Cosmos Education Kenya

The Royal Commonwealth Society - Me And My Net Youth Summit - Nairobi

2011-08-11T12:40:00.010+01:00

Foreword;

Kenya is a Malaria hit country among the many countries that are reeling from Malaria infestation. Estimates points at around 34,000 deaths of malaria related cases in Kenya per year. Of all daily hospital outpatient visits in Kenya, 30% are Malaria related, representing quite a large number. This kind of data shows just how terrible the situation is. Sadly, this phenomenon is replicated to other countries, where some have worse cases.

Children below 5 years of age plus the pregnant mothers are the leading in malaria infections. Across the country, various initiatives have been put in place to fight malaria through collective active participation of the Kenyan government ministries, community health workers, community based organizations, youth groups etc. The Ministry of Education have also introduced a wide coverage of communicable diseases like malaria in the curriculum, which have in turn helped to spread the awareness to the rural people, hence the reduction of new infections in various households. The provisions of free treated nets to expectant mothers have also greatly reduced the spread of the disease, not forgetting the infant deaths.

Ii is in line of this objective, that the Common Wealth Royal Club saw the need to come up with a solution that will involve everyone in the society to get involved in the eradication of the malaria pandemic across all 54 member states, under the Me and My Net awareness campaign. The best way is to reach out to students, who constitute the largest portion of the population for a wide range in line with the spreading awareness. It’s a noble idea o note that the majority of the rural masses have inferior information about malaria, especially the prevention part of it. This is where the students are supposed to chip in the information they learn from the summits, and help curb more deaths from the local level. This is a goal that the Me and My Net seeks to reach via the summits and the competition taking place from July to end of September. Enlightening people on the effective daily use of treated mosquito nets, clearing of bushes, draining of stagnant waters, and periodic spraying of homesteads are some of the many ways that the campaign is laying much emphasis on.

Dr. Ann Musava of PSI Kenya making a presentation

The Summit;

The Introduction session;

The venue summit was Malezi School in Nairobi. The ME and My NET team had arrived had gotten to the veue well on time led by then Program manager Ms. Meera Chindoroy and Ms. Mary Greer. George Mugera of Cosmos Education Kenya represented the organization in the process. The host school had prepared the hall well in advance hence the start of the day’s program on time. Meera opened the session in a thrilling fashion that left the audience yearning for more. Soon after, Dr. Anne Musava from PSI Kenya (Population Services International) took to the podium.

The charitable humorous doctor was amazed to meet an audience with immense information about malaria prevalence, the causes, transmission etc. an in-depth discussion about the malaria transmitting genes e.g. the plasmodia falciparum, was held. The participation from the audience was commendable. It is in this session that the climate change issue was chipped in. It was evidently realized that the rising CO2 gas emissions, exacerbated the spread of malaria since mosquitoes are more attracted by high temperatures and wet conditions for breeding.

By all means at the hallmark of the session, it was an educative, interactive moment, rather than an awareness session.

SESSION II

The second session came there after a tea break. The theme was “Malaria Prevalence and Menace in Kenya”.Several sub topics were attached to the main theme, hence paving the way for a more interactive session, leading to the way forward and ultimate solution.

George Mugera of Cosmos Education Kenya leading the debate session

Sub Topics:

a) Challenges facing the society in facing out Malaria

b) Solutions

c) The Role of young people - students in fighting malaria epidemic

d) The Way Forward / conclusion

The students were divided into 5 groups, while the teachers were randomly added into the groups and requested to forget their status and assume the students role to equalize the participation and get rid of student-teacher fear..! The discussions went nicely well with everyone giving invaluable views in their respectful groups. After the discussions, every group had to pick a group leader/presenter who would read out the points discussed at the podium.

The Debate Points

Challenges;

i) High level of illiteracy in Kenya especially people in the remote countryside.

ii) Poverty

iii) Ignorance - people underrate malaria, as it’s perceived to be less severe.

iv) Limited health care facilities

v) Infrastructure - poor road networks connecting hospitals and medical centers hence increasing the probability of increased malaria death cases.

vi) Bureaucracy/Corruption: Misappropriations of health funds, leading to people lacking instant medical care when in need.

vii) Cultural and religious beliefs. People failing to look for medical care and visiting witchdoctors for the “healing power” to cast the malaria demon out, and instant death sets in…!

viii) The changing climate. Global warming have led to global temperature rise thus encouraging migrations of pests and vector from different tropic and locations thus encouraging mosquitoes in Kenya (Eastern Africa), known to inhabit lowlands to migrate to the highlands and urban centers due to large CO₂ gas emissions, this was perceived to be an uphill task towards malaria eradication completely

Students sharing ideas during the groups' discussion session

The Way Forward / Conclusion;

Awareness it was realized as the only channel to face out malaria infections amongst the masses. Deemed pivotal in making people clean their compounds, how to handle the disease and how to observe the general hygiene.
Provision of wider coverage of malaria disease as a unit topic in all classes in the current education curriculum.
Students to actively disseminate the malaria information to the un-informed in their society
Constant spraying of our home and school compounds with environment friendly pesticides.
Provision of free medical clinics and free nets to eradicate further infections.
People should be encouraged to plant mosquito repellants e.g. the citronella grass, the Mexican marigold, peppermint, etc.around their compounds. The leaves / flowers of these plants have a strong scent that repels away the mosquitoes
The infected should to seek medical attention from qualified medical personnel.
The infrastructure to be improved for easy access to medical facilities
Decisive care for the environment to reduce the effects of climate changes especially the carbon emission.

The Role of Young People.

Every MOSQUITO HAS ITS OWN DAY” …. This is a tagline that was unanimously agreed by the audience, to be used as a theme in the upcoming anti malaria campaign events. Students are the main channel to spread the much needed awareness on malaria, from school compounds to the communities in the villages. Those present were advised to take up the challenge and disseminate the information to their colleagues back in school. Thus Me and My Net Campaign came at the right time, to the right people through the right mode! Many thanks to the Commonwealth Club.

Master Hawi making a presentation on behalf of his group members

SESSION III: 2.30 – 4.30PM.

The afternoon session resumed soon after lunch break. The session theme was The Campaign..! It was all about the students getting back to their groups and critically thinking and coming out with the best ways to disseminate the information to the society. Just before the presentations, the Botswana High commissioner to Kenya stepped in and graced the occasion. George set the ball rolling with a presentation of the vital points of the morning session and the way forward. Soon after, the high commissioner gave his speech, which carried lots of informative sentiments that were in tandem with the topic of the day.

No sooner had he finished the speech, than the groups took to the floor one after another with their presentations. Lots of workable critically perfected ideas were put in writing and drawing. Other pieces had to be presented in a concert form especially the traditional medicine men “healing power”. This is one of the many shows that left the audience astonished while others were unable to control loads of laughter. A proper use of the treated nets was nicely illustrated in a drawing, contrary to a practice by some Kenyan communities who use the nets for fishing! Poems were also part of the presentations which depicted the real scenario on the ground..!

Mary proudly displays one of the "campaign strategy poster's"

SESSION 4;

The last session involved the presentation of gifts to all the participants. Tens of treated nets, campaign branded t-shirts plus reading materials were given to the students and the teachers. The CEK team joined the RCC team in dishing out the goodies to the attendees.

A cocktail was nicely prepared for the guests by the school administration. All the guests gathered in the bar and enjoyed some yummy bites. The high commissioner thanked all the participants on behalf of the Commonwealth Society and his entourage. He emphasized the commitment of the organization to help the young people in the member states to realize the millennium development goals.

CONCLUSION

This was just but the beginning of a long-term mission of fighting malaria in Kenya and also the East Africa region at large. We definately need to partner together in this noble mission. A lot is destined for achievement if we realized the potential we posses in eradicating this Global Menace.

Story by George Mugera

University of Nairobi &

Cosmos Education Kenya.

The Royal Commonwealth Society - Me And My Net Youth Summit - Nairobi

2011-08-09T03:41:00.004+01:00

World Forests' Day Celebrations - March 2011 at Karura Forest

2011-03-29T12:33:00.007+01:00

The Day;

World Forestry Day is celebrated in forests around the world on 21 March each year as people take time to consider the benefits of forests to the community - such as catchment protection, providing habitat for plants, areas for recreation, education and scientific study, and as a source of many products including timber, wildlife and honey, not forgetting the billions of cubic litres of water that emanate there. World Forestry Day also aims to provide opportunities for people to learn how forests can be managed and used sustainably for these many purposes.

A tree seedling planted during a hot season needs mulching and simple bottle-drip irrigation as shown above.

The Celebrations;

In Kenya, the celebrations took place at the Karura Resource Centre in Karura forest. The ceremony included the official launching of the International Year of Forests. This follows the United Nations declaration of 2011 as the International Year of Forests which calls on all UN Member States to dedicate this year to conservation activities to celebrate the forests of the world, in line with combatting the global warming and the ever decreasing forest and water resources.

Forests need to be renewed by way of having seedbeds for new tree seedlings as shown above, which should eventually be transplanted to the field after maturity.

This is the first time, that Kenya is celebrating the World Forest Day and the International Year of Forests. The theme of the international year of forests is “Forest for People” and focuses on the relationship between forest and people who depend on them. Karura Forest, which has now been opened for public recreation symbolizes the successful struggle in forest reclamation and restoration in the country. The place is beaming with thick leafy sections, to beautiful clean water falls. The birdlife is in a sharp increase over the last few years, while logging is a thing of the past.

Forest Heroes;

During the year,the member states will initiate enomous efforts to creating awareness and increasing the foresat cover. Among the initiatives, the recognizing and awarding of innovative community efforts that improves the livelihood through sustainable forestry conservation will be one of the key aspects. However, the main highlight is the creation of a Forest Heroes Award. This will recognize individuals that have made outstanding contribution to forests. The award will mainly focus on the unsung heroes and heroines; whom the UN calls “the everyday people” who tirelessly work towards nurturing, protecting, and developing forests. During the event, the UNEP Director Mr. Steiner noted that there are lots of such people in the communities whose work needs recognition more than ever. He reiterated the need to have initiatives that will foster close relations from the local level climbing up to the national level. This he noted will help in realizing the global goal of reclaiming the lost forest cover. With the long rains period having started in some areas of the country, the time for tree planting is here with us, meaning we should take a full advantage.

Some indigenous trees grow a canopy figure which results to a good source of shade for seedbeds.

The United Nations Forum on Forests is currently identifying individuals as forest spokespersons who can use their leadership or celebrity status to generate media attention and help to raise awareness and support for forests.

Exchanging of Ideas;

In Kenya, the national steering committee plans to launch a Corporate Forest Management Award which will be recognizing heroes at the grassroot level. The tree planting in all counties will be conducted at the onset of the long rains in April. Public awareness programes will include hosting of Zonal forestry management exhibitions and enhancing school-based tree planting. This will transform greatly and help recover the lost forest cover in many areas of the country. The counties that have an average forest cover eg, Murang’a, will be used as an example to the other counties through community based heroes and participants exchange programme. Inter-county seminars will be conducted twice a year in different places where participants will have a good chance to learn, tour and exchange ideas which will help in improving the realization of the set goals.

CEK Career Talk Session – St. John’s Secondary School.

2011-03-25T07:30:00.011+01:00

The Session Aim;

A few years ago, CEK made a contact with the St. Johns secondary school, and cemented a friendship with the aim of helping the students. Top on the agenda was to create a progressive academic awareness to the students who come from the nearby Majengo informal settlement. Due to the poor nature of the residents, the students normally display a withdrawn behavior towards education and more so hating some of the subjects in school, despite them being clever enough to excel in them. This is an area that CEK saw the need to come in and bridge the gap through career sessions with the students. Demystifying of some of the myths about “hard” subjects being one of the top notch strong points needed to bring a positive attitude towards the subjects and the much needed education at large. It was quite evident that if stringent measures were not taken, some of the students may as well hate and leave schooling, before getting involved in antisocial behaviors, like drugs abuse, peddling and alcoholism among many other dangers.

The Day;
It s on a hot dusty Thursday afternoon on the 24^th Feb. 2011, the day we had set for the visit. Having deliberated duties in an earlier meeting on who was to take part in this activity, a group of 4 volunteers were available to take up the first session of the year. Peter, Irene, George and Kanja were the guys to hold the mantle shoulder high. Despite it being a working day, everyone was able to get to the office at the agreed time and off the team hit the road to the school. It being a short distance from the city center, it took us a few minutes to arrive at the school.

Arraival;
On arrival we meet we were warmly welcomed by the teacher on duty a Mr. Francis who led us to the head of science department, Mr. Obwaka. He led the way upstairs to his office where we held a short conversation consisting of introduction and the motive of the visit. To our surprise we learned that he was actually a scholar and had in fact written a physics textbook that is accredited by the ministry of education and is used as a syllabus textbook in the country for form 4 students. He had also taught some high profile individuals who have risen to become charismatic lawyers, doctors, engineers and pilots among many others. On top of this, he has also taught in national schools such as State house girls and Alliance high school.

The Physics book authored by Mr. Obwaka.

The Session;

We were then guided by Mr. Obwaka to a classroom where the form 3 and form 4students were anxiously awaited. A quick introduction was done by the schools’ chemistry teacher to the students and then left us to carry on with our planned activity. Kanja was the session moderator. He gave a brief introduction about CEK before we introduced ourselves. Kanja then gave an over view about careers and how to make the best career choices based on an individual’s talent, passion and performance in school. This served as a good avenue to helping the students clearly understand the term CAREER and its benefits. This also helped to break the barrier between us and the students, therefore creating a conducive environment where we interacted openly. It was fun….!

Ms. Amina, demonstrating the first rule....."Slow Down"

At this moment, we supplied the students with each a piece of paper where everyone had to write at least two of his/her career choice/s. One being the major career and the other one being the minor career choice in case the major one fails to materialize. Soon after this, we collected all the papers and arranged them according to the careers proposed, i.e. engineering, medicine, journalism, lawyers etc. We were so motivated to find out how optimistic and ambitious the students were despite the challenges they faced. This showed the amount of hope they had in them albeit the lack of educational materials and reading aids.

We later divided the students into four groups. This was done in order to have an in depth one on one conversation with the students. We also wanted to enlighten them over the requirements needed to pursue the different careers they had chosen. This was an interesting activity since the students were able to open up and share their problems, weaknesses and fears’ that they face in school and also at home. They also shared deeply about the pressure around them, emanating from the community such as negative peer pressure, lack of resources, not forgetting the paining domestic problems in their homes. All these added up together; greatly affect their performance in school, resulting to poor grades and negative attitude.

Irene sharing ideas with group "1" students team

Discussion (Help) Groups;

The group’s discussion and sharing went on for the better part of the evening. Kanja had a difficult time to wind-up the activity since there was still so much to be shared. After all, we had to put a stop and promise to continue from where we left in another day. We divided the students into 3 major groups which will form the focal points of academic discussions and help points. The groups elected two leaders who will be the main communicators to CEK and the subject teachers. The students will be discussing issues amongst themselves in the evenings during the private study moments, where they will help each other in solving problems especially in mathematics and sciences. The group leaders will have a responsibility of approaching any teacher whose advice will be needed by the group to come and address the issue at the group level. This will greatly help in demolishing the barriers between students and “certain” teachers in the school. Performance will greatly be improved in various subjects where students normally have difficulties. Female students greatly welcomed the idea and promised to utilize the opportunities offered for their benefit.

George sharing ideas with group "2" students.

Winding Up;

At this moment, we all headed outside the classroom to the school’s compound where we took a group photograph. We also exchanged contacts with the students for future consultations and follow up on how they were carrying on. Two students gave the final comments about the day’s event and highly thanked the CEK for the visit and the encouragement offered. The CEK team also gave their remarks and thanked the students for their dedication, interaction, discipline and respect that was displayed during the session. It was truly a highly beneficial moment for the young eager to learn students.

As the dusk approached, we had to hurriedly bid farewell to the students and off we left. Within a few minutes, we managed to get to the office where we had a short meeting where Carol joined the group. The agenda for the meeting was to discuss the activity of the day in summary. We also discussed about the forth coming sessions and how best we shall handle them. A tentative program for the coming sessions was also discussed at length before we unanimously decided to call it a day and dispersed.

The group foto

Words can’t be enough to explain the success of the day’s activity, but given the feedback from the teachers and the students alike, we can proudly announce that we touched the hearts of many and opened a new chapter in their school life. To Inspire, Empower and Engage are the main pillars for success in everything that CEK undertakes…! Looking forward to the next session.

Report by; Ng'ang'a Peter.

CEK Members Get Together Meeting – Ololosokuan - Ngong Hills.

2011-03-16T12:21:00.028+01:00

2010 In Review;
The year 2010 has gone down in history as one of the worst years the CEK has seen. It’s the year where very few activities were accomplished amid lots of problems. This was due to an acute shortage of funds. In this case, we were not able to conduct an AGM where members would meet and take stock of the activities and goals accomplished in past year. This phenomenon has since changed and the team is upbeat and very ready for the year ahead.

CEK Members sharing light moments at the office for the meeting. From left to right; Lizbeth, Sharon, Irene, Joy, Peter and Gerald.

Its Saturday 19th February 2011. The weather is sunny and quite conducive for indoor and outdoor activities altogether. All the members converged at the CEK Office in Mageso Chambers 1st Floor by 1pm. A total of 15 members were in attendance with more than 10 others sending their apologies due to unavoidable circumstances. It being the first meeting of the year, there was a lot of issues to be discussed at length and come up with a calendar of events and their time lines for the whole year.

The meeting stated at 1pm with introductions where every present member introduced him/herself to the group. Kanja, proceeded with giving an overview of the mission of CE Kenya, not forgetting the origin of CE in general. He also gave more information about the activities that CEK undertook in 2010 and their successes in tandem with the CEK calendar for the year. He indicated that the year saw a few projects being put on hold due to insufficient funding. The loss of the CE US President, Alex Tung, also brought in a gap that will never be filled or else may take time to fill. This slowed down the execution of projects that were in the program for the year. Nonetheless, things are now looking up and everyone has fastened the seatbelt ready for a bright and busy year ahead. This will be in an effort to recover the unfinished activities.

The outdoor meeting venue

Having shared this information, it was time for the CEK treasurer Ms. Carol Muli who took people through an overview of how the CEK carries out its activities and financial management in general. She laid much emphasis on proper accountability of funds and budget strictness which makes the organization soar in glory. She also gave a few examples of some of the activities that CEK have carried out successfully and their budgetary allocation vis-à-vis the expenses. This was intended to educate the new members on what is expected of them in matters financial since they will at one time be in charge of activities that will be delegated to them as team leaders.

At the same time, the CEK Executive Secretary Ms. Lizbeth rose to the podium where she gave the members detailed information concerning the running of CEK, including the office matters. She also explained more about membership subscription. Reporting was another issue that was in her agenda list. She indicated that communication is the best way to keep people together and helps in organizational management, this culminates to the much wished and needed progress.

Carol taking members through the CEK mission.

The calender of Events;
The time for departure to the venue in Ngong came and the team boarded a truck. Within no time, the team was already seated in a round table with serious discussion taking place. At first it was the announcement of all the events that CEK have planned to accomplish this year. Carol lead the members in discussing at length and coming out with probable timelines for every project.

This is an activity where members conversed and exchanged valuable ideas which helped to come up with a tentative calendar of events but not only limited to the ones stipulated in the table below.

1. Plant for the Planet - Countrywide From April to December 2011 - Kanja & Irene are the tentative leaders for this event. The dates are to be confirmed and CEK to act accordingly

2. Nyota Professional Insight Sessions - 3 Nairobi based Schools - From March to December 2011
Rotational basis as per session. This has already started and is continuing well.

