HABARI: NEWS JUNE 2013

Habari News June 2013
During the second school trimester in Kenya for extra curriculum teachers and students focus on the Kenya Music Festival, an annual event that takes place between May and ending in August. All schools and colleges private and public are expected to participate in the activities of the festival that is expected to play an essential role in shaping modern music practice in Kenya. On the one hand, it is an institution and agent for preservation and creativity. On the other hand, as Kenyans seek to articulate their cultural heritage. Since our independence in 1963 the Festival has been a continuous process of transformation and expansion and in many ways has transformed music practice within the Kenyan education system. Students and teachers had done very well and had competed well at the local level with many other schools. Out of seventy children we had 44 who had qualified to go for competitions and higher level or province level.
Just a week before the children were to leave for a trip of about 200 miles to a place called Eldoret where they were expected to stay for three days in competitions of music with many other schools, the Education officials had to put the music festival that had been slated for July 3- to 6 on hold since the public school teachers went on strike. This annual event features dances, songs and verses in English, Kiswahili, French, German and Arabic depending on where in the country the schools are located.
Meanwhile, public elementary schools remained deserted as teachers vowed to stay away from the institutions until they received official communication from their union. There has been no learning in public Schools as I’ve heard and students had to go home.
I have been in good communication with Fr. Ntaiyia Jubilee School and learning has been going on as usual. The School is private and does not get any aid or help from the government for anything because the school charges school fees and meets all its needs from the fees paid by parents.
Last week I had a telephone conversation with the Head teacher who was wondering whether the children in the school should go home because most of the other surrounding schools have been deserted. I did not see any reason for us to close the school and I called the staff together as I occasionally do and talk to them by a speaker or a cell phone so that they can all hear me. I encouraged them to keep teaching as usual because there is no reason for the school to close. I have talked with some parents and they said they are happy that the children are in school because there is no danger like what would be expected during the elections or clashes.
June 22, 2013 was a hive of activities in Fr. Ntaiyia Jubilee School because it was parents’ visiting day. Parents’ visiting day in boarding schools in Kenya is always a very happy and exiting day. It is necessitated by the fact that children in boarding school may go for weeks without seeing members of their families. Thanks to cell phone communication these days because parents can call from any area in Kenya and talk to their children through teachers in schools. When children report back to school from holidays, parents buy the necessary items they need such as tooth paste, soaps, pens, copy books and other supplies. Children will store these items in their metal boxes that are next to their beds in the Dormitory. The box is secured with a padlock and the child will keep the key to the box safe. During parents’ visiting day, one or both may visit the student not only to bring supplies such as soaps that may be needed, but parents as well come by the town and buy some food and soft drinks to share with their children who like to have a change from the regular school food. Visiting day is always on a Saturday and this gives parents an opportunity to bring the siblings of the children. Other relatives may come as well – an aunt, uncle, or grandparent.
I was informed that there were many parents visiting on this day and it was the first time that our new Head teacher (nun) was able to see this because the visiting day that was to be in February this year was interrupted by elections as children were to be at home. By coincidence the mother of our Head teacher came to visit her on this day all the way from Lake Victoria about 200 miles North West of the school. So when I called the Head teacher to ask how parents’ visiting was going and she informed me that her mother was there, I replied .. “it is parents’ visiting day ..”
On other news, construction of the administration block and library was suspended with the long rains and mainly after exhausting the funds that were available for it. I started it with the money left over from rain-water harvesting project that was donated by Heini for Africa – Austria and this took the building as far as the ring beam. I trust the rest of the construction will continue soon.
Fr. Symon