Author: Gill Blissett

‘My name is Amber and I recently went on a school trip to Kenya. From the trip, a small group of us made a video interviewing some of the people we met out there including Hellen and Moses. We put together a video to spread awareness of the Maasai tribe, their culture, FGM, early marriage, Moses’ village etc. You can view the video at by clicking here.‘ Thank you, Amber, for sharing this with us.

If you would like further information about Hellen and her work, please contact us by emailing [email protected]

In August, a quantity of PE kit donated by Sacred Heart Catholic High School in Newcastle upon Tyne, was delivered to Enkiteng Lepa School, Maji Moto, Kenya, along with underwear donated by Fab 50s Keep Fit Group in Ponteland.

The underwear is very important, particularly knickers as they are needed to hold reusable sanitary pads in place. Mbita Primary School are very grateful to the Crafty Reivers of Stamfordham for making a quantity of reusable pads and bags to hold them. Without proper protection, girls will not go to school during their menstrual cycle, potentially missing one week of school in four.

We are delighted to be working with a cluster of schools in Kenya and NE England to develop meaningful links between the schools.

Following a meeting in Mbita in February 2019 and a further meeting in Northumberland in March 2019, all the schools agreed to focus on ‘Quality Education for All Children’, based on the British Council Connecting Classrooms theme. It is hoped that both groups of schools will be able to use this project for ‘improving schools through collaboration, communication, citizenship and leadeship’.

 

The following schools have developed links:

Regent Farm First – Mercy Education Centre

Darras Hall Primary – Shalom Academy

Throckley Primary – Brainstone Academy

Belsay Primary – Mbita Primary

Stamfordham Primary – Sunshine Academy

Kielder First – Mbita Primary (early years)

The Sele – Nyamasare Primary

We look forward to working with these schools to develop their project work.

 

Thank you to everyone who has supported us throughout the past 12 months. This includes all of our regular donors; those who have donated items for sale (books, CDs, DVDs, clothes, bags, belts, toys); those that have sold the aforementioned items; our Kenyan co-ordinator Benson Oswago; volunteers who have helped develop links and worked alongside teachers; and all the schools that have created and maintained links for the benefit of all pupils. We look forward to working with everyone in 2019. Thank you.

From Karen Hoare:

Childrenandsociety.Finalpeerreview

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Hoare, K., Ward, K., Walker, R. (2018). English children’s respectful reflections of the rights and lives of their Kenyan peers: A grounded theory study. Children and Society. which has been published in final form at doi/10.1111/chso.12244. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.

 

From Richard Walker:

These articles relate to the school link that was developed between Richard Coates School, Ponteland and their Tanzanian counterparts.

Fluorosis 2010 INHE82  and Jarvis et al 2013 Trop Med Int Health

Tropical medicine and international health https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tmi.12027

International health https://academic.oup.com/inthealth/article/2/4/269/687654

Our Northumberland Calendars are now on sale. We ask for a minimum donation of £8 plus p & p. If you would like to buy one, please email us. Only 36 copies left!

We are delighted that the water troughs that are filled from the borehole are now in use. This hopefully means that the wildlife, particularly elephants, will leave the borehole installation alone. The domestic animals also have water, thus protecting the livelihoods of the local community. We continue to receive news from the community about how the borehole has changed their lives. Girls no longer have to miss school to collect water.

You can now donate through MyDonate. Please click here to go to our fundraising page. Thank you for your support.