SCHOOLS REOPEN,RESULTS AWAITED,MORE BURSARIES NEEDED.

Schools reopened after the December holidays early this month.January marks the beginning of a new academic year for primary and secondary schools. This is always characterized by promotion to the next class and announcement of results  for those who sat for Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (K.C.P.E) exams. This year,however, the results will be late as the examination time was greatly affected by the teachers' strike last year, that saw the candidates sit for their exams in December instead of January.Consequently, there will be a delay in the in take of form one students.

Back to school for ASSETS means,a rush to get the report forms of all beneficiaries and assess their performance,collection of bursaries and identification of new needy children.

A total of ksh. 2.4 million is needed for this year's bursaries. ASSETS hopes to add 66 more needy children into the scheme and more funds are needed for this to happen, therefore any donations will be of great help.

You can help a needy child get education this year by either making a donation on

https://my.give.net/arochakenya_assets  for those in UK. In Kenya is through M-pesa number 0707688999

The African Billfish Foundation And Sala Terrena Support of ASSETS

Last year was a great year for ASSETS. Ayoti joined the team as a Liaison officer for the program. This was thanks to Ms Christina Harris of Sala Terrena Creative Construction and African Billfish Foundation.

In September 2012, Ayoti joined the team after Ms. Harris,who was her line manager then approved her move from Sala Terrena to A Rocha Kenya. She herself is a conservationist and works through African Billfish Foundation, a foundation that seeks to create awareness and promote the conservation of billfish along the East African coast.

Ms. Harris, through Sala Terrena  Creative Construction, a company that she manages and is owned by Andrew Melesi  gave a donation to ASSETS. This donation was to facilitate for Ayoti to work for the program for six months, in fundraising, till end of February 2013.

It has been four months since she joined the program and we are glad to say that a lot has been accomplished in the short time she has been with ASSETS.

She has revived communication with different stakeholders, taking care of the database and other related tasks that had stalled. Ayoti has successfully organized ASSETS first ever fund raiser walk that aimed at raising funds for the 2013 bursaries. She has also represented ASSETS in different meetings and initiated communication with potential donor.

Ayoti has indeed made a major contribution to the program and we are very grateful to have her as part of our team. We do hope that we will be able to keep her way beyond the six month period.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Ms. Christina Harris and Mr. Andrew Melesi for recognizing the work that is being done by ASSETS and supporting it.

PWEE FOUNDATION donates to ASSETS fund raising walk

<Hoi Wen Au Yong> from Singapore has been a great supporter of the ASSETS program and represented THE PWEE FOUNDATION in this ASSETS fundraiser walk where the foundation donated to this cause. Hoi Wen herself is personally supporting two students who through the ASSETS program was able to make it through high school. She is now helping them pay for their university education at Pwani university in environmental science and the other in nursing.

We would like to express our gratitude to the PWEE foundation in Singapore and Hoiwen for your constant support.

THE WALK FOR NATURE AND CHILDREN HAPPENS

Finally!!!!!!!! the long awaited walk happened. The ASSETS fundraising walk took place last Saturday the 8th of December. The main aim of the walk was not only to raise funds for local needy children's high school bursaries but also to promote conservation of Arabuko Sokoke forest and Mida creek through creating of awareness on the importance of the two Eco systems to the local community and tourists. It started at exactly 6.05 am with a team of 16 and a brief introductory session by Stanley Baya, who is the ASSETS adviser and the environmental education officer in A Rocha Kenya.Then a prayer for safety by Andrew Kinzer.

The walk started from A Rocha Kenya head quarters to Turtle bay where the walkers took the junction from the main road to Dabaso road.Being 6am the sun had not gone up yet so the temperatures  were still low and pleasant though slightly humid.T he first half of the walk was to be done by the sixteen walkers before joining later with a group that was waiting for them 15km ahead.

For participants who were visiting from abroad for the first time,it was just amazing since they got the real feel of Africa  and experience nature one on one as opposed to when they have to use tourist buses to do the tours.

After three hours of walking, chatting , jumping over muddy water and snails, they finally made it to Arabuko Sokoke forest's Mida gate where a group of twenty one more people was waiting.

This was followed by a brief wait for clearance with the forest station as it was important that we have security with them because of elephant and buffalo. The participants did not hesitate to in taking advantage of the delay to show off their different talents that varied from balancing a bottle on the head to imitating the monkeys though the walk was definitely NO MONKEY BUSINESS.

After a while the now large team was ready to do the rest of the walk.Andrew and Benjo opted to run the rest of the way instead.

After another brief talk by Stanley, the team crossed over into the forest and embarked on the remaining 15km. They went past the three different forest vegetation.

It was amazing how the different vegetation was noticeable with brachystegia  being characterized by tall trees  and more open as opposed to the other vegetation. Soil color change was also conspicuous with the changes in vegetation as different parts had red soil while others had white.

It was a pleasant walk with colorful butterflies flying off fresh elephant dung and a bit fearful as the walkers encountered fresh buffalo tracks.

