20 November, 2008

Mr Freeman,

Here below please find my one day's observations and my thoughts while at the construction site.

A Day in Ngenia Secondary School.
Today is Thursday 13th of November, 2008. It is a typical exam day and it captures the serenity of all the days since the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination season started, about two weeks ago.

At the upper end of one of the classroom blocks is the One Dollar for Life/ SEANET- supported classroom construction site. Workers are busy with various activities to ensure that the construction goes on as per schedule. These workers have been working tirelessly in rainy and muddy conditions for the last few weeks.

Form IV exams are very significant in the life of Kenyan students. They are seen as the sole determinant of the future of the student. These exams, in a day school like Ngenia, have acquired even greater significance. They are a test for students who have not been having a level playing field for the last four years.

National and Provincial Schools.

Before a student goes to high school, s/he requires eight years of primary education and sitting of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (K.C.P.E) examinations. Primary schools are either private or public.

The children of the well-to-do attend the best private schools that do extremely well in their K.C.P.E exams. They perform much better than the public ones such that they are able to virtually take all the best performing public boarding national and provincial school positions during form ones intake!

The children of the poor end up in day secondary schools like Ngenia. They walk for long distances to and from school each day. In these schools, infrastructure is poor, classrooms have been poorly constructed and electricity is taken to be a luxury. Teachers have no houses nearby and they have to commute for long distances to and from school. In short, the learning conditions are very difficult.

It can therefore be noted that most of the Ngenia students inevitably came from the poor-performing public primary schools to this lower caliber day Secondary school as fate would have it. Their chances,therefore, of attaining high grades that would allow them to join the highly competitive public universities are therefore minimal. Their chances of going to any of the many private universities in Kenya or abroad are almost non- existent. Many students are therefore destined for menial jobs and destitution, just like their penurious parents.

This Situation Can Be Averted!

ODFL and partners have embraced small scale infrastructure projects and directed the same to the poor of the poor. The Ngenia Secondary School classroom is a case in point. The interest shown by the parents, teachers and the students in this project and ODFL is very motivating and inspiring. They continuously monitor the construction progress.

The American students, through their ODFL organization are doing their part to raise funds for the construction. The principal of the school, Mr. John Kuira, has played his part in rallying parents in an effort to improve the school standards.

SEANET and its management are ensuring that all the engineering standards conform to the Kenya ’s building code. We have set for ourselves very high standards so that the classroom, when finished, will be a center- piece and pride, not only for Ngenia but for other day secondary schools as well. It will therefore set pace for others to emulate.

When this happens, then we shall be inching slowly towards the long road of reducing the huge gap between the well endowed national/ provincial schools and the day secondary schools, and hence the attendant rift between the rich and the poor.

Internationally this project will be an indelible sign of connectivity between the philanthropic American students and their Kenyan counterparts. It will also be in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals(MDG's) 1&8 viz:

1. Reduce Extreme Poverty and Hunger,
8. Develop a Global Partnership For Development.

With many such projects spread all over the world, who can stop the grand march towards one humanity?


Yours in a Better World,
Macheru Karuku,
Executive Director,SEANET.