3. Chemsha Bongo Science Challenge . This is an activity that will be held in 3 Nairobi based Schools from March to December 2011. Leadership for the events will be on rotational basis as per session.

4. Science day trip to ILRI & UNEP May 2011 - Bridgit & Kanja - This is subject to dates confirmation – preferably from mid May to Early June

5. Computer Donation Follow-Up at Kalukuni Secondary School – Yatta Plateau June 2011. Carol /Judy are the tentative team leaders for this event. The dates are be confirmed and CEK to act accordingly.

6. World Environment Day Celebrations , date 5th June.

Lizbeth & George will follow up on this matter and lead the rest of the members in taking part. This is an international day – confirmation for the main activity venue will be done in due course.

7. Friends of Karura Forest Tree Planting Day at Karura Forest - Nairobi July. Kanja, Irene & William are the tentative leaders for this activity. The dates will be confirmed and CEK to act accordingly

8. Nairobi Green Line Tree Planting session at Nairobi National Park from April to December 2011. Kanja & Wangare are the leaders for this activity. The dates are subject to confirmation.

9. Members SGM Ololosokuan – Ngong Hills In between June to early August, Carol & Gerald are the team leaders for this event. The dates are subject to confirmation.

10. Open Learning Day AIC Girls Secondary School - Kajiado Preferably April. Carol & Naboth are the leaders for this event. The dates are subject to confirmation.

11. World AIDs Day, Venue to be confirmed while the event will take place on 1st December 2011. Irene & Sharon will lead the team to the event. This is an international day – confirmation for the main activity venue will be done later.

12. Open Learning Day MCEDO School Preferably August Bridgit,William & Justa will lead the team, while the dates are subject to confirmation.

13. CEK Members AGM . The venue will be confirmed later while the meeting is intended to take place within the 1st or 2nd week of December. The excecutive committee will take lead in planning for this event.

14. Lusaka Schools Project. This project wil take place from Mid May to Early June. The exact dates are subject to confirmation. CEK will send representative/s to the event.

Judy giving a contribution during the round table discussion session.

The meeting took a maximum of one hour since most of the issues were discussed earlier in the office. Bridgit gave the closing remarks. The time for the eateries came, lots of mouth watering barbecued goat meat was served. Ugali was also in plenty, not forgetting the escort – kachumbari. Soft drinks were also available. The members enjoyed the tasty bush late lunch before getting down to the last activity of the day – adventure and bonding session!

The eateries came in all types with all the nutrients incorporated… eehmmmmmmmmmmmm….!!!

The Rocky Affair;

This is an activity that took the members to the rocky region of the campsite. This is the place where real fun was experienced. It was a difficult tiresome affair as members trekked on bare rocks as it happens in a military drill. Endurance, team work and communication were the lessons to learn from the exercise. This helped to create more chance for consultations and focused goal setting as members shared ideas of how best to face and beat the rough terrain where one should emerge victorious. Some places were too slippery while other rocks had no parts to lay fingers, yet one had to devise ways to make it up to the top. This brought lots of interdependency and tolerance between the members since everyone had to take part, follow the queue and do the climbing at your own speed.

When the going gets tough….. only the tough get's going….. Please speed up Wangare…Kevin wants to climb up too……!

The Impromptu Meeting;
At the end of the vigorous exercise, the members held a short impromptu meeting at the Maasai manyatta site. The meeting was aimed at informing the members how team work helps in meeting set goals. This was as a result of the participation of all the members from the beginning of the day to the close of the business. With this kind of togetherness, it shows a bright future and a promising year for CEK, which will culminate in the successful accomplishment of all the activities in the busy calendar. Members were in great agreement that they were ready to professionally tackle projects and bring forth the much needed success. At this juncture a motion to have some volunteers going to St. Johns Secondary for the first Career Session of the year, slated for the following week. Four members among them, Irene, Peter, George and Kanja were willing to take the plunge. This marked the start of a team spirit that will keep burning in the group for the rest of time. As darkness approached it was time to take a group picture, shout the CEK science chant, the last prayers, before everyone got back to the truck and off we drove.

Smiling faces, energy oozing bodies’ fresh minds overflowing with knowledge… = to brand new CEK .......!!!!!!!!

Food For Thought;
Well, words alone are not enough to tell the success and great moments of this wonderful memorable day. It takes a willing heart to open up, buy the idea and make time for such activities for a worthy course. Change starts with you and spreads to the other person creating synergy for a progressive society.

Yes, lets pull together, I’m fully prepared to play my part satisfactorily, how well prepared are you to play yours?

World Environment Day Celebration - Tree Planting at Nairobi National Park Twiga Gate 5.6.10

2010-06-16T15:13:00.013+01:00

Nairobi National Park Background;
The Nairobi National Park was the first park to be gazetted in 1946. This was done in order to curb the then poaching problem. It is Kenya’s and East Africa’s oldest crown. It is famed for the world famous endangered Black Rhino population. The other major wildlife attractions found in the world only “city neibouring park” include; the lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, elands, and a diverse birdlife with over 400 species recorded. Other beautiful and memorable attractions include the Ivory Burning Site Monument, the Nairobi Safari Walk, the Animal Orphanage and the beautiful nature walking trails at the Hippo Pools. There is also the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust situated at the Nairobi National Park Workshop Gate along Magadi Road.

The Event;

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in conjunction with the Kenya Association of Manufactures (KAM) and other like-minded partners including, NGOs’ Youth Groups, Church Organizations, Government Agencies etc, embarked on a tree planting exercise at the Nairobi National Park on Saturday June 5, 2010. Cosmos Education Kenya was among the tens of organizations that graced the occasion. The event coincided with the World Environment Day which was being celebrated. The KWS seized the opportunity and held the tree planting session as part of an ongoing conservation initiative dubbed the “Nairobi GreenLine Project”.

These are some of the advertisement placards used to sensitize the public about the event;

The Sh35 million project aims to plant 250,000 trees of indigenous species from the park’s Cheetah Gate in Athi River to the Carnivore Restaurant along Lang’ata Road. This will create a 30-km long, 50-metre wide forest to shield the park from the fast-growing metropolis. The event successfully culminated in the formation of a 3500, 7Km strong human greenline chain stretching along the park’s edge from the Twiga Public Campsite Gate.

The Twiga Public campsite Signpost

The park’s delicate ecosystem has over the years been exposed to massive environmental risks due to human settlements and other activities. This in turn has increased the human wildlife conflict over the years. The animal migration corridors have been encroached making it difficult for animals to migrate from the park to the lower legion parks especially the Maasai Mara, Tsavo West and Serengeti in search for food, water and breeding. This has resulted to herbivores grazing at flower gardens in the nearby homes while lions have been spotted prowling the nearby settlements like the Onkata Lonkai and Kiserian. Tens of goats and several heads of cattle have been mauled by the jungle kings as well as the ever elusive leopards.

The 3500 strong human, 7Km Greenline chain

In order to put a stop to the above fatalities, there is a need to come-up with an effective strategy to protect the parks’ ecosystem, which provides the country with lots of economic and social benefits. In this regard, money will be needed to cover the cost of trenching, soil preparation, fencing, sinking of boreholes, piping, planting of more tree nurseries, seedlings irrigation, seedling transportation and any other manual labour. The fencing will deter the locals from grazing into the conservation area hence protecting their animals from the carnivores and giving the seedlings a good chance to grow well and healthy. More encroachment in form of illegal structures and dumping will be terminated forthwith.

Some of the environment conservation enthusiasts’ get their hands dirty during the tree planting event;

As the event went on, the Forestry and Wildlife Assistant Minister, Hon. Josphat Nanok, thanked the various partners for taking a leading role in an initiative that will be vital in managing and conserving our environment. He cited the effects of climate change as a major challenge which is are here with us and, therefore protecting our environment for future generations is vital.

Some of the “ready” tree seedlings in the nursery at the park

At the same time, the KWS Director, Dr Julius Kipng’etich, said rising incidents of pollution to the park, human encroachment and human-wildlife conflict will soon be a thing of the past with the launch of the GreenLine project. He added that the organization intends to make the park a major tourist attraction by allowing travelers on transit to visit the park as they await connection flights. Luckily, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is just a stone throw away from the park. This makes it easier for the travelers to enter the park, tour and then get back to the airport well in time for their freights. This he said, will enable the organization to raise more funds that will be used to implement more animal friendly projects in line with the vibrant conservation efforts by KWS and partners.

The electric fence that will restrict more human encroatchment

Speaking at the event, the GreenLine Steering Committee Chairman, Mr. Anoop Shah lauded the various partners, volunteers and stakeholders for their unreserved support in making this project a success. He added “The drawing of this line symbolizes the start of a long journey expected to go a long way in protecting and conserving this vital ecosystem for posterity“. Water will gradually increase in the watering holes and dams while the streams in the park will also experience some increase. Animals will not have to stray out of the park in search of water due to the availability. This will reduce the number of animal deaths and in turn increase their population. The elands’ population has been in the decrease over the years due to lack of enough pasture. The dry weather condition that had rocked the park in the last 2 years dealt a big blow to many herbivores.

The media personnel conducted some “on-site” interviews at the event

As the event came to a close, over 5000 seedlings of different indigenous tree species were successfully planted. The nurturing of the newly planted seedlings will be done by a special team that will monitor their growth and well being on daily basis. More planting sessions will be held as soon as the short rains season starts in late September.

Kanja (right) with Mr. Lagat of ESACO environmental Group and Ms Sharon Lucas of Standard Newspapers limited pose for a photo after the planting event.

Cosmos Education Kenya will be among the teams which will be continuing with the planting sessions. Other planting sessions will be held in various parts of the country. Public places slated for vigorous tree planting events include, Ngong Forest, Karura Forest, the Nairobi Arboretum, the Resurrection Garden, Uhuru Gardens etc. Other places include the schools, road reserves, and along the river banks. Planting is also taking place in all the provinces and the local level, in line to recover the lost forest cover. The effects of the global warming is also another thing that is driving the vigorous planting.

My friend......plant plant plant…..it starts with you and its better done today…… NOW..!

REPORT ON KALUKUNI SECONDARY SCHOOL FOLLOW UP VISIT ON 7TH NOVEMBER 2009

2010-02-09T16:33:00.000+01:00

One year ago, CEK in partnership with Computer for Schools Kenya (CFSK) granted Kalukuni secondary school twenty computers for their Computer laboratory. The school had taken initiative of constructing a computer lab, but was unable to purchase the facilities to enable students to learn computer science. CEK and CFSK therefore came in to assist them acquire the computers. And so we did.

There is a common saying that if you want to help a villager, you don’t give them fish; instead, you teach him how to fish for himself. Well, as true as this may seem, I just learnt that the villager will most of the times know how to fish better. You don’t each him, because chances are they already know. You empower him! Give him fishing nets and hooks! And a boat too.

A year later; on November 7^th 2009, CEK paid a follow up visit to the school, to monitor and evaluate the progress made so far by the school community in respect to the use of the computers.

The young enthusiastic students were very happy to have CEK pass all the schools along the long 300 kilometer stretch from Nairobi to Matuu; just to land on their school. This was extremely special to the whole school. It was amazing, for the second time round, to have a group of very young Kenyans with visionary ideas and the Globe’s prosperity at heart. Young scientists who are determined to see follow mankind make correct decisions for peace and tranquility of the nation, continent and the globe. Love and concern for the young students was outstanding; never heard of. The superstitious dogma spewed forth by the society has become the youths’ greatest enemy. To break ranks, we have to do something that has never been done before; and so we did.

The students were taught a myriad of processes; from computer programmes, career choice and preferences to study skills and motivation. They shared their dreams, ambitions and hopes. CEK did not fail to strengthen those believes in greatness, because we understand that they are, or sooner they become, the blueprints of our lives. Students were very happy to learn that whatever they dream of, can, after all, be achieved. This was in a practical way, in that they interacted with young people who have gone through the same path, and made it. Be it Doctors, veterinarians, journalists, Engineers, Economists etc. all were present, as young as they appeared, in flesh and blood. This is the essence of inspiration; Motivation into doing something realistic, something evident, the understanding that there are no unrealistic goals, only unrealistic time frames.

The students were taught not to be afraid of taking big leaps or one big step forward, because you can’t cross a chasm in two small steps. And so the understood and believed. More importantly, put their minds into it and promised to work smart, till the day they see their dreams unveil!

CEK had a lot to learn as well. Great lessons, the most outstanding one being the “Water Key project” in Kalukuni secondary school. This is a technological masterpiece where a bore hole is computerized, pumping water only when a water key is inserted. This water key has to be loaded with credit, to be able to access water. Talk about young minds put to good use!

All in all, the school was seen to have made very commendable progress, and is one good example of empowered minds. CEK hopes to continue mentoring the school, and even take up other schools and implement such projects. This is a clear license to development of the world. Science education is the key!

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2009 - VISIT TO MCEDO BEIJING SCHOOL

2010-02-09T15:41:00.015+01:00

Background of International Youth Day

The General Assembly on 17 December 1999 in its resolution 54/120, endorsed the recommendation made by the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth (Lisbon, 8-12 August 1998) that 12 August be declared International Youth Day.

The Assembly recommended that public information activities be organized to support the Day as a way to promote better awareness of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond, adopted by the General Assembly in 1995 (resolution 50/81).

This year’s (2009) International youth day was commemorated on the Wednesday, 12^th of August. In line with our mandate as Cosmos Education Kenya, we took it upon ourselves to impact a young generation positively, as this is our core business; to inspire, engage and empower the youth through science education for the development of the world. We therefore chose to spend the subsequent weekend, (15^th August) with the beloved Mcedo community.

This years theme was; sustainability: our challenge. Our future. This as explained to Mcedo students is a simple concept that every young member of the planet Earth ought to understand and be a part of. Sustainability does not only refer to maintaining environmental balance and renewal. Sustainability encapsulates three facets of life: the environment, society and the economy. We live our lives in the overlaps and intersections of these facets, and our actions and attitudes help shape them. Their changing shapes in turn affect the way we are able to live our lives. The negative effects of unsustainable behavior are not easily contained. As has been proven by the global crises in food, the economy and the environment, the concept of the global village has gone beyond being a useful analogy to being a hard reality, making clear the need to adopt a global sense of social responsibility.

Cosmos Education Kenya team members introducing themselves

With these things in mind, as the energizers of today and the holders of tomorrow, it is imperative that youth embrace the challenge of sustainability in its fullness as they help pave the way forward through the 21st century and beyond. Youth action, inclusion, and their full participation are key to developing today’s world for the generations of today and tomorrow and central to a sustainable existence.

The commemoration was a very successful day with at least one hundred Mcedo students and a few teachers. There a big team from Cosmos, who divided the students into several groups depending on their classes and age. This was after an overall presentation of DVDs about Climate change and Global sustainability. The students were very receptive and learnt a great deal, judging form the kind of responses and questions they were asking after the presentations.

Rule No. 2 in action : Asking questions!

In the groups, the students were given specific assignments and demonstrations to perform, among them the Green House effect demo, from which they learnt how green house gasses are trapped in Earths atmosphere, and how that results in ultimate heating up, or raising of temperatures on the surface of the Earth.

Ben Kariuki explaining the green house effect to the high school student's

Assignments were also issues, done and submitted with highest scoring students being awarded. This was a very clear motivation for the students.

Later on, after the learning experiences, the students, teachers and Cosmos Education Kenya planted trees and the schools compound to mark their commitment to taking an active role in sustaining our planet. The students took it upon themselves to take care of the seedlings until they grow, as a sign of their commitment.

Peter Kanja with class seven students planting trees at the MCEDO tree nursery

That was a day well spent, change initiated, and a difference made. A difference that, hopefully will trickle down to making the world a better place, and for everyone who took part, in being responsible as an individual, for sustaining our world.

ending the day with a little jig

The UN's Billion Tree Campaign

2009-09-28T09:17:00.002+01:00

The UN’s Billion Tree Campaign hit its 7 billion target a few weeks ago. This is a feat that has been reached way before the end of the year 2009.The UNEP shared this information to all the campaign participants worldwide. Cosmos Education Kenya is proud to be associated with this great success. Please see the press release below.

UN’s Billion Tree Campaign Hits its Seven Billion Goal Target!!!

Global Climate Change Initiative Inspires Millions in Run-up to Crucial Copenhagen Conference

New York/Nairobi, 21 September 2009 –
The global public’s desire to see action on climate change was clearly spotlighted today with the announcement that the Billion Tree Campaign has reached 7 billion trees—this translating to one for every person on the planet.

Over the past three years millions of people ranging from scouts to presidents and from schoolchildren to city dwellers and corporate heads have been rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty for the environment through tree planting.

Today’s milestone was reached with the news that the Government of China has planted 2.6 billion trees as part of this unique campaign, bringing the total to 7.3 billion trees planted in 167 countries worldwide.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said: “Seven billion trees, seven billion commitments to action and seven billion reasons why governments should be inspired to Seal the Deal at the crucial UN climate change convention meeting in Copenhagen in less than 80 days’ time.”

“When this campaign was launched in 2006, there were those who said it could not be done. But day after day and week after week, people have got out into their gardens, parks and cities and into the countryside and the rural areas to prove the doubters wrong,” he added.

“Above all the Billion Tree Campaign shows that the simple act of planting a tree resonates and unites the child in the slums of Africa with a president in Mexico, or a corporate CEO in Paris with UN peacekeepers in Timor-Leste. It is the kind of solidarity that now needs to be expressed at the level of all governments and heads of state between now and December in order to move economies towards a low carbon, sustainable path,” said Mr Steiner.

The Billion Tree Campaign was launched jointly with the World Agroforestry Centre during the UN climate convention meeting in November 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya, under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai and His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Its initial goal was to catalyze the pledging and the planting of one billion trees as a way of giving public expression to the challenges of climate change and also forest and ecosystem degradation.

Since then the Billion Tree Campaign has more than surpassed its aims, evolving into a true ‘People’s Campaign’ – more than half (52 per cent) of all the participants are private individuals.

Furthermore, tree planting has become both an inter-faith and an inter-generational activity, with the trees symbolizing connections between children and parents and bringing together people from different religious backgrounds.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, the founder of the Kenyan Green Belt Movement and the campaign’s co-patron, said: “Let’s plant even more trees to celebrate this wonderful achievement, the fruit of collective action from people all over the planet. By making the Billion Tree Campaign such an incredible success, people from every continent are calling their governments to truly start caring for the planet and to find unity in the fight against climate change.”

His Serene Highness Albert II, the Sovereign Prince of Monaco and the campaign's co-patron, said: “I have always had a strong belief in the symbolic strength of the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign and I am delighted that it has exceeded our greatest expectations, far beyond the welfare linked to replanting trees, to benefit future generations.”

Highlights of the Billion Tree Campaign:

In the past eight months China planted 6.1 billion trees, of which 2.6 billion have been given to the Billion Tree Campaign. With the announcement of these 2.6 additional billion trees, the grand total number of trees planted for the campaign stands at 7.3 billion as of 21 September. The government planted 260 different species of trees in eleven provinces around China, from Inner Mongolia to Yunnan and from Shandong to Sichuan.

The announcement was made in New York on 21 September at a press conference attended by international dignitaries, including Campaign Patrons Wangari Maathai and Prince Albert II of Monaco, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, China’s Minister of the State Forestry Administration Jia Zhibang, and Mohamed Nasheed, the President of the Maldives. The announcement coincided with Global Climate Week, an event launched to mobilize global mass action around the UN high-level event on climate change – including the Global Tree Planting Drive on19 September where people were encouraged to plant trees on every corner of the planet.

