Earlier this month, YTF Kenya hosted Dr. Lee Rother, an award-winning teacher, author, consultant and a member of the YTF Board. It was wonderful hearing first hand from Dr. Rother his thoughts on our work in Kenya so far. I spent the first two hours of our meeting bringing him up to speed with where the local team was in the development and launch of PeaceOpoly. I shared the history of how youth in YTF’s Yes, Youth Can! program in Nigeria birth the idea for a ‘game for change’ to complement the civic education workshops, the history of PeaceOpoly, creating the storyboard, working with MobileFutures- the development team, engaging Kenyan and Nigerian youth to test the game and announcing its release to the world. Dr. Rother acknowledged the work thus far emphasizing the importance to build relationships local schools, universities and educators in an effort to incorporate PeaceOpoly as a learning resource in the educational curriculum.
Dr. Rother and I took this opportunity to visit with educators and several schools that potentially would be interested in integrating PeaceOpoly into their curriculum. In addition to PeaceOpoly, YTF will implement YTF Academy programs working in partnership with grassroots organizations and schools.
We visited with three schools; Kirigiti Girls Rehabilitation School, African Evangelistic Enterprise and Kibera Girls Soccer Academy.
We first drove about 40 minutes away from Nairobi to Kirigiti Girls Rehabilitation School, a school that is home to girls who consider it more of a refuge, a safe-haven.
Mr. Stephen O., a teacher met with us and provided the history of the school, the challenges and successes. The school serves girls under 18 years of age who are at-risk: many have undergone female genital mutilation, physical violence and are from very hostile backgrounds. Several of these girls come from parents with broken and violent marriages or have been sentenced for a variety of crimes and are admitted to the school through court orders. The school works hard to help the girls turn their lives around and for hundreds of these girls, they dread the day when they would have to return to their biological homes. In addition to some academic study, the basics of literacy and numeracy, there is some vocational training provided including lessons in dressmaking hairdressing, baking and beauty therapy.
There is a ‘computer lab’ at Kirigiti and it has only 1 laptop computer. Computer lessons are taught to over 200 girls, none of whom really have the practical knowledge of how to use computers when they graduate. When the girls graduate, they are given government-sponsored grants to purchase equipment and establish a micro-business.
The following day, we drove 30 kilometers from town, to Karen, the town that hosts a fantastic faith-based organization, Africa Evangelistic Enterprise (AAE). Located on more than 10 acres of land, AAE works with local churches to empower Kenyan youth. We met with Edward N., a very hospitable team leader who shared, with passion AAE’s work in Kenya. It was interesting to learn the impact AAE is making in as many as 10,000 students a year across 10 different schools, participate in a guidance and counselling program that is offered through these schools. AAE’s curriculum teaches youth better time management, how to handle peer pressure, and topics related to health, faith and career development. The team at AAE was very open to continuing to discuss options to integrate our civics education curriculum. Edward emphasized the role of youth in Kenya’s leadership ending on the note that youth are a powerful and unstoppable force that if well trained and nurtured, could be a new revolution in our society, and can bridge the much needed leadership vacuum that is lacking among the national leaders.
Later that afternoon, we were joined by YTF partners from Stade Sports, another local NGO in Nairobi. We drove 20 kilometers away from Nairobi into Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa, to visit with Kibera Girls Soccer Academy. As the school was impossible to reach by road, we parked about 30 minutes away and walked through what seemed like an endless maze of shanties, homes made from rusty iron sheets and mud houses.
Sanitation and security are major problems in Kibera and as we walked through the narrow roads lined with garbage, I wondered what we possibly could find amidst all this extreme poverty. And there it was… Kibera Girls Soccer Academy, KGSA.
KGSA is a community-based organization that provides free education, art programming and athletic opportunities to about 120 girls a year. KGSA believes that through active participation in education, the arts, and athletics, the girls will have the opportunity to develop a stronger confidence in their minds, bodies, and spirits – empowering them to become leaders in their own communities and country, as they advocate for a brighter Kibera and Kenya. We introduced PeaceOpoly to the KGSA team and they were very excited about the potential the learning resource could have in their programming. In addition to academics, the girls at KGSA learn video production and photography. Listening to one of the girls talk about using video programming software, final cut, made the difficulty in getting to the school well worth it.
Joe Kamau Macharia is YTF’s Country Lead based in Kenya. He writes from Nairobi where he is responsible for building partnerships with the public, private sector and civil society. Joe is using his passion for youth and technology to help young people achieve their personal goals and become leaders in their communities.
