Although the school is on holiday until 1st September when the third and final term of 2010 begins, much has been happening over the past few weeks at Got Matar.

Exams

Many of the Form IV children have been studying hard for their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams that take place in October. How well this first batch of “leavers” performs in the exams will provide a good indicator of the quality of education offered by the secondary school.

Computers

Hopefully, by the beginning of the term, 20 computers will have been installed for student use in the computer training room that was completed at the beginning of this year. Some £16,000 has been raised by the Presbyterian churches in Langbank and Port Glasgow as well as from friends and relations of George MacMillan in celebration of his 80th birthday. The computers are made by Inveneo and have a very low demand for electric power. However, rather than being powered by photovoltaic panels, as originally intended – had more funds been available – they will be connected to the mains supply. Thanks to a grant from the Kenyan Constituency Development Fund, mains electricity has just arrived at the school.

Girl’s Dormitory

The Australian NGO, Bricks and Cartwheels (bricksandcartwheels.blogspot.com), has committed itself to help the Community build a girls’ dormitory at the secondary school. As they explain:

"Bricks and Cartwheels (b+c) is teaming up with the school to design a much needed girls dormitory. Currently there is an extremely high drop out rate for girls as they travel long distances each day whilst still being expected to keep up their domestic duties at home. Not only this, the walk from home to school can be an extremely dangerous one. A dormitory will allow the girls to focus on their study providing them with a greater chance of completing their secondary education."

"One of the exciting aspects of this project is that the building of the dormitory will run as a training program. This will provide an opportunity for the students and members of the surrounding community to learn basic skills in carpentry, bricklaying and the fundamentals in building design."

Training Units

The above training will form part of a number of vocational training activities being started by a nascent Institute of Technology (IoT), whose growth is being supported by the Got Matar Community Development Group. Once endowed with initial “seed capital”, each unit is expected to operate in a financially sustainable way through marketing the goods and services it produces so as to pay its running costs and contribute to funding bursaries to enable orphans to attend the secondary school with less dependence on donors.
 
The first training unit is for clothing manufacture. It started in June, with 12 women beginning a 2-year course, leading to a national certificate. Capital funding for equipment was generously provided by the UK charity, The Besom (www.besom.com) . The unit will specialize in producing and marketing school uniforms.
 
A woodworking unit is now starting up, initially with 8 trainees. Their first project is to make computer desks and chairs for the Secondary School!  The next output will probably be furniture for the dormitory!  To start with, training, by a very experienced young local carpenter, will be in the use of hand tools only, but the aim will be also to acquire mechanical equipment when funds are available.

Women’s Centre

A grant of £5,000 towards the construction of a Women’s Centre, to be attached to the IoT, has recently been approved by the Collison Trust, run by trustees linked to the International Alliance of Women.  Counseling and training on a variety of subjects will be provided by the centre, focusing particularly on the needs for greater self-reliance of women who suffer from domestic violence. Over 20 women are already members of the group which will earn its income from offering catering services in Bondo District, for which there is, sadly, a high demand from the many funerals that take place in response to the AIDS epidemic. The group has acquired cooking equipment and cutlery as well as tents, tables and chairs for hire.

The Community intends to gradually widen the range of practical skills training opportunities on offer in response to what appears to be a strong demand amongst young people, including school leavers. The idea of offering such training was envisaged at the outset of the secondary school building programme, but, as the latter took up all available funds, it is only now just beginning to get off the ground, thanks to the generosity of a number of charities and individuals.!

sewing machines arriving unloading
First day of training in clothing manufacture First day of training in clothing manufacture
First day of training in clothing manufacture First day of training in clothing manufacture

First day of training in
clothing manufacture, in a rented building