A number of other countries around the world have planted impressive numbers of trees since the campaign was launched. Countries that have planted more than a hundred million trees range from Ethiopia (with 1.4 billion trees) and Turkey (711 million trees) to Mexico (with 537 million trees) and countries including Kenya, Cuba, and Indonesia.

In addition to bringing governments to take concrete action to reforest their lands, the Billion Tree Campaign has succeeded in catalyzing tree planting from all walks of society, bringing together creative, original and pioneering initiatives around the world.

To name a few, the Replant New Orleans Initiative sponsored a planting of fruit trees to help breathe new life into a community struggling with the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina; the Greening Soweto Campaign is transforming dustbowls into treed lanes in Soweto by capitalizing on South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup; and 132 children in 56 countries have pledged to plant a total of one million trees as part of the ‘Stop talking, Start planting’ campaign, which was started by an eleven-year-old boy.

The economic gains of tree planting are powerfully illustrated by the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative. As well as being close to planting 38 million trees in the Appalachian region, the North American organization has also devised a green job tree planting proposal to stimulate the economy of Appalachia and reap the ecological benefits of a region-wide reforestation effort.
In addition, the Campaign has mobilized groups and individuals in post-conflict areas around the world, bringing the seeds of hope to communities in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, Liberia and Somalia among others.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has planted 9 million trees in and around refugee camps around the globe, helping to plant hundreds of thousands of acres of trees in Asia and Africa since the 1990s.
The United Nations Departments of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and Field Support (DFS) have also participated in the campaign, with thirteen peacekeeping missions having pledged 117,848 trees. Of this number 33,184 trees have already taken root across various countries hosting peacekeeping missions. The campaign, which encouraged the planting of indigenous trees appropriate to the local environments, has not only witnessed the participation and enthusiasm of UN staff, but also of the local communities in the different areas of operation.

The private sector has become a key player in the global campaign, accounting for almost 15 per cent of all the trees planted. Multinationals from Accor to Bayer and from Toyota to Coca-Cola East and Central Africa and Yves Rocher have been active tree planters, along with hundreds of small and medium-sized companies the world over.

The campaign’s universal appeal is clear from its success on social networking sites, with some 4,000 blogs adopting the cause early in the campaign.

Proving true its motto that ‘Every tree counts, and we count every tree’, the Billion Tree Campaign’s phenomenal success is as a result of the participation of people of all walks of life and from every corner of the planet.

The campaign continues..!

REPORT ON CAREER TALK HELD ON 3RD SEPTEMBER 2009 IN MCEDO BEIJING SCHOOL, NAIROBI.

2009-09-16T13:57:00.001+01:00

On a chilly Thursday afternoon, Cosmos Education Kenya, as goes our motto, took up another daunting task of inspiring, engaging and empowering the secondary school going youth in Mcedo, Mathare, under our Nyota Professional Insights program. This was particularly important meet given that it was the last opportunity for the form four candidates to have a professional talk, get advice on the possibilities available for them before they sit for their last exams.

Although given in a short notice, two speakers were available for the function; Ben Kariuki and Dickson Orina, popularly know to the Mcedo community as Kiroboto. Ben facilitated the occasion with Dickson giving a very spending heartfelt talk on careers and study skills.

About fifty students were present for the function, and one of their teachers, Mr. Benedict who introduced the already well know Cosmos brad to the children. The talk ranged from career choices available for the candidates, study skills and important things in life that a secondary school youth should know. We aimed at taking this challenge to let the children be more aware of what awaits them after they are through with their final exams.

I was a very successful talk with the student asking one too many questions about the things they were taught, things that bothered them; basically a show of great enthusiasm from young learners. This was a clear indication of lessons well taught, and a youth that that is eagerly waiting to take up responsibility and become the future guardians of their own lives. Talk about the youth being the key to development of the world.

Overall assessment is that more of such talks need to be done, inspiration is quite missing in our students and Cosmos, being in the forefront of not just inspiring but also egaging and empowering the youth, we are taking this role full force because we believe in science education for the development of the world!

Kariuki Bernard

PLANT A TREE PLANT A NEW BEGINNING TREE PLANTING EVENT.

2009-09-03T09:20:00.011+01:00

On the 1st of August 2009, the 2004 Nobel peace prize winner, Prof Wangari Maathai and her Green Belt movement made an impassioned plea to the Kenyan public for immediate action to save the forests, wetlands, marshlands, swamps. This was owing to the fact that Kenya’s forest cover has decline to less than 2% since independence and continues to decline. In particular the country’s water tower, the Mau forest is rapidly being depleted and is close to the point of no return. Youth groups, conservationists, Non Governmental Organizations, Community Based Organizations and the general public were all invited to take part in a tree planting the event at Spring Valley, North West of the city. As key sustainable development campaigners Cosmos Education Kenya has had a close relationship with the Green Belt Movement and was among the invited organizations.

Prof' Maathai giving the opening speech moments before the campaing launch

The event began at 9.00 am with a welcome note from Prof Wangari Maathai opened. Her welcome note focused on the need to protect water catchment areas. She decried the rampant destruction of water catchment areas mainly due to human settlements; deforestation and land grabbing actions which she noted led to rainfall decrease rendering the arable lands unproductive. She also noted that the pastoralist communities living in the eastern lowlands were severely hit by inadequate pastures for their livestock.

Two of the CE Kenya representatives (Eva dnd Perez) listening to the speech

To kick off the event she officially launched the campaign which is supposed to run for the next 1 year. The campaign will see all the grabbed forest reserves being reclaimed and new trees planted. All the wetlands are also going to be reclaimed and fenced off in order to keep encroachers at bay. There are a total of 7 sites around the Nairobi region that are earmarked for the rejuvenation. The community based organizations will help to maintain the seedlings as well as educating the masses the need to protect the wetlands.

Proud to be an enthuthiastic conservator!

As the planting commenced, tens of seedlings were planted but within a short period. The CEK was represented by 4 members who helped to plant a sizeable number of trees.
The event was momentarily disrupted by a group protesting ear marked demolition of residential property that had been built on a protected area. The situation was however quickly resolved by the District Commissioner who arrived shortly with a consignment of riot police to restore calm.

Members of one of the groups during the event.

The event was closed by the assistant director of Green Belt Movement Prof. Karanja who addressed the public at the site. He thanked the attendees for their good work and urged them to continue. He reiterated the need to have concerted efforts in environmental conservation education at all levels. He added that the current prolonged draught plus the rampant crop failures in the farms was all as a result of the massive destruction of water catchment areas.

A good day....it was..!

Career mentorship and motivation session at St Johns High School on the 7th of July 2009

2009-09-02T12:07:00.009+01:00

On the 7^th of July 2009 Cosmos education Kenya made a visit to St. Johns high school under the Nyota profeesional insights programme. St. Johns High School is a Low income school in the Pumwani region of Nairobi. The school is partly supported by the Anglican church of Kenya and mostly caters for needy students around the Pumwani and Eastleigh areas.

On this day we were introducing the program to form one and two students who had not participated in the program previously. Bridgit Syombua, Carol Muli and Amina Issa represented CEK on this day.

Mr. Naftaly Githaka was the mentor and speaker of the day. Mr Githaka is a program specialist in genomics at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).He holds a BSC in Biochemistry from the University of Nairobi, Master of Science degree in Animal Parasitology from Jommo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and is currently enrolled for a PhD at the Hokkaido University in Japan. In addition to this he has over 6 years experience in molecular biology.

Mr Githaka with a group of students at st Johns high school

Despite his vast experience and long list of qualifications, there was little talk on molecular biology as Mr. Githaka focused his attention on motivating the students. Carol introduced the team and welcomed Bridgit to make a brief presentation about CEK and our three golden rules which are.

Rule 1. Slow Down.
Rule 2.Ask questions.
Rule 3 Have Fun.

Amina then welcomed Mr. Githaka who started by telling the students about his poor background. The students were visibly shocked when he informed them that his first school was in a very remote area with no formal structures so they had their classes under a tree. He had been inspired when he was still in school through a talk given by a university graduate and he vowed to himself that he would make it to university. Mr. Githaka emphasized to the students the power of self declaration. He told the students that one did not need to come from a wealthy family in order to make it in life.

Coming from a science career he stressed on the fact that science based subjects are not hard and all that was needed was concentration and determination. Major pointers in his talk included:-

Urging the students to read widely.
Emphasizing the need to write down their goals.
Reminded the students to constantly talk about their dreams and aspirations.

After his presentation there was the Q&A session which depicted the enthusiasm among the students who felt inspired and empowered.

The session ended with each student writting down their goals and making a promise to widen their scope of reading material. Bridgit gave a vote of thanks and the team left the school, with a promise to return in the next school term with another mentor.

The Valentines Day Trees4Love Event

2009-03-02T13:39:00.011+01:00

The message in the placard is simple, clear and upto the point as far as the agenda of the day was concerned....................................Planting Trees..!!!

Despite this day being the lovers’ day, more than 1000 volunteers assembled in Karura Forest to commemorate the day by way of planting trees. Karura is one of the Nairobi environs carbon sink. The other carbon sink is in Ngong forest situated in the south-western part of the city. Tens of organizations were invited to attend the occasion. Cosmos Education Kenya was among the invited organizations that have been working closely with the Green Belt Movement and the UNEP since the launch of the Billion Tree Campaign/Plant for the Planet campaign. Trees4Love is the title UNEP chose for its Valentine's Day celebration; encouraging people to give their loved ones, on that special day, something more than a flower, a tree. The truth is that "While a flower withers away fairly soon, a tree is something that lasts; you nurture it and watch it grow. It is the ultimate symbol of everlasting love."

CEK Vice President Peter Kanja performs a joint tree planting with Kiss 100 Radio presenter Ms. Carol Radul.

Over Two thousand indigenous trees were planted in Nairobi's Karura forest, yesterday, by over one thousand nature-lovers, in a bid to make this year's Valentine's Day one of the greenest in Kenya's history. Most of the tree types planted are drought resistant while others need just a little amount of water to survive. The humus filled red volcanic soil in the venue will enable the seedlings to have a fast growth, under the care of the Kenya Forestry Service staff. Launched in 2006, the Billion Tree Campaign has catalyzed the planting of 2.6 billion trees around the world. According to the UNEP Deputy Executive Director, Ms. Angela Cropper, the gap between the pledged trees and the planted ones is quite wide and needs to be bridged. She also reiterated that the gap between the planted trees and the ones that survive is also a bit wide and urgently needs to be put under strict check. She added that the trees will help to combat the deforestation, with the UNEPs’ recent set goal of planting 7 billion trees - one per inhabitant of the planet - by the end of 2009.

CEK member Eva Gachuhi joins Cyrus and Vincent from the Green Warriors Youth group in planting a seedling.

The forests (Karura & Ngong) helps combat climate change by absorbing carbon emissions from the thriving Nairobi capital and its over three million inhabitants. They are also important water catchment areas for the Nairobi river-basin. Karura has also been a traditional site of the “Kihara Clan” indigenous people, who consider the forest a sacred land. They have lived for ages at the northern outskirt of the forest. They depend on the sweet wild fruits that they gather from the forest while collecting firewood from dry logs and twigs. In 2007, the UNEP was given the green light by the government to help reforest a total of 110 hectares of land in Karura and Ngong forests. These vast expansions had suffered from increased deforestation due to unsustainable activities, including illegal urban development. From then on, tree planting activities have been carried out more oftenly championed by the partnership of UNEP & Green Belt Movement with the help of youth organizations, companies, colleges, community based Organizations and government and private institutions

The Wildlife Club of Kenyatta University pose for a group photo

CEK team was led by Kanja Peter the Vice President. The members present included Eva Gachuhi, Lizbeth Mate and William Kimani. Billy Lombe represented CE Zambia. The members of the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders for the Environment had turned out significantly led by H.E. Rejoice Mabudafhas: co-chair of the Network of Women Ministers & leaders for environment & Deputy Minister of Environment & Tourism, South Africa. She also made a solo effort in planting a healthy croton seedling for the day’s commemoration which she dedicated to all the people who had turned up for the event.

Her.Exelency. Rejoice Mabudafhas: co-chair of the Network of Women Ministers & leaders for Environment & Deputy Minister of Environment & Tourism, South Africa planting a tree during the event.

As the planting continued, a 5 feet long snake emerged from a hole underneath a grassy area. The volunteers from the Kenya Red Cross society were planting their seedlings when one of the stumbled on the reptile and run for her dear life shouting at the top of her voice. Within no time, a crowd of people surrounded the snake albeit keeping a distance. The journalists jostled for positions to take photos before the members from the Youth for Animal Welfare moved it away and took it to a thicket far away from the crowd of people who wanted to kill it. It was evident that the reptile had had a meal earlier on in the day, resulting to demobilization. This made it easier for people to take photos.

The 5 feet long snake that emerged from a hole.

The watering of the newly planted trees is an activity that was done by the students from the universities that included, Kenyatta University, Nairobi University, Egerton University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and technology. The watering was very essesntial for the plants since the day was sunny. The KFS had availed several tunkers to bring enough water from the nearby river. The site preparation including clearing the invasive Lantana Camara vegetation and digging of the holes was carried out by the nearby comunity through a partnership with KFS (Kenya Forestry Service) and the Red Cross Society.

During the planting session, several organizations joined hands and planted trees for commemoration. In this case, CEK was not left behind and managed to join hands with 4 different groups i.e. Barclays bank, Athi River Mining Company, Green Warriors Youth Group and Kenyatta University Wildlife Club. We also had a joint planting with the Kiss 100 Radio and Radio Jambo Media houses staff members.

CEK members joins the Kiss 100 Radio and radio Jambo presenters in a group photo after jointly planting a Ficus Indica tree seedling.

As the event came to a close at 5pm, the site looked beautiful with the seedlings looking determined to grow tall, healthy and ready to multiply. For the CEK, the event marked another successful day of a noble activity. Before the departure, the CEK held a short meeting with Ms. Leah Wanambwa, a Consultant at the UNEPs’ Division of Communication & Public Information (DCPI) where various issues were discussed. Leah took the opportunity to thank the CEK for the attendance and a job well done. She singled out the good relationship between the two organizations and requested for more cooperation in many other environmental events lined up in the UNEPS’ calendar.

"Yes We Can....!" was my answer to her request.

Please log on to the link below for more pictures from this event.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kanjap/Trees4LoveEvent02#

Cosmos Education Kenya

2009-01-12T14:29:00.011+01:00

Happy New Year,
I hope this finds you in good health.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for having taken an interest in Cosmos Education Kenya in the year 2008. A great deal was achieved in that year all of which would not have been possible without your contribution.

2008 will go down in history as one the most challenging years in Kenya . It was a year, when old feuds were brought to the surface after a bitterly contested election that to this day is a thorn to the Kenya’s economy.

CEK activities were also greatly hampered by the ensuing political instability; we however rose to the task and continued in our quest of Inspiring Engaging and empowering leaders in waiting – the youth - in the quest for sustainable development. We began the first term with a visit to two camps which were host to the internally displaced people who had lost or fled from their homes owing to the post election violence that rocked the country. The two Camps: - Mathare chief’s camp and Muthaiga Police Depot were host to families from the sprawling Mathare slum and the informal settlements at the Huruma area in Nairobi .

At these camps we held two sessions with the children and young adults hosted there. Besides our usual modules aimed at engaging the students, the volunteers also took on the role of peer counselors. We then had had short informal sessions with the students who had been traumatized by the chaos.

From the internally displaced camps the next Stop was Yatta District more specifically Kalukuni secondary school. This time we partnered with Computers for Schools Kenya, a non profit organization supporting IT in institutions within Kenya . At Kalukuni CEK presented a donation of 10 computers to the school. This was followed by a brief session where the volunteers went on to motivate and inspire the 197 students at Kalukuni secondary school. This event was made possible with support from Lloyds TBS, Scottish Council for Voluntary organizations and Peace Child International.

CEK volunteers and Kalukuni secondary school students outside the computer lab after the presentation

Term three of year 2008 saw us welcome our partner branch Cosmos Education US and their partners from NASA, JPL and University of Southern Maine . This was for a research and outreach programme. A series of field trips and school visits were carried out in this period. This was an opportunity for the students and CEK volunteers to learn about research and get to participate first hand in a research expedition.

As has been the norm for the past few years, CEK activities for the year came to a close with a member’s activity and the Annual General meeting. At the annual general meeting a new executive board was elected. The following were elected to serve CEK executive committee for the year 2009

President – Dr. Bridgit Muasa

Vice President - Mr. Peter Kanja

Treasurer – Dr. Evalyn Mwihia

Secretary – Miss Carol Muli

Director of Education – Mr Ben Kariuki

Executive Director – Mr. Isaac Musyoka (appointed)

The new executive committee took up office soon after and will be in charge of managing CEK for the next one year.

As we welcome 2009, I would also like to invite you to participate in the activities scheduled for this year. In 2009 we plan to continue with our career and motivation programme, Nyota professional insights. We also plan to continue engaging and encouraging critical thinking and team work amongst the student with our “Chemsha Bongo” Engineering challenges. In April and August we also plan to hold Holiday science camps within the country. We also plan to schedule outreach programmes and field visits with the term to various locations.

Below is a list of the programmes that we intend to carry out in 2009

Nyota professional insights programme: This is a career and motivation programme that facilitates interaction between students and respected members of the Society who have excelled in their fields of expertise. Under this programme CEK, the students and the school’s career guidance teacher identify topics and issues that are relevant to the students needs. CEK then identifies suitable mentors and facilitate the session

Chemsha Bongo engineering challenges: This is an interactive session where the students are engaged in various challenges. To solve these challenges the students are required to think critically and work as team. During these sessions CEK volunteers organize challenges with affordable and readily available materials. In these sessions the volunteers present the challenge, provide the materials and set the rules and the time period, the rest is left to the student’s discretion. The tasks are designed to require collection effort thereby instilling team work.

Holiday science camp (HSC): These camps were designed as an upgrade to the Under African skies programme. With the holiday science camp CEK invites four to seven schools to converge in one location for a week long science camp. During the camp we conduct a series of engaging and fun experiments incorporating material that the students learnt in the past semester and adding new materials. This way the students are able to put into practical use knowledge gained in class as well as learn new things. This programme enables us to reach a larger audience and also allows us to spend quality time with the students allowing us to empower them more. This programme also caters for the insufficient practical exposure that the students lack owing to financial constraints. The schools we target are often low income schools that do not have the finances to provide sufficient practical exposure within their curriculum.

Kalukuni secondary school visit: We plan to visit this school in February 2009.This will be a follow up visit 6 months after we donated computers to the school. During this visit we plan to evaluate the benefit of our donation to the school. We plan to have a session where the students will have an opportunity to show case to CEK what they have learnt this far and of what benefit the computers have been to them. We will also have an interactive session where will engage the students in hands on experiments.

Uvumbuzi club: This is derived from the Swahili word Vumbua which has the broad meaning of: bring to light, explore, invent and discover. Uvumbuzi club is a new project that we plan to launch this year. Under this programme we plan to partner the secondary schools in our network with a group of undergraduate students from different faculties. The undergraduate students will then work with the students on various tasks through out the school term. The aim will be to expose the secondary school students to various fields and cultivate interest in the students to pursue higher education.

I would like to invite you all to support us in our activities this year. To support a CEK programme please visit our website for details http://www.cosmoseducation.org/donate/index.shtml

To conclude, on behalf of CEK I would like to thank you once more for being part of this great movement and we believe with your help we can reach out to more young people in Kenya .

