo was elected interim treasurer.
Elijah Ngugi was elected to the position of Project Coordinator after he was proposed by Everline and seconded by Maureen.
No assistants were elected because members felt that the current offices will serve the group well for the time being.
Minute 2 - Why we started non-formal learning centers
a) The majority of members observed that children in their neighborhood were not going to school. There are many reasons but the main one is that slum children are not getting vacancies in public schools because they can’t compete for the limited places with children from well up families.
b) Most members agreed that their centers were started in order to give poor slum children an opportunity to go to school. So many slum children were and are not going to school and the urge to find a solution is big.
c) Members observed and saw children being lost to drug abuse, crime, alcoholism and to HIV/AIDS. To solve this problem the thought of starting a school to help mould children’s character at their young age was reinforced.
d) Everybody at the meeting started his/her center because of their love for children. Therefore, all members agreed that they wanted to start a center whereby every slum child could come regardless of whether they had school uniform or not. A center where a slum child could find a friendly environment just like what he/she is used too.
e) Some members saw children suffering from hunger and decided to do something about it. They started as care and support centers to feed neighborhood children. Because these children were not going to school, they were forced to start teaching and that’s how some centers came about.
Members agreed that the common thread that drives all of us to start non-formal schools is our love for children and the urge to want to assist them get an education despite the difficulties and challenges we face trying to it.
Minute 3 - Needs prioritization
After much debate members came up with a priority needs list;
a) The biggest problem that keeps slum children out of school is hunger. Even those in school can’t concentrate in class work if they are hungry. All members voted to have feeding program as need number one.
b) When a child is fed now teaching them becomes easy according to Salome. Therefore Salome proposed that instructional materials be posted as our priority number 2. This was passed without opposition. Lack of textbooks and other learning materials is the largest impediment to quality education delivery in our schools. This is inclusive of classroom furniture.
c) The next huge challenge is the provision for teacher salaries. Schools can not afford to pay the minimum teacher salaries as required by labor laws. Parents are not able to pay school levies thus our centers are always short of adequate funds. The teaching staffs we have work on voluntary basis and 95% are untrained teachers.
d) The centers operate from rented premises unsuitable for school use and thus the classrooms we have are not proper classroom space because they are too small. The solution to this problem is to buy school plot and build proper classrooms. Due to lack of land most of the centers have no sanitation facilitates and that is terrible.
Priority List summary:
a) Feeding Program
b) Instructional Materials
c) Teacher Salaries
d) Proper Classrooms and Sanitation
e) Teacher training
Officials:
Country Representative.................Benjamin Maina
Chairman...............................Pastor Francis Kinyua
Secretary..............................Steve Wanjie
Treasurer..............................Millicent Oriyo
Project Coordinator....................Elijah Ngugi
Minute 4 - Any other business
There being no other business the meeting was closed with a word of prayer by Millicent at 1pm.
Would you want to help these schools?
Please visit Five with Drive Foundation Canada
Thanks for your visit.
Steve Wanjie-Founder,
Wisdom Nest Primary School.
