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.!
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