I would especially like to acknowledge the support of the following Organisations

Cosmos Education UK

Cosmos Education USA

Cosmos Education Zambia

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organizations

Peace Child International

Lloyds TBS

Computers for Schools Kenya

NASA

University of Southern Maine

Mama na Dada

I would also like to thank all school heads,teachers and students and all other CEK supporters.

Happy New Year!

Warm regards,

Bridgit Muasa
President ,
Cosmos Education Kenya

The Lake Bogoria Research Trip

2008-12-09T08:40:00.015+01:00

The St Andrews Meeting;
October 2008 will remain the busiest month for CEK. We managed to accomplish a myriad of activities raging from trips to the Great Rift Valley, visiting and cementing partnerships with several organizations…not forgetting research based Educational Institutions.
It all started with a volunteers bonding and scheduling meeting on a rainy Sunday afternoon on 2nd October. The members started streaming in at around 2pm and within the next 1/2 hour; it was already a full house at St. Andrews Apartments where Dr. Hand was residing during that period. To set the ball rolling, Kevin opened the session with introducing himself to the group and more so, to the new CEK members who had joined the organization some few months ago. As soon as he finished, it was now time for the other members to introduce themselves which was done in a round robin style. Before long, we got into the agenda of the day. Kevin read through the items in his list, followed by Brigit who read the activities which were contained in the CEKs’ October program.

During the meeting, Mr. Monroe and his three member group from Maine University joined in. After a quick introduction, the visitors set up a digital microscope demonstration which turned to be a “Wow moment”. Everyone was exited to see the new technological tool used for looking at some very tiny objects…! Before long, we managed to compare the notes, did a prioritization and at long last came out with a comprehensive program of activities which was to kick off in the next two days. After that achievement, the meeting was adjourned and the attendees enjoyed the drinks and snacks, before taking a group photo.

A group photo at St. Andrews Apartments.

Lake Bogoria Trip;
It’s a chilly morning in Nairobi. The sky is invisible, thick dark clouds are threatening to wreck havoc at the slightest provocation. The team had prepared well in advance for the over 250kms journey. As soon as the green 4x4 truck came, we quickly loaded the bags and other equipments. We finally hit the road at 10am. To beat the city traffic, we passed through the Arboretum Driveway, and within no time, we were cruising on the Nairobi - Nakuru Highway at top speed. We conversed on various issues as Justus did his duty on the wheels. It was just a matter of time before we reached the Great Rift Valley View Point at Kinare shopping center. The sky was very clear and we could see the Longonot Mountain quite clearly. The scenery was very spectacular with Lake Elementaita being seen at a distance behind the sprawling ranges. At Naivasha, we decided to pass through the busy town just to sight see, especially for the visitors and to also visit the ATM to re-load our pockets. The stop over was short and within no time we were on the road again. The stretch from the Delamere Complex to the Weigh Bridge is full of wild animals especially the herbivores grazing sometimes very close to the road. We enjoyed seeing the gazelles, zebras, baboons, buffalos, and dick dicks, not forgetting the warthogs in hundreds.

A herd of buffalos grazing at Gilgil Reserve.

As we approached Kikopey “The meat point”, we requested our driver to slow down the pace so that we can take photos of Lake Elementaita which lies a few hundred meters from the main road. The fish eagles could be seen hovering around the lake as they kept a keen eye to the algae infested water for a meal. No sooner had we started climbing the small hill towards Kasambara region, we heard a loud bang and before we could comprehend where the sound originated, our truck was reduced to a three wheeled Tuk-tuk as the right rear wheel had a fatal puncture.

The tire puncture at Kasambara, along the Nairobi – Nakuru highway

One of the scouts law says…..”Always Be Prepared”. This happened to be our driving force. As soon as Justus pulled over, we stepped out and started changing the wheel. This task didn’t take too much of our time and soon we were back on the road. Justus had to drive a bit faster since there were signs of an early afternoon downpour that we dreaded finding us way before Nakuru. Fortunately, it drizzled for a while and within no time we were driving towards Kabarak. At 3pm we were already past Mogotio “the goats’ town” and well past the Koibatet Sisal plantations.
We made a short stop over at the Equator Crossing Point in near Emening. A Mr. William Kimosop, the chief Warden at Lake Bogoria National Reserve, who is also the Director for the Equator Education & Resource Center, together with his colleagues were anxiously waiting for our arrival due to some arrangements’ that were made earlier on. They gave us a warm welcome and led us inside the centers’ building which is under construction, and to be precise…almost complete. William took us round the one story building explaining to us the proposed use of the different rooms and the big lounge, situated at downstairs in the backyard extension. There is a nice viewing point at the top floor where we enjoyed looking at the western escarpment of the Abedare Ranges, not forgetting the athletes training trails at theTurgen Hills in the kabarnet region. We could also clearly see the world famous Lake Nakuru in the south, and the thick eastern part of the Mau Forest Complex.

Mr. William Kimosop (with hands raised) welcoming the team to the resource center.

What a wonderful sight! Before leaving, we held an open discussion session outside the building where a new partnership was entered between Cosmos Education and the Equator Resource Center. Mr. Kimosop welcomed the idea of CE members visiting the center as regularly as possible and also reiterated that the center will instill an open door policy for all the CE volunteers and researchers at large

The team at the Equator Educational Resource Center in Mogotio.

We finally made it to Lake Bogoria Spa Hotel, arriving at 6pm. After the arrival, we quickly did our bookings which consisted of rooms and the camping site. Despite the tens of patrons who had done their bookings online, we were lucky to get accommodation on the spot. Kevin, Kimani & Kanja were the people in charge of pitching the tents under a nice canopy made by the tall yellow backed Acacia trees. Carol & Justus helped to move the bags from the truck to the respective places. As soon as we were set, we all gathered at the dining hall for the dinner which was served shortly. The mbuzi choma (barbecued goat meat) was mouth watering accompanied by an assortment of green vegetables and wild fruits. A soft Jemps traditional music came out sweetly from the tiny speakers mounted at strategic places. What a nice way to spend the early evening hours!

After the diner, we decided to move places and went to the bar which is just adjacent to the warm water swimming pool. The venue was parked to capacity with revelers enjoying their drinks while others were on the dancing floor dancing the night away. Guess what, there were also a sizable number of people who were in the pool swimming the night away. Oooops….and who are we not to join in the fray? We decided to change into our swimming kits and dived into the water. This was an experience that could not match any other. The pool was just so warm which kept us going and going. Before long, it was already well past 1am. This is the time we decided to hit the bed. The night passed at a lightening speed. At six in the morning, we were woken up by the melodious sounds of the many bird’s species as they welcomed the day. Loud sounds of the marabou storks rent the air as we all gathered for breakfast.

The warm water source at the Spa Hotel, Bogoria.

At around 8am we set off for the Lake which is a 20 minutes drive. While along the way, we enjoyed seeing different animals including, the Maasai ostrich, the greater kudus, rock hyraxes, etc. Birds’ species were just too many. As the truck swerved though the rough path, we came across a tortoise which was crossing the road. This prompted the driver to bring the truck to a halt to enable us take some shots. Some several other tourist vans took advantage and had their fair share too.

A Tortoise crossing the pathway in the Lake Bogoria park.

As we arrived at the Lake shores, we found a few people scattered here and there, some watching the tens of hot springs while others were looking at the thousands of flamingoes in the lake. Soon after we laid our apparatus ready for the Discovery Channel documentary shooting, there came a group of secondary school students who approached Kevin and started fielding some questions to him. He kindly answered them and also shared some knowledge with them. Their teacher enjoyed every minute of the session. The session didn’t take long and shortly, we got to the business of the day. We divided ourselves into three groups. Kevin, Lynn and Kyle were left behind doing the documentary shooting while Denson and Carol walked ashore to the farthest spring to collect some research samples. Kimani & Kanja were also busy collecting samples and recording the test results from various spring points. In some cases, the spring PH reading rose as high as 9.5, while the salinity and conductivity recorded equally high readings too. We managed to collect data from more than 14 springs scattered at an area which was a bit less than 10 meters’ squared. Denson drew a sketch of the point in his handbook for reference.

The team during the research at the hot springs

Right across the lake towards the southern side, we could see a large number of flamingoes foraging the relatively calm section. As the afternoon heat raised to high temperatures’, some very dark clouds formed from the eastern side and before long, there was a heavy downpour which hit the sprawling hills. There was lots of wind blowing southwards which resulted to lots of heavy waves being blown towards our direction. The green watered lake was no more calm and the flamingoes started flying westwards in their hundreds.

Dr. Hand exchanges ideas with students at the lake shore.

As the early evening hours approached, we packed and headed to the Lake Bogoria Education Center where we were supposed to preside over a presentation. The education hall was filled to capacity with students from the local secondary school. There was also a sizable number of college students from the area, not forgetting some members of the nearby community. No sooner had everyone got settled, than Dr. Hand resumed his very informative presentation, followed by Ms. Lynn, whose sessions’ end, opened the open discussion time. There was a myriad of questions from the audience which the presenters answered explanatorily. Soon after the presentation, a partnership was agreed upon between the Education Center and CE. Mr. Jackson, the director of the center thanked the CE for the presentation and requested us to make more trips to their center for the benefit of their eager to learn students.

The powerful waves after an afternoon downpour in Lake Bogoria.

Back at the hotel, Prof. Francis Mwaura of Nairobi University together with Mr. Monroe from university of Maine and his group had already arrived. The second group of six CEK volunteers, led by Dr. Evalyn Mwihia, Dr. Kevin Kinyua, Eva, Ben, Justa and Dickson had earlier on arrived from Nairobi. We welcomed them and we then headed straight to the dinner venue which was hosted at the garden, just adjacent to the swimming pool. The garden was full of dinning patrons. Luckily our tables were already reserved hence no need of looking for a place to sit. Everyone enjoyed the tasty dinner. Some members headed to the pool for several water dives before retiring to bed.

The third day was an activity filled one. We had to go to the Lake for more research, get to Maji Moto Springs for more research as ell as the journey back to Nairobi via Lake Nakuru National Park. Mr. Kyle was also gearing himself for his freight back to the states in the evening. In this case w headed to the lake early enough, did our duty before heading to Maji Moto which is a 30 minutes drive through the hills capped with a thick vegetation of different species of acacias and wild perching plants. Sounds of iron bells hanging on the necks of the grazing goats could be herd from deep inside the forests. It took only 1 hour to explore the rocks at Maji Moto, and soon we were on the road again heading to the hotel and off to Nakuru.

The team at the maji moto stream.

We were happy to have accomplished too much within a short period. On the way, we discussed various issues and tried to figure out the success of the trip from a wider perspective. We came to realize that the trip activities were made easier to accomplish due to the good formal planning we had done earlier, capped with a purposeful execution.

On reaching Nakuru, we said goodbye to Evelyn’s group which headed straight to Nairobi while Kevin’s’ group went to the national park, situated just three miles away from the ever busy central Rift town. At the park, we came across tens of wild animals, with the most interesting one being the white rhino which was grazing in an open ground adjacent to the pathway. The gerenuks, water bucks, gazelles and the warthogs could all be seen feeding soundly on the green lawns. We came across a herd of buffalos as we crossed a river which flows to the lake in the eastern end. We also spotted another black rhino with a kid grazing at the swampy region of the lake, before we proceeded to the far western end where we stopped for a while in order to take some shots of the thousands of pelicans, flamingos, water ducks and the ibis, which were gathered along the shore. The sight was spectacular with loud noises of the singing birds.

A flock of flamingos at Lake Nakuru National Park

Within no time, we were all at the baboon cliff watching the playing monkeys beneath the big rocks. We could clearly see the town together with some other shopping centers along the highway. Before long, it was already getting late and dusk was fast approaching, in this case, we decided to hit the road to Nairobi. It took us two hours to get to the city since there was no much traffic towards the city. No sooner had we reached the St. Andrews apartment than we bade a goodbye to Kyle who was whisked away in a waiting taxi to the airport for the night freight. We were all very tired, and without much ado, we parted ways for a relaxing night.

Lake Bogoria, we miss you and can’t wait to visit again.

Africom Action Project Launch July 26, 2008

2008-07-29T07:46:00.014+01:00

Kalukuni secondary school Principal, Mr. Muthengi (second left), Kalukuni secondary School Board of Governors Chairman, Mr Bondo (Standing), Mr. Nicholas Nzou, partnership liaison manager,Computers for schools Kenya (Seated right)

It was an action project born out of the 3rd World Youth Congress held in Glasgow, Scotland 2005. Africom, is the name of the project. It was meant to ship refurbished computers to schools in Kenya and Tanzania, and Bridgit Syombua Muasa was, and still is, the country coordinator.
Kalukuni Secondary School Captain giving a vote of thanks

Cosmos Education Kenya members with the students out side the Computer lab!

After two years of planning and organizing, Cosmos Education Kenya Partnered with Computers For Schools Kenya (CFSK), which is an organization dedicated towards donating computers to schools all around the country, as well as maintaining them.

A view of Yatta Taken from a vehicle!!
As part of our Inspiring, Engaging and Empowering young Africans from impoverished backgrounds, we searched for a school to benefit from our pilot programme. We found Kalukuni Secondary School in Yatta district, and it was a perfect school for us to start over with this.

Then on Saturday 26, 2008 we traveled to the school together with Computer for schools Kenya coordinator to launch the project. Eight Cosmos Education Volunteers took off on this chilly Saturday morning - as always enthusiastic and passionate about what we do. Kalukuni is almost 3 hours from Nairobi, and we talked and joked on our way such that we didn't notice when we arrived at the school. On arrival, everyone was there to welcome us and for a moment I felt like a king, but it hit me that that was not the main point - the main point was that I was there in the capacity of a young educator as well as a youth role model!

I could tell from the animated talk and laughter from my colleagues that they were as excited as I was to be in the school, which reminded me of UAS 2005 and 2006 in Naivasha/Nakuru, and the Mt. Kenya region respectively. It always inspires and motivates me to interact with students from the countryside - the ones we might politically incorrect say that they are "underprivileged" it is for them that CE was born; it is for them that I joined CE; it is for them that we never tire to learn and share our knowledge; it is for these young people that we are what we are - "An organization dedicated towards bridging the knowledge gap that exists in the world"

The school administration as well as the parents and students were elated to meet us, but one thing was clear - they were all pleasantly surprised to discover that CEK is made up of young people; they expected to meet serious looking business people, but there we were: very young, very lively, very enthusiastic and contagiously passionate about what we do. From the President to the Director to the other volunteers - we all oozed with youthfulness.

Students making a pledge to excel in computer Science

Watch this space for a full report of the launch. Meanwhile, I do not want to bombard you with text....sit back and look at some of the pictures taken during the event, and many more

coming!!!!

a view of the computer lab

Kalukuni Secondary school Computer Science Teacher

Students having a shot at this "new" technology in their school

WE INSPIRE, ENGAGE, AND EMPOWER........"SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FOR A DEVELOPING WORLD."

Tree Planting at Karura Forest on EARTH DAY 2008

2008-06-03T16:20:00.003+01:00

EARTH DAY – Tuesday, 22^nd April 2008

TREE PLANTING AT KARURA FOREST Nairobi Kenya

PREAMBLE

Kenya is endowed with a variety of trees which are of paramount importance to the forest cover and its significance to the water catchments. The importance of forests in Kenya's economy is critical, as fuel wood contributes 90% of the domestic demand in energy, and 75% of the national energy consumption. Approximately 2.7% of Kenya's land area is forested, 10% of which (about 160,000 ha) is covered with industrial plantations, consisting mainly of cypress, cupressus lusitanica; pines, pinus patula and pinus radiata; and eucalypts. Forests are also source for timber, pulpwood and poles and of vital importance as water catchments areas, earth stabilizers, and habitat for wildlife.

The Kenya forest service has done quite a lot in ensuring that the local communities are involved in forest conservation matters. This is through the community forest areas whereby the community members are sensitized to know that the forest is part of them and therefore, they should proactively take part in its development. Rapid population growth has exerted heavy pressure on forested land through conversion into human settlement areas and agriculture. Demand on forest products and services have increased tremendously. Trees have been also lost to illegal felling, insects and diseases, and frequent forest fires.

PROCEEDINGS

The day started when we set off towards Karura Forest after converging in Nairobi town. It was raining heavily so we had to wait for the rains to subdue. We arrived at the Forestry Department at 9am in the morning and we were met by Mr. Obam Lewis, the Forest Officer. The officer organized all tree planting equipments which included the Jembes, Pangas, Spades, and the Rakes. After taking enough tree planting equipments we set off for the Tree Planting site at Karura Forest. It had rained so heavily, that it was almost impossible to reach the designated site. However, our spirits were high and we wanted to achieve our objective of planting 1,000 trees and consequently contribute positively to environmental conservation which is in line with millennium development goal (MDG) number 7.

On arriving we found community members had arrived much earlier and this was very encouraging to us. The community members were from the neighbouring Huruma community.

They had come in large numbers and they included children as young as seven (7) years, women and men who were all dedicated to achieve the objective of the World Earth day. To begin with, Mr. Lewis showed the youth and community members how to plant the trees and the best way to remove the seedlings from the plastic bags.

We divided ourselves into three groups and started the noble task. Each one of us had a role to play. We planted the trees with high enthusiasm and good speed because we knew that the rains would fall any time. The children on their part were very useful because they brought the seedlings to the holes dug by the forest officers a day before. In addition to this; some children were strong enough to plant ten trees each, which was good because it instilled a sense of conservation amongst the young kids. Though we were a small number due to the challenge of heavy rains, we managed to plant over 800 trees on one day in Karura Forest.
Trees planted included; Croton Megalocarpus, Podo, Nandi Flame and other indigenous trees.

Planting trees with the local community members is very important since in conservation work, community participation is the most preferred instrument. This is due to the fact that, it inculcates a sense of ownership and management on the trees planted and consequently they protect the trees planted for they understand that they are their own.

Conclusion

Trees have many uses in Kenya and other parts of the World. In Kenya, the 1988 reports shown that demand for timber increased three-fold over a 25-year period, starting in the late 1980s. It was feared that, unless significant changes were made in the timber producing and processing industry, there will be a strong reliance on large imports of timber and timber products to meet growing domestic demand. It became necessary to develop sustainable forest management plans. According to Mr. Lewis (Forest Officer) the main challenges in forest conservation are during the planting season and the forest fires.

During the planting season, much effort is needed to plant the required number of trees and community participation is very essential. During the dry season, forest fires break in many areas. This has a negative impact on the total forest cover and subsequently on the water catchments areas. In line with this, more trees should be planted in order to avert the dangers of the climate change, provide shelter for the birds, food to the wildlife, food to people and other uses.

Passion for the environment and compassion for people are the powerful motivating forces in the community based organizations such as Green Warriors Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations such as Youth for Conservation and the Youth Environment Network Zambia, for their invaluable contribution towards the conservation of our precious biodiversity.

Local communities such as Huruma should also be encouraged to conserve the flora and fauna. This could be effectively achieved through Eco-Tourism approaches whereby the community members will benefit directly from the forest and at the same time, it will evolve as a complete solution to the wide spread destruction of forest in Kenya.

This strategy if well implemented rationally spearheads a process of wealth creation, job creation and improved conservation, all specifically in the rural areas where poverty abounds and peoples needs are so great. This is no small undertaking. Can you imagine replanting the whole of the Sahara desert with trees! The task in hand is enormous but together we will make a difference. Well to surmise it all; we kindly request you as a young or old person to plant one or two trees, save Kenya, Zambia and the Planet from Environmental Degradation.