Three hours later, all the walkers made it to Nyari viewpoint which was the intended destination.After a shared lunch, the team was ready to head back.Having accomplished their mission.

Great News!!!...Generous Donor To Match Donations For Sponsored Walking.

As we get closer to the day of the sponsored walk, (read more about the walk)More and more well wishers are getting on board to support this cause. A generous donor has offered to match every donation of above $50 that will be made towards the fundraising walk.This means that if one gives $50,the walk will receive $100. Isn't that just great? so let's donate guys.Take advantage of this offer and help as many needy children get a high school education as possible.With only three days to go...EVERY SECOND COUNTS!!!time to give nature and children a special Christmas gift!

Muvera Wa ASSETS

Muvera wa ASSETS  is an association of the parents of the beneficiaries of the Assets programme .It was formed in 2006 after the first Assets beneficiaries graduated from secondary school.The main aim of forming this association was to improve the benefits already received from the Assets programme,the name''Muvera''  is  a giriama word meaning ''Thanks''.This group now has over 100 members from all the 10 schools that are in the Assets programme. Over the past few years there were problems in the registration of this association because of a lack of a good forest management plan.This has changed since the Arabuko-Sokoke  forest,forest   management plan was launched couple months ago and it has three regions which are, Gede, Jilore and Sokoke Community Forest Associations (CFA) . Now the Muvera wa ASSETS association in the Gede region has been registered. The gede group comprises of Mida, Mijomboni, Mzizima and Chipande.

Last week we visited the four groups to explain to them the whole registration issue and how this brings an avenue of how the group can come up with eco-tourism projects for their benefits.The meetings were very well attended and we had 30 members all together.Stanley and Mr Suliman(one of the Assets Commitee member) were there to explain the registration issue

MUVERA WA ASSETS GETS REGISTERED AS A CFA USER GROUP

Finally,after a long time and several setbacks, a cluster of Muvera wa ASSETS, an association of the parents of the ASSETS beneficiaries, has been registered as a user group of  Gede Community Forest  Association. This cluster is of parents whose children are pupils at Mzizima, Mijomboni, Chipande and Mida primary schools,four of the ten schools in the ASSETS program.

The registration means that the association can finally benefit from different activities it maybe involved in in the forest as opposed to before when it wasn't  registered.

As a result, Stanley and Patrick have been up and down holding meetings with parents from the four schools.The main reason being to set up structures that will facilitate maximum exploitation of the advantages that come with the registration and establishing the most effective way of dealing with  it's affairs.

Being a user group means that you can set up projects and activities that promote conservation and sustainable use of the resources within the forest .The income generated from these activities is for the benefit user group.

Isn't that great?

Some of the projects by ASSETS include the board walk in Mida creek and the tree platform in Gede ruins.This two Eco facilities were set up to collect funds through Eco tourism.The funds are then used for bursaries for the children' s secondary education.The parents of these children,who are members of Muvera wa ASSETS in turn participate in conservation activities.

Any project ideas?

we would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Assets Second camp

The assets second camp was on from 28th of August and ended yesterday 30th August.It was a three day camp with alot of activities just like the first camp.The students who are first year beneficiaries got to learn about the environment and conservation.A total of 20 students and a teacher and a parent were in this camp. The first day the students were taken to the Mwamba nature trail where they learnt more about tree species and the general biodiversity of the mwanba little forest.

Thereafter there was an introduction part and this second camp was lucky to have two Assets university graduates who gave alot of encouragement to the students.

Later that day there was a talk on education and discipline by one of the Assets committee members(Mr Julius Mwawiswa).Mr Mwawiswa talked and quoted verses from the bible to give emphasis on his talk.Again the students were lucky to get a talk fromMr Rafael Magambo, the National director of A Rocha Kenya.Mr Rafael gave them sound advice on being morally upright and conservation.

It was time for games and two groups were formed,SIMBA(lion) and NYATI(buffalo).The first game was filling an empty bottle with water using hands from one member to the last.This was by giving water using the hands, then to the other member the same way until the last member who takes the water in the botlle. Nyati emerged the winners.It was then football where we had a great encounter and simba won 1-0.

In the evening the students watched a movie (finding nemo) before they went to bed.

Day two of the camp saw the students going for snorkelling after the morning glory and a powerpoint presentation from Benjo.Snorkelling  was a great experience for the students whose majority had not been in water.Mr Robert Sluka and Benjamin cowburn who are the marine biologists at mwamba led the students on this wonderful part of marine life.Students were able to see corals and different types of fish.

After snorkelling Mr Stanley gave a powerpoint presentation on drugs and HIV Aids.We later went to the Watamu turtle watch(WTW) where the students learnt alot  about turtles. We later went to games.After a tough match which ended on a 1-1 draw we went to penalties.Nine penalties were taken from both sides and Simba won 2-1.In the evening we had a session of bible study and a session of quiz in which simba won, before they went to bed

After a bird ringing session led by the director of conservation and reserch,A Rocha Kenya, Mr Collin Jackson, the last day was full of movements.The students were taken to the two eco-facilities where the bursaries come from.Mida creek was the first place they visited and were happy to learn the various species of mangroove.They were very amazed by the different species and their long biological names .They went on to climb the boardwalk. Few of them were very afraid of its shaky nature but got encouraged by their fellow students.