Prepared by

Billy Mwansa Lombe

Youth Environment Network –Zambia

email: yenzambia@yahoo.com

Tel: +260-977-607-960

p.o Box 30865, Lusaka, Zambia.

A day with the Muthaiga Police Depot IDPs

2008-05-22T09:51:00.017+01:00

A view of the Muthaiga Police Depot IDP camp

Everyone was unusually early, perhaps an indication of what a good day it was going to be for us. All the materials had been put in order and the systems ready to go. Transport was quickly organized and the gang left for the Muthaiga Police depot IDP camp. Cruising down Murang'a road on that bright Saturday morning , the members couldn't help reminiscing the HSLC week at MCEDO school! We used exactly the same route as we used during that week of the camp last year.

On arrival at the IDP camp, some of the MCEDO teachers joined us and it was a nostalgic re union. We were met by Julia Njoki, the lady in charge of the operations at the IDP camp. We were taken on an orientation tour of the camp before getting the children together for our main activity. After the tour, where we got to see the appalling living conditions of the IDPs, the children were assembled in the main hall and it was a pleasant surprise to see how obedient and receptive they were, compared to the past visits to the other camps.

A section of the 'gang' introducing themselves

We started by introductions, after which we had one big group assembled outside in the field and started on different modules. We did 'WATER' where we talked about the % of freshwater and salty water in the world. The % of water available for use by man, and talked about the importance of water, why we need to conserve it, and ways in which to do so. We also talked about Global warming and its effects on the environment. We taught about the causes and mitigation measures! It was encouraging to realize that the children really knew which mountain is the highest in the world, the highest mountain in Africa and the highest in Kenya. That was not enough-they even know that on top of these mountains there is ice which melts when the sun is too hot! It was their turn to tell us how the melted ice flows into rivers and eventually into the oceans and seas leading to rising sea levels!

CEK members doing the banana song with the children

We talked about trees and came up with a new slogan: 'cut one tree, plant 5 more' We gave out postcards donated by UNEP's Children and Youth unit, which had paintings from the Tunza International painting competition for the children. What was even more encouraging was when two of the children gave back their postcards with a thank you note! This was very much humbling and we realized the impact we were making on these youngsters! Talk of inspiring, and that is exactly what we were doing to these young people!

Isaac Teaching about Global warming and its effects on the environment

Rocket launch was the last item on our agenda, after which we had the 'gang' serve juice and cookies. We also gave out books, pencils, sharpeners, and erasers. At the end everyone was satisfied and we headed out for our final activity of the day which was tree planting. We planted 10 seedlings in total.

Kevin Kinyua prepares to launch the rocket

We left when a church was bringing lunch to the camp - Giving! Something crossed my mind and I wondered just how much there is to gain by reaching out to the less fortunate in our society! Voluntary/community service does reward and posters a sense of belonging and self confidence to the giver!

Caitlin with some of the children at the camp

CEK members planting a tree at the camp

Kanja explains how to remove a seedling from the plastic bag

When all was said and done, we had Inspired, Engaged and Empowered. The most important thing was the impact that was left with the youngsters about CE and the whole team.

A section of the children taking juice and cookies

Justa Distributing books

Surely, 'youth are the future, education being the key!'

A Dream On the Brink!

2008-03-20T12:10:00.007+01:00

This is Moses Waithaka Nyokabi

Moses waithaka is among the many children living at the Mathare IDP chief's camp. I met him on Sartuday the 15th, when we visited the camp. From a distance I could sense an air of difference about him. The difference is all out there for everyone to see, since when the rest of the kids are scrambling for the goodies that we have, Moses is keeping his cool and stands at the back of the queue where he is the last person! This gets me interested and gets him to talk.

After a 20 minutes chat, this is what I learn about this young man! Moses is a form two student, by the virtue of him being in form one last year. he has not yet reported to school since the start of this year. Reason, his mom, Lucy Nyokabi, cannot afford to pay his school fees. Moses is one of the many unlucky students who were caught in the post poll violence! they were displaced and now he just hopes that one day he will be able to go back to school. he tells me he got a sponsor who only promised to pay for one year of schooling then after that he has to look for ways to pay the rest. However, this sponsor, will only pay the fees under one condition: that Moses, gets all his personal effects (school uniform, water bucket, shoes, toiletries, pocket money, among other personal effects) by himself!

Moses is now in a dillemma because he wants to go to school but he cannot even afford the basic necessities! he is supposed to report to Kangemi Boys High School, the question is "HOW?"

This is an appeal to friends and wellwishers to help this young man pursue his dream. A dream to get his family out of squalor; a dream to get an education and improve his lot; a dream to help other unfortunate kids just like him in future! Life at the IDP camp is dislussioning, and they only depend on rations for survival!

Help save a young and youthful dream from sinking into the oblivion!

Moses tries out the Towers of Hanoi challenge -competing against Njeri as Dr. Bridgit looks on!

Moses at the IDP chief's camp, mathare

If you wanna help please contact any one of the following:

Isaac Musyoka CEK treasurer 254 722 381 218, imusyoka@gmail.com

Dr. Bridgit Syombua CEK president 254 721 724 850, syochicken@gmail.com

Peter Kanja CEK Vice president 254 722 961 307, kanjap@gmail.com

Dr. Evalyn Mwihia CEK Secretary 254 721 417 716, evamwihia@gmail.com

Caitlin Sanford CE US 254 724 141 959, caitlins@gmail.com

CEK AGM Pics

2008-03-18T10:10:00.008+01:00

CEK Volunteers posed for a photo during the 2007 Annual General Meeting

Hello everyone!

Late last year, December 9th, to be exact, CEK held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) - cum - activity day. The place - ESME World class schools in Waithaka, Kikuyu district, which is in the outskirts of the Nairobi city. The school is owned by one James Njeru, a Cosmos Education bona fide member who hosted us, at a fee. Quite a number of CEK members attended and it was a day to behold! We had fun, bonded, and brainstormed on the various activities to be carried this year. One of our volunteers, Justa, invited us to visit her former high school, Kieni Girls in Embu, and even volunteered to do the follow up with the school administration on CEK behalf. Everyone was ecstatic about this and we agreed that this year visiting Embu will be one of our major projects!

See below pictures taken during the event!

.....and rule no. 3 is......It is the Most serious of all! u can forget rule no.1 & no. 2, but u can't forget this one!!

Fun!!!!!

Cosmos Education, Science Education for the Developing World!!!

A DAY WITH THE CHILDREN OF MATHARE CHIEF'S IDP CAMP!

2008-03-17T13:30:00.015+01:00

"Youth are the Future, Education is the key!"

Amidst all the uncertainty facing the IDP's at the Chief's camp. mathare, this little boy could afford a smile - hopeful that the future will look nothing like what is at the moment!

It finally happened! Cosmos Education Kenya volunteers visited the chief's camp in mathare, one of the sprawling slums in Nairobi, last Sartuday the 15th of March 2008. As always, the volunteers were entusiastic about the visit at the camp. It was a day after a night of heavy rains and with a bad drainage system in the Camp, there was mud all over and the Unicef tent were we carried out our sessions was all messy, but we endured all the same. After two weeks of preparations and planning, nothing could stop us. we were determined to make an impact in the lives of the displaced children, who at the moment their only hope remains the Kenya Red Cross, Mama na dada (An NGO which actively does outreach activities in the camp), Unicef, Cosmos Education Kenya, and other like minded humanitarian and outreach organizations.

Legend has it that the Towers of Hanoi....Isaac explains The story behind the Towers of Hanoi, as Bridgit puts the game in place!

After meeting in our downtown office at 9am, we hired a Matatu which took us to the camp. On our arrival, you could tell from the curious IDP's that to them every visitor brings with them a new hope. I was even amazed that some of the children could remember our volunteers who had done a pre-visit. I couldn't hide my joy on seeing the children recognize Bridgit, Kevin, and Justa - they really made a great first impression!

Njeri and Moses try the Towers of Hanoi challenge as Bridgit looks on

After a brief singing and interacting with the curious children, we finally assembled in the not so accommodating Unicef tent where we did our introduction. We had worked out a mechanism such that all our activities were synchronized and each session eased onto the next and this way we ensured that our young audience did not get bored. Unlike in the past, we did not break into groups, rather we opted to tackle the kids in one big group - which at one point seemed headed to the rocks! The kids were kind of unrully and naughty, but they afforded us their attention regardless!

Evalyn distributing some grapes she got from the camp to the kids

The topics covered ranged from the infamous Towers of Hanoi to the paper folding challenge. We did the hyena, chicken, and Ugali, all these laced with songs and dance - the Banana song was the most requested and our volunteer Kevin Kinyua with one of CEK's newest, Nina, kept the kids peeling, slashing and eating "banana" This way, Caitlin's void (note that she had travelled to Tanzania on an assignment) was adequately covered!

Now lets do this, Bridgit gets Moses to try out the Towers of Hanoi challenge as Isaac looks on

Being an Intern at the UNEP, I was careful not to leave out the environment! I talked to the kids on the importance of keeping our environment clean, taking care of trees, and planting new ones. The kids seemed aware of the fact that trees purify our air and induce rain!!!!

We need to keep our environment clean and hospitable to everyone!

After spending a sizeable amount of the morning teaching and singing, we then treated them to a cup of juice and biscuits. We also donated excersise books and pencils for them to write on come Monday morning.

Justa, Kevin, Dickson, and Nina doing the "I pepeta" song!

Once everything was said and done, and everyone was ready to go back and enjoy the rest of their weekend, we could not help reflecting on what really had been achieved so far. One thing we were convinced of , though. We had gone there with one thing in mind: To Inspire, Empower, and Engage, but I had a feeling that we had done more than just that. We had touched the lives of a very sensitive group in our society at this time when the country is still smarting from the post poll violence and its effect. Our hearts reached out to them and we are definately going back to pick up from there..........all the way to the future, which is intricately embeded in the youthful virality of the youth - as long as they are given the key: EDUCATION!

Help support a student to attend secondary school

2008-03-10T15:18:00.002+01:00

Dear readers,

You may remember the MCEDO-Beijing school where Cosmos Education Kenya held the Holiday Science Learning Camp in August 2007. We have learned that all 15 of the pupils in standard 8 have passed the national primary school exam, which qualifies the students to attend secondary school.

This is a huge achievement for an informal school that does not have certified teachers. The students all worked extremely hard to pass the national exam and get a chance to go to secondary school. They all deserve the chance to continue their education.

We like to think that the week long camp held by Cosmos Education Kenya likely prepared the students for success in some key science topics. We are fundraising to try to send at least a few students to boarding school up country. Boarding school in the norm for secondary school in Kenya, and would remove the students from the unhealthy environment of the slum. The alternative is that they will stay around looking for work, ending their education at age 14. The students have been accepted to two secondary schools in central Kenya, where they would live on campus. The cost of one year tuition, including board and meals is 18,000 Kenyan Shillings, which is US$ 268.65.

If you, or anyone you know could help support a student to go to school please email caitlinATcosmoseducationDOTorg

You will be able to send funds through Paypal and we will deposit it directly in the bank account of the school, or you can wire money directly to the school's bank in Kenya. In case anyone would like to support a student through all four years, my colleagues Perter Kanja and Evalyn Mwihia have agreed to continue with the logistics of paying the fees during this time. Also let us know if you are able to support half ( US$ 136) or one third ( $90) of tuition and we can pair people together to cover the cost to support one student.

Education is the best gift we can give. I know these children will be so grateful for the chance to keep learning, even for one more year. And with the added bonus that they will get to move out of the slum. If you ever have benefited from a scholarship or a student loan, this is a great chance to give back to someone who really needs help.

Please pass this on to anyone else that may be interested, and let us know about any organizations that might be able to help. The next term starts in April.

Thank you,

The Cosmos Education Kenya team

Visit to Chief's Camp and Mathare

2008-03-03T13:36:00.009+01:00

On Saturday members from Cosmos Education Kenya visited the Chief's IDP Camp located near Mathare and Huruma slums in Nairobi. At the camp we learned that about 500 people were living there, including 200 children. The people staying in the camp come from a mix of tribes. Most of them were staying in the Mathare area and lost their homes or had to leave due to ethnic violence. Many of the children are young and have not yet been to school. Some were attending school, but now many do not feel comfortable in their old schools, or cannot afford to return.

At the camp we met with members of an organization called Mama na Dada that is organizing counseling, teaching, and other forms of support to people staying in the camp, especially children. Cosmos Education Kenya hopes to partner with Mama na Dada to organize a weekend of science and environmental education for the kids at Chief's camp.

CEK's Justa with kids at the camp

This weekend Mama na Dada had organized a football (soccer) tournament in Mathare to promote peace. We watched the game and Kanja held a dancing contest for the children. You can find more photos of the excursion at: http://picasaweb.google.com/caitlins/CEKYEPVisitToChiefSIDPCampAndMatharePeaceSoccerMatch

AN AGREEMENT AT LAST MARKS A NEW BEGGINING FOR KENYA!!!

2008-02-29T07:37:00.002+01:00

I am very pleased to report that, after several long weeks of often acrimonious debate in an atmosphere of considerable tension and anxiety, peppered by some frightening outbreaks of violence, an agreement between the 2 opposing political parties in Kenya, ODM and PNU, and their leaders Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki, has now been signed and publicly announced in Nairobi - yesterday evening. Chief mediator Kofi Annan and the current president of the African Union, President Jakaya Murisho Kikwete of Tanzania , were there to tell us so. And both Raila and Kibaki gave good speeches committing themselves and their parties to uphold the agreement and to ensure that it will be implemented.

The basic agreement is that a power-sharing coalition will be formed, and that the post of an executive Prime Minister will be created, and occupied by the leader of the party with the greatest number of seats in Parliament (that is Odinga of ODM). Also 2 deputy prime ministers will be appointed, one each from each of the largest parties. The cabinet will therefore comprise the President (Kibaki) and the Vice President (Musyoka) the PM (Odinga), the 2 deputy PMs, and other Ministers. Government positions in general from top to bottom will be shared out 50/50. Parliament will be convened next Thursday 6th March.

Of course the challenge will be for the political class to truly commit to this agreement and ensure that it is followed and respected. Let us hope they will do that.

Now the next stage of the mediated talks can get started and Kofi Annan says this will kick off today. These talks will be about finding a long term solution to the underlying issues that for so many years have been ignored or glossed over and which are recognized as being the root causes of Kenya ’s difficulties. These are Poverty/Inequity, Land Tenure/Land Reform, the repair of a badly mangled Constitution, and the reform of the Judiciary, and the Electoral process. We also hope they may tackle the other evils that we have had to live with over the years – corruption and the culture of impunity and lack of accountability among many more evils in the society.

So there is a lot still to do. But we in Kenya are enormously relieved that this agreement has been reached at last. Frankly we feared (only the day before yesterday) that the talks were destined for failure and that the country would plunge back into the horrific violence and anarchy that we suffered in January before Kofi Annan arrived. Now we believe that we have turned a very important corner and see a new road lit up for us.We have finally come out of the very dark traumatizing tunnel.....and can now see the light.

Of course there is a huge mess to clean up and Cosmos Education Kenya will certainly be playing a part in the national recovery process as far as our activities are concerned. Hundreds of thousands of jobs and livelihoods were lost or severely handicapped, in this case, there are lots of children who are very unfortunate due to displacement...hence lack of schooling and or proper education. Millions of us got badly traumatized, even though there are counselling centres countrywide, they are however not able to cope up with the large number of clients.

For CE Kenya, there will be no shortage of constructive work. However, if the politicians can really provide the space, or create a condusive environment that we can work in, I am very confident that we are very well placed and up to the task of reaching a large number of students especially those who are in the IDP camps. I say this boldly since i know the kind of a team we have on the ground has all the capability and willingness to walk an extra mile for this worthy course. I know that we are all committed to peace, stability, unity, justice, and to working positively to build this society,economy and this country at large.....and more so, make sure our children get quality education.

So congratulations and very many thanks to everyone for your patience, persistence and support. Lets all March forward now.......!

For CE Kenya members......please lets all meet tomorrow in the office as earlier agreed.

Sincerely
Eng,W/Tec, Peter Kanja
VP CE Kenya
+254 722 961 307

FIRST 2008 EXECUTIVE TEAM MEETING

2008-02-18T09:41:00.002+01:00

On Saturday 16th of February 2008, we the Executive team of Cosmos Education Kenya was able to meet for the first time ever after the country’s elections. On our agenda for the meeting that day was among others:
· Post election violence effect on members
· The Nyota getting there...professional insights project
· Holiday Science learning camp (HSLC)
· Plan of action for term one and the rest of the year
· CE Kenya contribution towards education in the IDP camps
· Plan for a members meeting to be held on the 2nd of March 2008

Each of the executive team members gave an account of how the election fiasco had affected them in their lives. We were glad to hear that, although some of us had been forced to move and had lost property, we had not been affected physically in terms of bodily harm or loss of life of immediate family and close relatives. It was truly a happy moment to see us all well and good.

We discussed the Nyota project and how the scheduling had been affected. We had been hoping to complete the last 5 sessions within this first term of the year but due to the commotion, we were unable to carry out this plan. Lucky for us, we had done the lion’s share of the project the previous year. We have come up with a plan to tackle the disturbed schedules.

We took to discuss scheduling of the HSL camp to be held in April. Since this has not affected by the current state of the country, we are very positive that we will hold the camp as scheduled. We are looking into venues and logistics as we speak.

Next we discussed CE Kenya’s contribution towards education in the Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) camps. Since the camps host families who have lost their homes, we decided the children in these camps need not loose out on their education too. We discussed about having a similar program as the Holiday science learning camp within the IDP camps. We have organized meetings with various other organizations which are dealing with education within the camps and we are hoping to get positive responses. We are looking at logistics at the moment and we will inform you on our progress so watch this space.

We discussed on having a meeting for all the CE Kenya members to, among other discussions, find out how they are doing post elections. We have set the meeting to be on the 2nd of March 2008. The agenda for the meeting will be: post election violence effect on members; Plan of action within the first term and the rest of the year; CE Kenya contribution towards education in the IDP camps; Plan for a members’ activity; Any other Business.

Under any other business, we planned to visit MCEDO school within the course of this term. The school is located within the Mathare area which was adversely affected by the post election violence. We are hoping to find the school standing strong despite the catastrophe and that the students have not been affected dearly.

We were proud to find out that, Isaac Musyoka – CE Kenya’s Treasure, had acquired a 6 month internship with the United Nations. He works at the DCPI office and has been there for about two weeks. He will inform us more on his participation at the UN offices.

Some more good news is that, Isaac Musyoka and Bridgit Syombua – CE-Kenya’s President, have been invited to attend the 4th World Youth Congress to be held in Quebec, Canada from the 10th -21st August of this year. For more information about this, please watch this space.

We discussed many other issues pertaining to the running of CE Kenya offices and set out goals for the term and year. As we left each other that day, we couldn’t help but feel closer and comfortable with our achievements so far.

It was truly a fruitful day!!!!!!!!!!

On the threshold of a breakthrough

2008-02-11T11:33:00.001+01:00

Folks, checkout today's headline from one of the leading Dailies in Kenya, The Standard

By Standard Team
It will be a unique political solution for Kenya that will be unveiled this week if both sides at the Kofi Annan-led talks agree to final details of a deal already on the table.
Both sides on Sunday gave hints of a power-sharing arrangement tailored to bring both teams into Government, in a settlement delicately balanced to end the post-election crisis, start the healing and build on future stability.
This follows last week’s announcement by Annan of an impending political solution, but details of how it would look like remained sketchy.
Four leading political analysts were of the view that given the delicate background behind which the Annan talks are taking place, the expected power-sharing formula may not have to stick to internationally established models but would be one made uniquely for the Kenyan crisis.
The analysts were agreed that the most expected outcome of the talks by Kenyans and politicians is a Government that leaves Mr Mwai Kibaki as the President while creating another top respectable executive position — like the Prime Minister — for Mr Raila Odinga.
They said for a fair deal to be seen to be struck, several ODM members would have to be absorbed into the Cabinet, some as assistant ministers, while Kibaki would have to cede some executive authority to Raila.

Amend constitution
Some of the agreements that may emerge in the talks would call for constitutional amendments to accommodate positions that may be created.
Both Kibaki and Raila are understood to have heeded international pressure and acceded to a demand to share power, the details of which will this morning occupy the resumed sessions of the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation team.
But top politicians, including Raila, declined to speculate on the final deal, though they were agreed that the final steps of a political solution were in sight.
Raila, who spoke Sunday afternoon after attending a church service at the All Saints Cathedral, said: "The mediation team agreed on a political settlement and we support it. Details on the kind of settlement will be out soon".
But asked who the beneficiaries of the joint government would be, Raila remained tactically evasive: "We will give our proposals at the negotiation table. We are not going to negotiate through the media. At this point, I don’t know who is going into the Government or who is going out, we have not reached that stage yet".
He said the two sides were still discussing who would lead the government and what roles each party would play, and urged the media to wait for official communication from the mediation team sometime this week.
Finance minister Amos Kimunya, a close ally of President Kibaki, indicated that the Government side was flexible to the proposal to share power, even if it meant amending the constitution.
"We are willing to give this effort all our co-operation. When we agree, the rest can be handled constitutionally," said Kimunya.
He added: "The Wako draft has the position of a Prime Minister with certain responsibilities. It has worked in other countries, including the neighbouring Tanzania, why can it not work here?"
Prof Peter Wanyande, the dean of political science at the University of Nairobi (UoN), and Tom Ocholla, a political scientist at the university, concurred that in an ideal parliamentary system, the party with majority MPs would form the government, with its leader becoming the executive prime minister.
But the two doubted that such a straightjacket system could be applied in the Kenyan situation, saying that certain concessions would have to be made.
Said Wanyande: "We must appreciate that if such a settlement were to be reached here, it may include certain concessions that are not necessarily typical of a parliamentary system. For the sake of national healing, all parties could be brought on board in the power sharing arrangement".
Ocholla said the president’s role was largely ceremonial in a parliamentary system of government but he doubted that PNU would cede that much ground.
"I doubt whether PNU would agree to an executive prime minister with sweeping powers. I believe they are going to push for the Tanzanian model where the prime minister enjoys limited powers," he said.
In Tanzania, the President is both the head of state and head of government. The president appoints a prime minister who serves as the government’s leader in the National Assembly.
Once the deal is struck, Ocholla suggested that the present Cabinet be dissolved to pave way for a freshly reconstituted one in line with the proposed agreement.
Multi-party democracy under threat
Lawyer and political scientist Paul Mwangi said the proposed power-sharing could complicate the case for multi-party democracy.
First, Mwangi said, under the current Constitution Kenya is a multiparty democracy. Second, executive power is vested in the president, hence the proposed position of a prime minister must be preceded by a constitutional overhaul.
As regards multiparty democracy, he argued that if ODM were to be brought into government, that would "water down" this principle and contradict what the opposition has fought for all along.
"Who then would be the leader of opposition if ODM were to join Government? Clearly, ODM cannot be both in Government and in the opposition," he posed.
To sidestep the contradiction, he proposed a mechanism for a Government of National Unity that would allow opposition chiefs to be part of government.
"Even then, we should find out a way of constituting an opposition because leaders of the three big parties would then be in Government," he concluded.
Another political scientist, Dr Chris Abong’o, said whatever balance would be struck between the two sides, Annan’s team must strive to come out with a ‘win-win’ scenario.
"For the sake of healing and reconciliation, no side should be seen to come out wielding the big stick over the other. It should be a ‘win-win’ for both," said Dr Abong’o.
The ‘win-win’ formula was also echoed by visiting Anglican Archbishop of York in the United Kingdom.
"I am appealing to Kofi Annan to lead the process into a ‘win-win’ solution for both sides," said Archbishop Sentamu at the All Saints Cathedral. He has already met Raila and Justice minister Martha Karua.
On where a shared government leaves the opposition, both Prof Wanyande and Ocholla had varied views.
Said Ocholla: "The fate of the opposition certainly is an issue of legitimate concern that is not being addressed seriously in case of a power sharing deal."
Ocholla, however, noted that there could be a silver lining to the arrangement given that the parties involved hold radically different ideological differences.
"This factor perhaps will provide internal checks and balances within Government. Moreover, the fact that both parties would seek to meet their respective pledges to the electorate would discourage wayward behaviour," he argued.
But Wanyande differed, saying the power-sharing arrangement would not necessarily deal a deathblow to multi-party politics "because there is no opposition to speak about in the first place".
He explained that ODM was locked in a bitter electoral dispute with PNU over who won the elections and hence had not accepted to assume the role of the official opposition party.
Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, who had spoken a day earlier, said the matter of power-sharing needed further discussion to ensure it did not conflict with the Constitution.
"Our Constitution is very clear that Kenya is a multiparty state. This means that what is arrived at protects this cherished ideal," Kalonzo said.
Other politicians who welcomed the power sharing deal included Laikipia East MP Mr Mwangi Kiunjuri
"I think it would be a good idea if it is the only solution to unlock the political impasse," said Kiunjuri, who declined to comment further.
Seven ODM MPs from Nyanza and Western have indicated that any proposed joint government with PNU should reflect the strength of their party.
The MPs, who on Sunday toured Western to assess the impact of post-election violence, pointed out that ODM should have a major stake owing to its strength in Parliament.
The MPs included Dr Oburu Odinga (Bondo), Mr Ababu Namwamba (Budalangi), Mr Manyala Keya (Lurambi), Dr Simiyu Eseli (Kimilili), Mr Fred Outa (Nyando) and Mr Alfred Odhiambo (Butula).

Setting the record straight

2008-02-11T11:22:00.000+01:00

Over 500 people dead, hundreds of thousands internally displaced, and the death toll increasing with every dawn. People are fleeing their homes by the dozen everyday. Going where? They don’t know! This is what has befallen Kenya, once a beacon of peace in a sea of violence in the great lakes region. Wait a minute…how did all these start? A disputed presidential election, they say, is the root cause of this unprecedented mayhem!

A country on the brink and a government almost incapable of resolving this crisis, thanks to a strong and hardliner opposition is the picture as of now. With Kibaki sworn in as the president of Kenya on that fateful 30th of December, 2007, the opposition has continually stated that even the ECK chairman, one Mr. Samuel Kivuitu, doesn’t know who won the elections. This, I would say, is a selective interpretation of information. The actual question posed to the ECK chairman was “Do you believe that Hon Mwai Kibaki FAIRLY won the election?” to which he responded, “I don’t know. That is until I see the original records, which I can’t for now until the court authorizes. What we have are records of results from field officers.”

Folks, the question is straight forward! It is a matter of whether the president won the elections fairly or not. It is not about whether he won the elections!

Lets settle this once and for all, Hon Kibaki did win the elections – fairly or not is a case to be determined by the courts, period!

With mediation talks entering a very crucial week, Kenyans can only hope that a solution is forthcoming; a solution, not only to the political stalemate, but also to the ethnic issues at hand.

Nyota getting there … Professional Insights

2007-11-09T13:12:00.000+01:00

Nyota getting there … Professional Insights

Activity 7 Update

Location: St Johns’ Secondary School

Speaker: Mr. Musungu

Profession: Public Relations Officer, Kenya Polytechnic

16th October, 2007

_________________________________________

This was our seventh session into the Nyota getting there … Professional Insights program and our fifth visit to St Johns’ High school.

We, Alice Dande, Kevin Kinyua and Evalyn Mwihia – the volunteers in attendance, arrived at the school at exactly 3 pm bringing with us the speaker of the day – Mr. A.N. Musungu to the school.

Mr. Musungu – Public Relations Officer at the Kenya Polytechnic

Third form students were already gathered in the designated class room and we went ahead to open the session with a short introduction. Shortly after, our speaker took to the floor to make his presentation. He introduced himself as the public relations officer at the Kenya Polytechnic located in the city center along Haile Selassie Avenue. He described his occupation as a marketer of the polytechnic to the public.

Mr. Musungu informed the students that the polytechnic had been in existence since 1960 - a total of 47 years - with the aim of providing midlevel training to diverse groups of students. He went ahead to tell them that it is a constituent college of the University of Nairobi and that it currently offers 1500 courses at various levels e.g. certificate, diploma and higher diploma levels. In addition, it had recently been given a mandate to offer various courses at the degree level. These courses are taken either as full time classes – 8am to 4pm daily, evening classes – 5pm to 7pm daily, distance learning – as per student’s availability or holiday classes – April, August and December.

The polytechnic has 13 academic departments catering to 11 000 students. They include: Graphic Arts; Applied science; Business studies; Building and Engineering; Computer Science and Information Communication and Technology; Electrical engineering; Health sciences and Biotechnology; Institutional Management; Information and Liberal management; Mechanical engineering; Surveying and Mapping.

Mr. Musungu talking to the students about Kenya polytechnic

Mr. Musungu also talked about the minimum requirement for entry into the polytechnic as a mean grade of C plain in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. He mentioned the ranking system of recruiting students into the institution encouraging the students to select the right subjects for their chosen career and also to improve on their overall mean grade. He gave the students hope by telling them that the government subsidizes cost of education at the polytechnic.

In addition to talking about the polytechnic, Mr. Musungu gave the students some very good words of advice encouraging them to work hard in their studies using quotes such as, ‘Everything that works is made to work.’, ‘At any one time, you are standing on someone’s shoulder and someone is standing on yours’, ‘Reading a book connects you to someone else’s thoughts’ , ‘The deeper you go the more value you get.’ and ‘One who does not think for himself will be thought for’. He gave examples of Albert Einstein and Bill Gates as sources of inspiration and depiction of determination. He encouraged the students, especially the ladies that everything is possible with hard work, determination, practice and concentration. He touched on issues of drug abuse and the negative impacts of drug taking. His final advice to the students was: to do the right thing at the right time.

Mr. Musungu answering a student’s question

At the end of the session, the students were very enthusiastic and asked a lot of questions to which Mr. Musungu answered adequately. We made a conclusion and wished the students success in their coming end of term/year exams.

After leaving the school, we interacted with Mr. Musungu further, finding out about him in terms of his inspirations, educational and occupational background.

Mr. Musungu gave hope to the students at St. Johns High school convincing them that there is life after not making it to the public universities which are currently taking students with very high grades.

“3 rd Chemsha bongo ……Engineering Challenges” Update

2007-10-16T20:03:00.000+01:00

Chemsha bongo ……Engineering Challenges” Update

Location: St Johns High school.

Activity: Chemsha Bongo

Date: 9th October, 2007
________________________________________________________________________

Today’s session saw us go back to St Johns High school for the second chemsha bongo engineering challenges.

All the form three students at St Johns were present for today’s session and four members from Cosmos Education Kenya were present, these were Bridgit Syombua, Evalyn Mwihia, Alice Dande and Kevin Kinyua.

The representatives hard at work trying to formulate words for the first challenge

We started off by reminding the students of out 3 golden rules: -

Rule no 1:-If we speak too quickly for you to follow, tell us to slow down (with a special hand signal.)

Rule no 2:-The key to all of science: You must ask questions.

Rule Rule no3:-The key to learning: You must have fun.

We then broke the students up into 4 groups which the students named Banju, Israel, Chicha and Sanchez and this led us into the first challenge. This was a simple challenge and a test of the student’s prowess in English. The students were given five letters to work with these were B O W L E, with these letters the students were asked to create as many English words as possible from these five letters. Each word was to have a minimum of 3 letters and no repetition was allowed.

Each group selected a representative who was to per take the challenge. Banju group emerged the Victor with Leon, their representative managing 10 correct words. This earned the group 10 points and Leon a reward.

The first challenge had the teams energized and each team determined to win the second challenge. The second challenge was the “Connect the dots” brain teaser. In this challenge the students were to join a series of nine dots using only four straight lines. This activity was aimed at stimulating critical thinking and to think outside the box.
The teams were given ample time to discuss the solution and send a representative to partake the challenge.
This challenge proved easier than we had anticipated as Cyrus from the Sanchez team had it figured out in less than a minute. This earned his team 10 points and a reward for himself.

The third challenge, “Spaghetti Levers” was a test of ingenuity and team work. Each team was given 3 items: - spaghetti straws, some tape and a desk to work on. The challenge was to anchor the straws to the table a using the tape and use the tape again to join the spaghetti straws together and build a structure that extends from the table either vertically or horizontally. The winning team was the one that created the longest structure. In this challenge Chicha emerged the victors.

Students from group Banju working out a way forward for the spaghetti levers challenge

The final challenge was the Egg drop challenge. This challenge was a test in team work, and ingenuity. In this challenge an egg was tied with a sting and tape onto the ceiling the students were given an A4 sized paper and a matchbox. The challenge was to get the egg off the ceiling without touching the egg, string or tape. The egg was to drop in the piece of paper without breaking.
Breaking the rules attracted a point deduction and in the end Israel had the most points and emerged the winner.

The egg drop challenge.

Overall Chichi and Sanchez tied in first place with 25 points each. To get an overall victor a game of rock paper scissors was played with between 2 members of the 2 teams. In a best of 3 Kamau from Chichi got 2 points leading chichi to victory.

Leon receiving an Award from Bridgit

Cyrus receiving an award from Evalyn for winning “connect the dots challenge"

Silas from group Sanchez receiving an award from Alice

Kamau from the wining team receiving an award from Kevin.

Nyota "getting there ...professional insights" update

2007-10-09T12:26:00.000+01:00

“Getting there….Professional Insights”

Location: St Johns High School

Speaker: Vivian Nchogu

Profession: Film Maker

Date: 2nd October, 2007

This was our third talk of the Nyota getting there…professional insights phase two. We arrived quite early and found the students already assembled in our usual meeting place eagerly waiting for us. I must say this was a very unique session since for the first time we managed to get a film maker. Vivian Nchogu is a Kenyan film maker based in Uganda. She happened to be in the country for the just concluded Kenya International Film Festival. After persuading her she agreed to come and introduce the students to the world of communication and film making.

Present was Angela Kimani, and Isaac Musyoka, all CEK volunteers. After the general introduction, Vivian took to the floor and did a thorough introduction of herself and her career – what she does for a living. Vivian talked about virtually everything in the mass media. She however dwelled more on film production, where she’s an expert. She explained all about film producers to DOP – director of photography!

On the journalism career, she told the students that one needed the passion and conviction that this was his/her career path. She used the famous phrase: “Do not venture into journalism if you can help it” she talked about the ups and downs of the profession: “sometimes you rub people the wrong way and find yourself in the wrong places for the wrong reasons,” Vivian said. For all the aspiring journalists, Vivian also had this to say, “Journalism is not for the fainthearted, and rather it is for the strong willed.”

Vivian explaining what DOP is to the students.

Vivian however, did not forget to tell the students how the profession can bring you glory and prestige – but it takes time! She said that as a journalist, you get free entry to high profile meetings, seminars, and you also get to have the chance of interviewing and even covering presidents and high profile personalities – the who is who in the world! She emphasized the importance of consistency and patience in the film industry. She said that you got to be honest and open minded all at the same time as the profession is dynamic.

After such a passionate presentation, the students held her captive to answer a myriad of questions to which she was glad to answer. They were reluctant to let her go – in her they saw a role model, a star who could mentor and bring out the journalism in them. They wanted to know if they could be in some of her productions, and she promised to have them be part of the cast for an upcoming documentary, coming out early next year.

At the end of the session, our mission had been accomplished and more effectively for that matter. Vivian lived up to CE’s Inspire, Engage, Empower, motto and we could not ask for more. It was evident from the students’ questions and comments that all was accomplished – someone somewhere had been mentored!

She came, she saw, she mentored and she did it in style!

“Chemsha bongo ……Engineering Challenges” 2nd Update

2007-09-21T09:47:00.000+01:00

Activity 2

Location: Kamukunji Secondary School

Activity: Chemsha Bongo

Date: Thursday 20th September, 2007
___________________________________

This was our first session with Kamukunji Secondary School but the second session overall of "Chemsha Bongo....Engineering challenges” We arrived as scheduled at 3:30 pm to be greeted by the Deputy headmistress who was eagerly awaiting our arrival. Due to the fact that the third and fourth formers were having a meeting with their teachers, we were content working with the availed second formers who were assembled into a classroom. There was a total of about 30 students altogether since some of them had already left for home.

The Cosmos Education Kenya volunteers in attendance were: Lizbeth Mate, Bridgit Muasa, Evalyn Mwihia, Carol Muli and Kevin Kinyua. We introduced Cosmos Education and ourselves to the students as we had never worked with that group before. They were very enthusiastic to know what we were to do with them for that one-hour session we were there. We explained to them that we will be having six sessions with them that term and three of them would be “chemsha bongo” activities while the other three would be mentorship talks.

When all this was said and done, we jumped right in to divide the students into two groups. One of the groups chose the name “Macadiff” where as the other chose the name “ODM”.

The first activity was the “Connect the dots” brain teaser whereby the students were to join a series of nine dots using only four straight lines. The groups each chose a representative who would take the challenge on the blackboard while the rest of the group tried to figure it out on paper where they were seated. Several attempts were made by the students but to no avail. Many came close but not enough to get it. This activity was aimed at assisting the students to think far and wide and also to think outside the box.

Foreground: Bridgit explaining the challenge to the students
Background: students attempting the challenge in groups

The second activity was the “Towers of Hanoi” activity. We first explained the concept of exponentials. We then asked the students to guess the least number of moves it would take to move three disks with varying sizes from the smallest to the largest to a different spot using only three open spaces and without placing a larger disc on top of a smaller disc or moving more than one disc at a time. Guesses made included: 2, 8, 10 and 7. A number of attempts were made and the students arrived at the number 7 as the least number of moves to make. We explained that the activity used the algorithm 2n-1 where n represented the number of discs. We therefore calculated the least number of moves it would take to move four discs with the same rules to follow and we came up with 24-1 = 15 moves. This activity was aimed at teaching the students about exponentials. The first group, “ODM” won both the 3 and 4 disc challenge.

1 2 3

Towers of Hanoi Challenge

We headed outside the classroom for the final activity which was the “Balancing act” challenge whereby the students were to empty some water from a plastic cup that was suspended in mid air by 6 strings to which 6 group representatives held on to. The challenge was that, if the strings were tugged at, the plastic cup would drop and if any of the handlers was to shake, water would spill off the cup and the group would be penalized for each drop of water spilt. This activity was aimed at testing the students’ team work spirit, leadership skills, strategy methods and efficient use of time. The students showed a good sense of teamwork and one of the groups actually managed to empty the cup more than half way.

With the last activity done, we headed back to the classroom to wind up the session. We tested the students’ memory by asking them to repeat the volunteers’ names and also to recap on what they learnt from the activities done on that day. The students were very excited to hear that we would be back the next week for another session.

After the students were dismissed for the day, we headed back to the office where we discussed the session in detail, noting all that went well and areas of improvement.

“Chemsha bongo ……Engineering Challenges” 1st Update

2007-09-19T18:59:00.000+01:00

“Chemsha bongo ……Engineering Challenges” Update

Location: St Johns High school.