The second movement was visiting the Gede ruins tree platform. Here the students had a lot of fun on the platform after a tour of the ruins.

The students returned to mwamba for lunch.After lunch we had a recap of the camp and a short final quiz. The points were calculated and Simba became the overal winnere with 23.5 points and Nyati had 23 points.Prizes were awarded to the winning group.The losing group also got consolation prizes.The teacher and the parent who attended the camp were also awarded prizes. The camp ended with a prayer from one of the students and then they were shown a slideshow of all the photos taken during their stay.At 3:20 the students left mwamba.

A tour of ASSETS primary schools...

On last Thursday morning, with Festus, Henry, Patrick and Ayoti, we set off on a trip to visit as many of our ASSETS primary schools as possible. Our (optimistic) aim was to see 7 or 8 of the 10 schools ASSETS work with, but in the end we managed to visit 5, which already filled a long but very interesting day! We made our way around the Arabuko Sokoke Forest, starting with Mijomboni Primary, just past Gede on the Eastern boarder of the Forest. We were greeted by the Wildlife Patron there, who showed us around the different projects led by the Wildlife Club, the Muvera Wa ASSETS cluster (both have tree nurseries), as well as a new initiative led by teachers, who planted kale and peanuts to provide for their lunch. (See picture below). They even had a banana tree, which is pretty impressive in this rather arid land! Overall, the compound was very green, and the school led a lot of encouraging initiatives.

We then moved on to Girimacha, on the Western side of the Forest boarder. This school was located in a very dry area, so struggled a bit more with tree planting and sustaining tree nurseries. But they were still at it, as the picture below shows! They will be planting these trees just before the next rain season, so around September. The WCK patron also explained that they were reaching the end of their food reserves provided by the government, reserves which never last the whole term (last term, they only received food for 42 days out of 72). This food is very important, as providing a lunch in school has made a big difference in enrolment rates. A lot of the primary schools around the forest receive food with this programme led by the Ministry of Education.

Our third school was a bit further south, Malanga Primary School. This school was quite similar to the previous one, with efforts being made to plant trees despite the dryness of the area. The conditions make it more difficult to have a green compound, and plant many trees. As we can see on the picture, pupils also receive lunch there, as long as the government provides enough food.

Boga Matchuko, the fourth school we visited, stood out from the previous ones, as we were impressed by the academic level of the pupils (a few of them moving on to some of the most prestigious secondary schools in Kenya) as well as the dynamism of the Wildlife Club and Muvera cluster. A fishpond has recently been installed, which is a unique initivative in the district, and could be an alternative source of income. They also have a weather station, which, with a bit of restoration, could be a great activity for the Wildlife Club. Their tree nursery was impressively well-kept and green. This was a real encouragement for us to see the change that took place over the past few years in cooperation with ASSETS!

Finally, our last school was Nyari Primary School, south of the Forest. This school, situated on a depression, has really made the most of its conditions, and is also very dynamic, with 2 Wildlife Patrons working together to make school compound more green by planting grass, as it has already been done, and care for the tree nursery. They also hosted pupils from Aga Khan Primary school in Mombasa, and planted trees together just next to the school grounds. Despite a few problems (a leaking water tank), this school was also a real encouragement, we were delighted to see how motivated and committed the WCK patrons were. Like the weather station in Boga, the water tank could be easily repaired with some simple manual help, which ASSETS is keen to provide.

All in all this was a rich and encouraging day for everyone, for Wildlife Patrons as well as for the ASSETS team. We are thankful for everything that ASSETS has implemented so far and the difference its made, and are full of ideas for the future!

Films for a difference!

 

Last week in Mijamboni Primary School near Gede, the usual Tuesday evening Wildlife Club was offered a rather exceptional activity! The classroom was made into a cinema, staring David Attenborough and his BBC Earth Series.

This was very and increasingly well-attended, with about three times as many students at the end of the film than at the start! (and many more watching by the window). As the Wildlife Patron wasn’t here, we could not have a discussion afterwards as we usually do, but it was nevertheless an enjoyable afternoon for everyone, filled with ‘ohhs’ and ‘aahhs’ of amazement at the sights of nature and wildlife. Favourites were chasing scenes - lions chasing an elephant for instance-, and the monkeys having a bath.

We believe these films can make a big difference in giving a positive image of environment. Although they may not grasp all the commentary, children see how beautiful, diverse (and apparently funny) nature is. We know that for someone from a similar rural primary school, seeing such a film spurred an interest in the environment and eventually led to a full time career in this field! So let’s hope many more will be inspired to protect the environment through this!