Activity: Chemsha Bongo

Date: 18th September, 2007
________________________________________________________________________

This was the first session of the “Chemsha Bongo” Engineering challenges. The session was at St Johns high School and was done with the forms three and four students.

The session was attended by seven Cosmos education volunteers, Bridgit Syombua, Vice president CEK, Evalyn Mwihia- Secretary CEK, Isaac Musyoka- Treasurer CEK, Benard Kariuki, Sylvia Indagasi, Caroline Muli and Kevin Kinyua.

We started off by introducing the “Chemsha Bongo” Engineering challenges as a session that encourages critical thinking and the power of team work. We then gave the schedule for the challenges for the whole semester and our team together with the students set the expectations for the each session and overall expectations.

Top on the list from the students was that they expected to learn new things and strengthen their team work ability. As cosmos education our expectations were that we hoped to empower the students to be able to think critically and learn to build on each others abilities.

After the brief introduction, we divided the students into four groups; we then started off with the first challenge, Towers of Hanoi which is a simple challenge that encourages the use of logic. In this challenge the students were given 3 pieces of paper all of different sizes which acted as the disks and 3 pencils which represented the towers. They were then to move all 3 disks from one tower to another, moving only one disk at a time and only placing a smaller disk on top of a larger one.
Each group then chose a representative to take on the challenge. The first group to complete successfully was then named the winner. In this first challenge there was a tie with 2 groups finishing at the same time. To find a winner, a fourth disk was added and the challenge repeated, this time Gor Mahia, one of the groups, emerged the winner

One of the volunteers explaining the rules of the 2nd challenge

The second challenge was a test of team work, the students were given a plastic cup filled with water and suspended by 6 strings tied to a rubber band placed around the cup. The students were only allowed to hold the string at the tip and they were to pour the water into a second cup placed inside a circle drawn on the floor. The cup holding the water was not to move out of the circle. The first team to complete the challenge with the least spills was declared the winner.

One of the groups attempting to empty the cup

The last brain teaser of the day was a mathematical problem which also employed critical thinking

The session was concluded with the winning team being announced and an analysis of the lessons for the day and a review of how best the students would have accomplished these challenges.
Analysis of the session with 2 of the students

Holiday Science Learning Camp (HSLC)

2007-08-31T07:33:00.000+01:00

The coming down to kenya for the Holiday science Learning Camp (HSLC) as a member of cosmos education Zambia was one of the most intriguing experince.
The Cosmos Education kenya did an awesome thing to involve the new volunteers and teachers to participate at the HSLC it was a positive contribution to the organisation in a way that this people were able to bring new ideas and skills to the organisation more especially during the trainings were i observed a huge flow of ideas and creativity from both the volunteers and the teachers and such great minds are essential for the organizations knowledge base and quality programming. Though the volunteers and teachers expressed that the three days was not enough for the training.
Secondly, i feel that the MCEDO Beijing was a good school to work with and that the pupils were very coorporative looking at the social background from what we knew it was totally different when it came to real life experience in the classrooms.
The pupils really participated well in all the activities though a number of girls had difficulties in opening up in most of the instances, maybe its something to do with culture backgrounds were you see boys are more superior in all aspects of life.
There was also a wide base of knowledge from some of the kids and i observed that when i was presenting a module on the Green house gases. it came a stage were we looked at a number of solutions and from that, some pupils questioned the issue of carbon pricing that its not a good thing to go with in terms of reducing the carbon emissions for it can lead people losing there jobs and hising the prices of commodities.

Having this camp in Zambia it will be a great achievement for the Cosmos team and that we will work with the Zambia open community schools which has been one of our long understanding partner in Zambia. we really worked together the time we had the Lusaka school Campaign project. we shall try to do our best and come up with an effective science camp, from the exeperience we got from the Kenayn side was an eye opener for us to improve on some failures. we can do it in Zambia as well with the support of all the Cosmos branches.
Our suggestion is to have it by mid December and its possible to be done.

Holiday Science Learning Camp (HSLC)

2007-08-30T10:53:00.000+01:00

The Holiday Science Learning Camp Kenya was a lovely and well coordinated project. I was very impressed with the way modules were prepared and the volunteers were of that high spirit and eager to do the modules. I think CEK did a great work to prepare them for the whole week activity.

About the Volunteers, I like the energy they portrayed as if they have already participated in similar activities. They were just out for the project and that encouraged me to move at the same pace with them and just the association and interaction they had exhibited was beyond tribe, religion, custom, education and race background. I think they just showcased the image of COSMOS EDUCATION.

I think with such projects being implemented, I see the future and achievements that Cosmos Education Kenya and Cosmos Education as a whole is getting at. I want to give my credit to the team behind the organizing of the project; I can’t go by name for they all did one or two things to make this activity a success. THUMB UP!

About the students, I never expected the spirit they had towards learning. Despite different grades from almost different schools, I found all the students to eager to learn more about science and the role that science plays in their daily lives. Each grade had a very bright student and very challenging for they asked questions I was expecting coming from a primary student and of such a poor supported community with a disadvantaged learning aid. If only the government looked into the pride of this future generation, a lot will be achieved out this small community.

I wish next time something of similar activity will be organized, we should consider introducing small awards to the most outstanding students in all the grades in the coming future to motivate them and also to encourage the others to work extra hard with spirit to be award next time.
I strongly believe something similar can happen in Zambia. I am of the idea that the same project be extended to the Zambian Branch hopefully in the late weeks of December this year for that will he a Holiday period for the students. I am confident we will have it and with the experience that I have gained during this Holiday Science Learning Camp (HSLC), we will definitely organize it to the expectations.

The Holiday Science Learning Camp

2007-08-26T18:02:00.000+01:00

The last day of the camp started with all the volunteers converging at the CE Kenya office. The truck came shortly after and started the five km journey through the ever busy Thika Road dual carriage way. Within a couple of minutes, the team arrived at the school where the students waited anxiously. The weather was a little chilly albeit some signs of a shinny day.

The opening session which normally consists of songs, stories and prayers marked the start of the days’ activities. This was lead by Peter Kanja (the President CE Kenya)who joined the group for the first day due to some official commitments. He was formally introduced to the group by Bridgit. He led the students to sing several songs before narrating an interesting story about a king, chameleon and a hare. The moral of the story was that students should use all their efforts in critical thinking in their studies especially now that they are in the middle and upper primary school. He also lead the students to demonstrate how one should “Think Big & Wide”.

After this session, the students went into their classrooms and the first session begun, the theme of the day was ‘The Environment’. The students were introduced to the three ‘R’ acronym. This simply means:
1.Reduce; People should try as much as possible to reduce the waste materials in our households.
2.Re-use; Most of the materials used for domestic purposes are re-usable. It is not only wise to reuse things like plastic containers as mush as possible but also very economical.

3.Recycle; Materials like polythene bags, plastics, rubber, paper etc, can be recycled and made in to new usable products.

The planting of trees was not left behind since the desertification and the global warming has been experienced worldwide. This is an activity that was done in practically after the tea break and the second learning session. All the students, teachers and members of the school sarboninate staff gathered at the school farming demonstration plot where the plantig of trees was to take place. Kanja had arranged the purchase of tree seedlings of Gravillea Robusta (Silky Oak) from a nearby trees nursery. The holes were already prepared by the schools’ gardener. Each class from standard 4 to 8 had to choose representatives who had to plant a tree. The planting activity was lead by Kanja who started off by demonstrating to the students how to remove the seedling from the paper without tearing it or even making the foster soil to disintegrate. This method leads to “re-using” the same paper in planting another seedling in it.

The planting session kicked of with the students from all the represented levels, before the Zambian team planted theirs lead by Billy. The schools that took part in the camp also planted theirs with the teachers and the staff of MCEDO-Beijing leading the lot. The volunteers followed suit with the CE Kenya closing the chapter.

Soon after this, the students converged at the assembly point where they were issued with certificates of participation. This activity was lead by Bridgit assisted by Lizbeth and Kanja.
The headteacher of MCEDO later addressed the gathering where he thanked Cosmos for organizing the camp and requested for another camp in November. He noted that the students were highly interested to have another camp that they requested to be longer in time.

After the closing remarks, the CE team boarded the truck, which was waiting nearby and headed to the evergreen serene environment of the Nairobi Arboretum for a picnic lunch. The place was full of people from all walks of life who had come to experience the nice leafy environment. Lovers, youth groups, families, academics, nature lovers and researchers not forgetting several institutions all thronged the more than 100ha of untouched natural forest with over 4000 trees and plant species. The team finally spotted a good spot with a green soft grass with an inviting texture. This is the place where we had our mouth watering Nyama Choma (barbecued meat) and tens of delicacies accompanied by a soda of ones choice. After the lunch, an open discussion moment run the air as the team shared the experiences of the tiring week and the way forward. Kanja chaired the session, which lead to the issuing of the evaluation forms where the volunteers had to read and answer some questions in writing. Kanja emphasized to the members the importance of filling in the forms which he said will help in making a better planning of any future event of the whatever kind.

Then came the time to cut the huge dark brown iced cake with a CE HLSC script on the upper side. Isaac lead the group in cutting it not forgetting little Shiru who was representing the students. Carol & Justa lead the cheering squad in song and dance as the knife was driven all the way down the width of the tasty cake. ”Kila mtu alete sahani yake” (everyone bring a plate) Bridgit shouted as the team members put their plates ready for a share with heaps of the sweet anticipation showing very well on their faces! No more noises were made during the cake swallowing time…..jokes aside please!

The final part consisted the presentation of the certificate of Participation to the volunteers. This activity was lead by Bridgit assisted by Kanja. Evelyn and Angela were the days camera ladies. They captured all the moments with lots of ethuthiasism and ease…to the joy of the team.

The presentation marked the end of the days activities and the camp at large. Lucy lead the team with the closing prayers before thee group collected the refuse and disposed it safely in the designated collection bins and walked towards town, where everyone rushed to catch the his/her transport home. The CE Kenya executive went straight to the office where they held a meeting before leaving at 9pm.

Surely this is a camp to remember!!!
Memorable quotes of the day:
You people have changed my thinking style…..why didn’t you start coming to teach us while we were in standard 4? Kevin Odhiambo of MCEDO standard 7.

2.I now know just how easy it is to solve any given sum! Nancy student Old Mathare primary school
3.Ha! Next time you come, I will have made my own rocket with tins, Isaac standard 4 pupil MCEDO primary school.

2007-08-26T10:14:00.000+01:00

Holiday Science Learning Camp, Day 5 – Friday 23, 2007

Today was the fifth day of the HSLC. The day being a Friday, everyone was upbeat – I guess from the fact that it is an official day out for most Nairobians. However, the general feeling was that of reluctance – participants not wanting to accept the fact that the camp was coming to an end! No one was ready to let go!

Figure 1: "Science for me." an excited pupil during the opening session, courtesy of Carol and Dickson.

We left the office at exactly 9 am and by 20 past 9 we were all at the school where we found the pupils expectantly waiting for us. The pupils were once again ready for our inexhaustible hands on experiments on diverse science subjects.

Figure 2: Liz and Alice explaining the intricacies of Decryption and Encryption to class six pupils.
We were served with porridge – Kenyan Hospitality, and thereafter Beatrice presented the day to the Almighty before Carol and Dickson opened the day’s session with a variety of chants – to get the already psyched up pupils even more pumped up.

Figure 3:"This is how your scores will be

recorded." Angie taking class six pupils through a bowling experiment.

The pupils thereafter, broke into their respective groups and our volunteers got down into serious business, of course not forgetting our third most serious rule – HAVE FUN! The sessions were punctuated with topics like Pythagoras theorem, finding pi, calculating volume of cylinders, measuring the height of a tree, et cetera – a confirmation that it was a MATHEMATICS DAY. This however did not deter the pupils from having fun – COSMOS EDUCATION is known for making science a fun experience and that is exactly what happened.

Figure 4: "When I grow up I wanna be an Engineer." A class four pupil shares his dream!

After lunch, the Roots group from Mathare came to give a talk to the lower primary pupils. They spoke on different issues, but the bottom line was – “Stay in School, Avoid Drugs and Bad Company, Dream Big and Respect your Parents and your teachers.”

Figure 5: A Roots group member from Mathare takes class four pupils through the "I Pepeta" song

Meanwhile, our teachers were doing what they do best with the upper classes as the volunteers did a recap of the morning sessions and brainstormed on the best closing style for the final day of the camp – Saturday.

Figure 6: Dr. Bridgit knows how to implement our third "most serious" rule - HAVE FUN!!

At the end of the forty five minutes, the Roots Group had done their thing – so did our teachers. Caitlin and Ben did the closing. It was such a fulfilling day and at the end of the day our tag line had been effected: Inspire, Engage, Empower. I could tell from the look on the pupils’ faces that they really had been inspired, engaged and empowered.

Figure 7: "Cosmos Education is......" Isaac explaining a few things about CE to the African Youth Congress Delegates who had paid MCEDO a visit.

SCIENCE FOR MCEDO… SCIENCE FOR ME…… SCIENCE FOR MATHARE…… That was the chant as we hoped into our waiting van and reluctantly left behind the MCEDONIANS!!!!!

Holiday Science Learning Camp- Day Four

2007-08-23T20:42:00.001+01:00

Rocket launches, engineering challenges, and simple optics- today was physics theme day at the Holiday Science Learning Camp at MCEDO school. Under the burning sun (fickle weather this week), students learned about properties of matter, light, and heat, and tested their knowledge through fun experiments.

Working with certified teachers, students studied light, matter, work, heat, electricity, and sound.

Students use engineering concepts to retrieve an egg

In the sessions with young volunteers, students conducted a variety of experiments.

They guessed which objects would float or sink in water, learning about density and how to make hypotheses. Students investigated the phases of matter using various solids, liquids, and gases. Students then experimented with how light moves. We observed how light moves in a straight line. Using objects such as balloons, rulers, and salt, volunteers taught students about static electricity.

Other popular experiments included the rocket launch and engineering challenge. Groups learned to launch a small rocket using antacid and water in a film canister. We explained Newton’s three laws of motion and how they apply to the launch of a rocket.

Students experiment with gases

In the engineering challenges, students had to think hard about problem solving as they figured out how to retrieve an egg suspended from the ceiling using only a few obscure materials- without breaking the egg of course. Teams of six also had to work together to carry a cup of water suspended from a rubber band and six strings, and then to pour the water into a basin on the ground, touching only the ends of the strings. Students were creative in their plans, and were interested in the field of engineering.

CEK Education Director Evalyn defies gravity

We closed the day by singing what are now camp favorites: the banana song, MCEDO disco song, and Old Kireboto (not sure how you spell this Kenyan version of OldMcDonald) Had a Farm.

MCEDO students are enjoying being at the camp all day. Their admiration for the volunteers is evident,

and we are forming real friendshipd.
Comments from the student evaluations completed on Tuesday included: “I love science”, and “I want to learn more science.”

Cosmos Education Kenya is fulfilling its mission to inspire, engage, and empower students in science.

Students look at the movement of light

Holiday Science Learning Camp- Day Three

2007-08-22T18:29:00.000+01:00

Today marked another successful day of the Cosmos Education camp at MCEDO-Beijing school in Mathare. The theme of the day was geography. Students learned about everything from the solar system and the planets to earthquakes to population and exponential growth.

Teachers taught about Kenyan and African geography, the tectonic plates and fault lines, people and population, and the solar system. Corresponding experiments carried out by our young volunteers included dropping a stone in water to simulate tremors in an earthquake, using balloons to show components of air, and making a compass.

Justa, a Primary school teacher, teaching human geography

Students demonstrate air molecules with volunteers Theo and Sylvia

A student experiments with oxygen consumption of a flame

We also revisited an experiment on crystals that we set up yesterday. Yesterday, after explaining what crystals are and how they form, volunteers Kevin and Theo made a saturated mixture of borax and water. They had the students suspend a washed in the mixture from a string. Overnight, crystals formed on the washer and string. Today, we looked at the crystals and volunteers discussed with the students how and why the crystals formed.Students look at borax crystals

We also set up a new experiment to determine the conditions that cause rusting. After discussing rust with the students, we put pieces of steel wool in three containers. One contained water covering the steel wool, one contained only the steel wool and air, and one contained water and oil with the wool. Students came up with hypotheses about which steel wool treatment will rust the most and the least. We will continue monitoring the experiment for the remaining days of the camp.

The day was filled with songs, dances, and games to break up the class sessions. The kids had lots of energy from eating omena, small fish that are especially popular with people from Nyanza province in Kenya.

For those who may not know, Mathare is a slum in Nairobi estimated to be home to about half a million people. The sanitation conditions in Mathare are poor. Residents cannot afford metered water, so they get water illegally through tapping pipes. The water company shut off the water supply to Mathare today, which means the few toilets that serve thousands of people will not be working. Mater is available at about a fifteen-minute walk from the slum (students will be making this trip to collect water for use during the remainder of the camp).

Although Mathare is a tough place, the children who call it home are as smart and enthusiastic as any CEK has worked with. The people living in Mathare, especially the volunteer teachers who work in MCEDO, are dignified and gracious people. Our volunteers have shown immense compassion and inspiration working in the slum, which can be an emotionally and physically taxing experience. One volunteer told me today, “I am grateful for this experience, to know how my fellow Kenyans are living, and to just get to be with these kids here.”

THE PARTICIPATORY FORESTRY MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 2007

2007-08-22T10:31:00.000+01:00

The PFM (participatory Forest Management conference was held in the Kenya Forestry Research Institute in Muguga, from 6th to 8th June 2007.The conference brought together Foresters, Government Institutions, Donors, Development Partners, CBOs, NGOs, Private Companies, Individuals and Professionals from across the board.

Here are some notes from the meeting that I would like to share:

What is PFM?
PFM, also called Collaborative, Co-management, Joint management of forest resources refer to a situation where some, or all the stakeholders interested in a forest resource are involved in a substantive way in its management. This includes:
Management Arrangement; This is normally negotiated by the stakeholders and based on a set of rights that are recognized by the Government and widely (unanimously) accepted by the resource users.
Power; Equal powers among the stakeholders in sharing the resources sustainably in line with non-interference with the ecosystem.

Is PFM Important?

The PFM is important in many ways, which include;
I. Strengthening the civil society to demand and have powers in an effective forest management and benefits sharing.

II. It also enables the communities to ensure that natural forests, woodlands, wetlands, catchment areas etc, are utilized sustainably, and conserved with increased benefits lifting the living standards of the communities that depend on the forests products.

III. It provides a wide range of awareness and understanding, information dissemination, networking and collective responsibility in wise decisions making.

IV. It also promotes a Pro-poor approach that is more equitable in addressing the interests, while more advanced networks are established that will institutionalize this approach.

V. It’s an easy tool to have the capacity building using the bottom-up approach.

VI. For the ceremonial purposes, it provides a safe and sound venue for traditional cultural practices like boys circumcision, child naming ceremonies and traditional medicine men training.

Essentialities:
There are several very Essential outputs (themes) that are addressed in PFM. They include:
1. Information: The communities need to be provided with the much needed information to make PFM properly performed and reap benefits.

2. Advocacy: The communities need to be enlightened on the land policy, forest policy, Forest Acts etc.
3. Organizational strengthening: This normally determines the proper governance and negotiation capacity.

4. Direct Technical Assistance: This helps in the hands-on activities carried on the ground during designated all-inclusive avenues like meetings.

5. Evaluation: This helps the community to do an evaluation and realize what have been achieved, and to also learn from the experiences. It also serves as a good avenue to have a stronger base and a healthy forum to chat the way forward.

PFM Case Study:
The Mukogondo Forest:
This is a dry land forest situated in the northern part of the Rift Valley in Kenya. It is a forest reserve with a total area of well over 30,000ha. It provides vital grazing pastures for the adjacent community that consists of pastoralists, mainly the Maasai community. The community members in this area have a traditional governance system that has ensured a sustainable use and a proper conservation system in place. The forest have been traditionally subdivided in four main parts which are further divided into smaller portions which enable the community to graze their livestock in paddocks resembling the ones used in ranches. Grazing is one of the most treasured benefit, others include, non-timber products, firewood, herbal medicine, bee keeping, community meeting venues, and other traditional purposes.

There are tens of water catchment areas there with some streams emanating from there, gradually becoming rivers and eventually flowing towards the adjacent lakes that include lakes Bongoria and Baringo. Indigenous trees like the Nandi Frame, Meru Oak and the Cordia Africana are the most common tree species there. The forest is also home to hundreds of herbivores with buffalo population being the largest. The Laser Kudu population is gradually increasing after years of illegal poaching in some resent years. Leopards and several other animals of the cat family are also found but normally tend to live/hide in the innermost part of the forest that is very dense.

The traditional system have worked very well over the years but there is need to introduce hybrid modern ways of forest sustainability where fast growing exotic trees need to be planted along the forest edges, this include Gravellier Robusta, Sydney Blue Gum, and Cypress just to mention a few. These trees will help in checking the fire wood imbalance since the pollarding method of harvesting is advisable. It will also increase the grazing area, hence preventing the livestock from entering deep in the forest, which will leave the inner ecosystem intact.

Birds & Environment:
The Sokoke Arabuko Forest;
This is a natural forest situated in the coastal province of Kenya. It is a haven of thousands of insect species not forgetting the hundreds of herbivores and the animals of the cat family. The community around this forest have reaped millions of Kenya Shillings trough the thriving tourism, butterfly farming, beekeeping not forgetting the building materials. There are more than 400 bird species recorded in this reserve with Sokoke Scops Owl having the largest population. The people living around the forest have over the years used the birds to foretell important natural occurrences through the way they feed, breed and behave. Some bird species can be used to determine an imminent dry spell or rainy season by virtue of their presence, absence or unusual behavior like breeding or building of ground nests. One of the most notable cases is during the 2005 Tsunami natural catastrophe that caused thousands of deaths in the Eastern countries, with the East Coastal African countries recording well over 100 deaths. Prior to the dooms day, the herders in Sokoke had watched the birds migrate in colonies from Arabuko to the Tsavo East National Park that is well over 200kms to the west, quite a distance away from the coastline! The community around the forest have over many years restrained themselves from encroaching the forest so as not to threaten the birds and the animals habitat and cause un-reversible trend.

Biodiversity & Ecosystem Sustainability:
The forests need to be sustained in order to cater for the needs of the communities adjacent to them and the public at large. Conditions should be put in place to ensure a smooth workable plan as far as the sustenance is concerned. Planting of more trees is a major boost. The cutting of trees should be drastically reduced, or else banned depending on the case at hand. Grazing should also be banned or controlled as it normally depletes the ground cover hence encouraging the rill and Garry erosion during rainy seasons. Non- timber products should be harvested under trident care and sustainable measures in accordance to avoid depletion. The rotting matter also should be left to increase the humus and add the quality of the soil, making it hold water for long periods.

Seasonal Wetlands:
Seasonal wetlands cover a larger area than permanent fresh water during the rainy season.
They play a vital role in the collection, storage, purification, and discharge of fresh water.
They serve as breeding and feeding grounds for fish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and birds, including migratory waterfowl.
Seasonal wetlands provide people with water, food, building and weaving materials and ceremonial grounds.
They are especially important in arid and semi-arid areas, where there is little permanent fresh water.

Seasonal wetlands include:
Flooded grasslands
Seasonal marshes, lakes and springs
Temporary pools in grassland, woodland and bush
Ephemeral rock pools, flooded rock slabs and seeps

Importance:
Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems. In seasonal wetlands, plants and animals grow rapidly and in great abundance for a very short period. Microscopic plants and animals fill the water. They include phytoplankton such as algae and diatoms, and zooplankton, urchins, crustaceans, worms, insects and molluscs. These serve as food for mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.

Several measures should be taken to conserve and protect the wetlands. This include:
1. Identification and Inventory.
2. During land demarcation, seasonal wetlands should be set aside. They serve the whole community for water collection, storage, purification and discharge; for dry season grazing; for collection of materials for ceremonial purposes.
3. Roads should be built around, not across, seasonal wetlands.
4. All seasonal wetlands should be protected since they are the reservoirs of biodiversity.
5. Trees and friendly vegetation should be planted around the wetlands.

Finally:.............
Lots of thanks to Carol and Damian (CE Uk) for partly funding me to attend the conference. I am very grateful. Other regards go to the Executive board of CE Kenya, Dr. Bridgit Syombua, Dr. Evelyn Mwihia, Mr. Isaac Musyoka and Caitlin Sanford, for the support you accorded me.

Cheers
Kanja Peter.

Holiday Science Learning Camp - Day Two

2007-08-21T16:54:00.000+01:00

The day looked brighter than the one before, cold... but bright. The rush was to obtain material we weren't able to, the previous weekend. Luckily, material was found and bought. This day, we left the office at 8:45 am, knowing there was no jam as we got to the school. We picked up one of the teachers along Thika road while we met another two already at the school waiting to start the day. The kids were all fresh and lively from having their breakfast - tea. As everyone was taking a cup of tea, the group collected their material and prepared to present their modules. Everyone then went to their designated classes. The students, all bright and alert, were listening attentively and asking questions when they did not understand. A couple of students were even brave enough to carry out the experiments themselves!

On this day, the experiments were Chemistry based. Students were very excited to see a balloon blown by a mixture of vinegar and baking powder. Others thought it was magic to see water rise in a glass jar after lighting a candle in a dish with water and covered with the jar. The teachers on the other hand, had an interesting time interacting with the students. After the first two sessions of experimenting and having fun, we had a photo session. The students were very eager to have their images frozen for the rest of eternity. The Cosmos group too did not shy off.

Unfortunately, lunch was late. We decided to have a third session as we waited for lunch but this did not deter the students. Their energy was unequalled and their thirst for knowledge insatiable. Amongst the fears of having lunch of omena and ugali, we waited patiently. Long before we knew it, it was time for lunch – githeri (much to others relief/peril).

This was then followed by another session of science experiments and classes interrupted occasionally with songs to keep the students attentive and interested. The students were asked to fill out an evaluation form listing what new thing they learnt that day; their favorite session of the day and what they would have liked to learn more about. Before we knew it, the day was done. The students were directed outside where we did our end-of-day ritual – the Science chant. The students were then dismissed.

Back at the staff room, the group sat down and discussed the day. We went through the evaluation forms and discussed the effect we had on the students. It was unanimous that the day went well and that we had a positive impact on the students. We left the school feeling very proud of ourselves and discussing possibilities of having the same HSLC program in another disadvantaged school. It was truly a sunny day, in every sense of the word.

Holiday Science Learning Camp: 1st Update

2007-08-20T17:42:00.000+01:00

After weeks of endless planning, countless late nights at the office and many tired souls, the day finally came when we marked the first day of the Holiday Science Learning Camp.

We started the day at 7.30 am with the members coming to the office, most of us were on time but a few were a little late, but this did not set us back, as we embarked on loading the materials into the van. By 8.30 we were crusing down Thika Road. Luckily for us there was little traffic there so we were at the school by 5 minutes to 9.00 am.

At the school we were greated by about 100 or so young, bright and enthusiastic faces who were eager to hear what the guests had in store for them.

We started with our usual Cosmos Education introduction. We started with a general introduction of the organisation, followed by each member introducing themselves and what they do.

This was then followed by an introduction of our three simple Cosmos Education rules:-

If we speak too quickly for you to follow, tell us to slow down (with a special hand signal).

The key to all of science: You must ask questions!

The key to learning: You must have fun!

Billy, a Zambian team member introducing the three rules

We then played a simple game " 20 question" where a team member holds something in the palm of their hand and the students have to figure out what it is by asking questions that have only a yes or no answer. The students were able to figure out what the hidden object was a pebble in a record two questions, a great achievement for a primary school! The best we have seen so far was six questions and this was from a high school.

After the introduction session the students were broken down into 10 groups, and each group chose an animal name. The theme of the day was biology. Modules included animals and feeding livestock, the cell and cell membrane activity, adaptation of animals and plants, the DNA activity, and Drugs and their effects all taught by student and recent graduate volunteers. Certified teaches taught human body, health, plants, animals and food and nutritition as the topics of the day. Beatrice Mumbi teaching the human body to class 4

Each group had a total of four sessions: two with young volunteers doing modules, and the other two with the primary school teachers.

We finished with a review of the day and the students were asked which sessions they liked the most and what new thing they had learned. These are some of their responses:

I enjoyed health education.

I especially liked the session on farm animals as I learned new breeds of animals and animal adaptations.

I was happy with the sessions today as I got to know the meeting of DNA.

I liked the sessions on drugs and its effects.

We finally finished off with the ''Science chant''

Isaac teaching the science chant to the students

Tommorrow is a new day and we look forward to inspiring, empowering, and engaging the students at MCEDO - Beijing school in Mathare Valley to use science as a tool for sustainable development.

School Still a Dream for Many

2007-07-23T17:46:00.000+01:00

The Washington Post had an interesting feature about education for street children in Kenya. The piece also discusses how “free” education is deceptive, because students still must pay high fees for uniforms, books, and other (sometimes bogus) fees required by teachers and administrators.

The government of Uganda offers tuition vouchers for “free” primary and secondary education, and Kenya, where primary is free, is expected to declare free secondary education before the election in December. However, the government has not adequately financed school facilities or teacher training efforts to cope with the flood of new students.

Chogoria School Partnership

2007-07-19T14:04:00.000+01:00

Cosmos Education is partnering with a group of volunteers from the United States and Kenya who are working to expand Chogoria Primary School near Mt. Kenya in Central Province.

Cosmos Education taught in schools in and around Chogoria in 2006 as part of the Under African Skies (UAS) program.

Chogoria primary school is registered as an official school, but there is no official secondary school on the compound. The school has become especially crowded in recent years as students stay on into Form 1 and Form 2 (the first two years of high school). The school does not have funding for to pay for secondary school teachers or materials, but many students can’t afford to attend secondary schools elsewhere, so teachers have volunteered to teach students who want to stay on, squeezing them into the existing facilities.

Chogoria Secondary School Classrooms Under Construction

Although there are secondary schools near to Chogoria, the schools only accept boarding students, and one or two local day students per year. Boarding school is significantly more expensive than day school, and these schools can’t accommodate the many local students who want to continue their education. UNESCO estimates that less than half of Kenyan students who complete primary school go on to secondary school.

To give students the chance to continue their education, Chogoria native Davis Mwera launched campaign to construct the high school classrooms that are necessary for the Chogoraia school to become registered as an official secondary school that will receive funding from the government. Davis, who was the first child from his village to attend university and now works for the Clinton HIV/AIDS Foundation’s Kenya Program, mobilized his coworkers, especially some young Americans, to collect donations for the school. From July 11-15, Davis organized a group of volunteers who worked with parents and students to lay the foundation and complete the lower half of the walls of the school.

The project organizers contacted Cosmos Education Kenya about a collaboration as an effort to ensure that the new school will receive more permanent attention after the buildings are constructed.
Davis Mwera
School donors and local community members expressed their hope that Cosmos Education Kenya team members will visit the secondary students regularly to encourage students and inform them about possibilities for continuing to study science or pursuing a career in science or technology. One mother is a teacher at Chogoria Girls Secondary Boarding School remembered Cosmos Education’s visit in 2006 and urged CE to return to her son’s future school. The new secondary school will include laboratory facilities and equipment, creating more opportunity for students to get excited about hands-on science education.

Members

2007-07-03T18:07:00.001+01:00

Mr. Peter Kanja
Engineer, KickStart Inc. (formerly ApproTEC)
President, Cosmos Education Kenya

Mr. Peter Kanja has been consistently involved in education and technology for five years. He holds a B.Sc. Degree in Mechanical Engineering (majoring in Agriculture & Technology) from the University of Nairobi. For five years he has been an officer and an educator for Cosmos Education.

Through Cosmos Education Mr. Kanja has established links with schools throughout Kenya as well as the Kenyan Ministry of Education. He has also been very actively involved in the on-going UNEP “Plant For The Planet Campaign” since its launch in 2003. He is also the Cosmos Education Kenya team leader in the recently launched “The Billion Tree Campaign” by UNEP. All of this, Mr. Kanja has achieved while holding positions as a Design Technician in a non-profit making NGO called Kickstart Int. (formerly ApproTEC). Mr. Kanja has inspired students in schools and universities with his concept of “Think Big and Wide” and is the current President of Cosmos Education Kenya.

Ms. Bridgit Syombua
Veterinarian
Executive Director, Cosmos Education Kenya

Ms. Syombua has been consistently involved in education and technology for 4 years. She is a veterinarian having graduated from the University of Nairobi. For the last 4 years she has been an officer and an educator for Cosmos Education. The teaching and mentoring of the younger generations by the older ones is of utmost importance to the advancement of all the sciences. Ms. Syombua has taught in hundreds of schools throughout Africa including Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya, reaching thousands of students individually. Through Cosmos Education Ms. Syombua has established links with schools throughout Kenya as well as the Kenyan Ministry of Education. Ms. Syombua has also fundraised for computers from Scotland, which she intends to distribute in schools so that they can move with the changing information, communication and technology times. She is also spearheading the mentoring project, which has started in schools in Nairobi. The project invited professionals to schools to talk to students about their professions and what actually happens in one’s career. This is a very inspiring project for students.

Mr. Isaac Musyoka
Student of International Relations & Journalism, USIU-A
Vice President & Acting Treasurer, Cosmos Education Kenya

Mr. Isaac Musyoka has also been consistently involved in education and technology for three years. He is an International Relations Student with a minor in Journalism and Management in the United States International University. For three years he has been an officer and an educator for Cosmos Education. Mr. Musyoka has taught in hundreds of schools throughout Kenya reaching thousands of students individually. Through Cosmos Education Mr. Musyoka has established links with schools throughout Kenya as well as the Kenyan Ministry of Education. He has been a key player in organizing global activities here including the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Under African Skies trips in Kenya. Mr. Musyoka is currently involved in the facilitation of the Getting there professional insights and is working on documentary project for Cosmos Education. He is therefore well linked with the teachers in most of the schools and is keen on doing the PR for Cosmos Education Kenya.

Dr. Evalyn Mwihia
Veterinarian
Educational Director, Cosmos Education Kenya

Dr. Evalyn Mwihia is a recent graduate of the University of Nairobi with a Bachelors degree in Veterinary Medicine. She has also undertaken a higher diploma course in Management of Information Systems. She has been a volunteer of Cosmos Education since the year 2004.
She participated in the Under African Skies program in the year 2004 held in Kenya within the Nairobi area. She has served as the Director of Education – Cosmos Education Kenya for the past one year. She has also participated in the recently completed, ”Getting there…Professional Insight 2007” program. She sees a great future in Cosmos Education and believes through science everything is possible.

Welcome!

2007-07-02T05:51:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the Cosmos Education Kenya Blog!

We will use this forum to post updates about our activities, and to share photos, videos, and interesting links.

Cosmos Education Kenya (or CEK) is a registered charity in Kenya dedicated to engaging, inspiring, and empowering young people through science and technology education. The mission of Cosmos Education Kenya is to foster an understanding of global sustainable development through improved science and technology education in developing regions of the world.

Our method is working from the ground up - reaching individual students and teachers by being effective in the classroom. Our model is grassroots development within a community; we want the youth in developing regions of the world to decide how their nations should develop. In order to do this, the youth must understand the rapidly changing world around them. They must be inspired, empowered, and engaged in their education. Our goal is to encourage children to ask the questions that will drive development from within.

Cosmos Education Kenya

The Royal Commonwealth Society - Me And My Net Youth Summit - Nairobi

The Royal Commonwealth Society - Me And My Net Youth Summit - Nairobi

World Forests' Day Celebrations - March 2011 at Karura Forest

CEK Career Talk Session – St. John’s Secondary School.

CEK Members Get Together Meeting – Ololosokuan - Ngong Hills.

World Environment Day Celebration - Tree Planting at Nairobi National Park Twiga Gate 5.6.10

REPORT ON KALUKUNI SECONDARY SCHOOL FOLLOW UP VISIT ON 7TH NOVEMBER 2009

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2009 - VISIT TO MCEDO BEIJING SCHOOL

The UN's Billion Tree Campaign

REPORT ON CAREER TALK HELD ON 3RD SEPTEMBER 2009 IN MCEDO BEIJING SCHOOL, NAIROBI.

PLANT A TREE PLANT A NEW BEGINNING TREE PLANTING EVENT.

Career mentorship and motivation session at St Johns High School on the 7th of July 2009

On this day we were introducing the program to form one and two students who had not participated in the program previously. Bridgit Syombua, Carol Muli and Amina Issa represented CEK on this day.

Despite his vast experience and long list of qualifications, there was little talk on molecular biology as Mr. Githaka focused his attention on motivating the students. Carol introduced the team and welcomed Bridgit to make a brief presentation about CEK and our three golden rules which are.

Rule 1. Slow Down.Rule 2.Ask questions.Rule 3 Have Fun.

Coming from a science career he stressed on the fact that science based subjects are not hard and all that was needed was concentration and determination. Major pointers in his talk included:-

Urging the students to read widely.Emphasizing the need to write down their goals.Reminded the students to constantly talk about their dreams and aspirations.

After his presentation there was the Q&A session which depicted the enthusiasm among the students who felt inspired and empowered.

The session ended with each student writting down their goals and making a promise to widen their scope of reading material. Bridgit gave a vote of thanks and the team left the school, with a promise to return in the next school term with another mentor.

The Valentines Day Trees4Love Event

Cosmos Education Kenya

The Lake Bogoria Research Trip

Africom Action Project Launch July 26, 2008

Tree Planting at Karura Forest on EARTH DAY 2008

A day with the Muthaiga Police Depot IDPs

A Dream On the Brink!

CEK AGM Pics

A DAY WITH THE CHILDREN OF MATHARE CHIEF'S IDP CAMP!

Help support a student to attend secondary school

Visit to Chief's Camp and Mathare

AN AGREEMENT AT LAST MARKS A NEW BEGGINING FOR KENYA!!!

FIRST 2008 EXECUTIVE TEAM MEETING

On the threshold of a breakthrough

Setting the record straight

Nyota getting there … Professional Insights

“3 rd Chemsha bongo ……Engineering Challenges” Update

Nyota "getting there ...professional insights" update

“Chemsha bongo ……Engineering Challenges” 2nd Update

“Chemsha bongo ……Engineering Challenges” 1st Update

Holiday Science Learning Camp (HSLC)

Holiday Science Learning Camp (HSLC)

The Holiday Science Learning Camp

Holiday Science Learning Camp- Day Four

Holiday Science Learning Camp- Day Three

THE PARTICIPATORY FORESTRY MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 2007

Holiday Science Learning Camp - Day Two

Holiday Science Learning Camp: 1st Update

School Still a Dream for Many

Chogoria School Partnership

Members

Welcome!

Rule 1. Slow Down.
Rule 2.Ask questions.
Rule 3 Have Fun.

Urging the students to read widely.
Emphasizing the need to write down their goals.
Reminded the students to constantly talk about their dreams and aspirations.