Count down is on...

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Today is Tuesday, Feb. 3rd, 2009! It's hard believe time is passing so quickly, it is 3 weeks today that I have been in Kenya. This morning we spent our time doing presentations in preparation for students. After hearing my co-facilitators present their modules, I thought it would be a great idea to write alittle bit about what we will be teaching the kids.
To give you a bit of backgroud, I work for Me To We (MTW). Me To We is a social enterprise that offers people an opportunity to create change by making socially conscious decisions. Through media, products and leadership experiences, Me To We supports Free The Children's efforts with youth to create global change. Me To We has a partnership with Free The Children. Fifty percent of Me To We's proceeds go to Free The Children (FTC).

FTC has a created Adopt a Village. Adopt a Village has four main pillars- education, health, water and sanitation and alternative income. Each of these pillars are equally important and play a huge role in supporting the Adopt a Village Project.

Education was the first focus of FTC. The mentality behind building schools was that in order to break the cycle of poverty/child labour and exploitation- infrastructure and education are the answers.
In brief, Craig Kielberger realized this cycle needed to be broken when he traveled to south Asia and witnessed the lack of education and infrastructure. They first built a school in Nicaruagua. After a series of events, they set up a school building project in Kenya. In 2002, the government made it manditory that each child attend primary school. This announcement was made on Friday and was to be in effect on Monday morning. Over a million children showed up on Monday at the closest school they could find. They were hanging out the windows, and doorways trying to learn what they could. Keep in mind many of these schools were made out of mud, cow dung, straw and rocks. From this point, the demand for school buildings has been a big priority. FTC has been building schools in the Masai Mara in 10 different communities. Free The Children and Me To We have created partnership with the community members so that it's a give and take relationship. The whole idea behind creating the partnerships with the community is that they are able to run the schools themselves and that it is sustainable over time. We are very cautious about this relationship as we do not want them to see the organization as a handout. In some cases, the community has built a road into the school or purchased the land. One of the directors here put it very clear to me: It has taken us 10 years to greet the kids with them holding their hand out for a handshake rather than holding their hand out waiting for something in return.
Often people ask me why we don't bring in large equipment and build the schools the same way we would in North America. The reason we use their methods is continue their culture and not to impose our ways upon theirs. When it's time to order school books and supplies, the headmaster tells us what books and materials he wants so that it's not us dictating what curriculum we would find appropriate in our culture.
Just to wrap this up, we were told a wonderful story this week how some of the administrators for FTC had heard about a girl that had finished primary school, so she was around 15 years of age. Her father didn't know what to do with her, so he had made arrangements to marry her off. Upon hearing of this girl, they went and talked with her father and convinced him that if he let her go to school, FTC would help sponsor her!
I thought that was incredible, she will get to go to high school and further her education instead of being married off to a man whom she did not want to marry.
In the next few blogs, I'll explain the other pillars of the Adopt a Vilage Project.

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Comments

[Rosalyn]

I think Free the Children is an organization you should feel very proud to be apart of Emily. You are changing lives through education and helping young individuals to expand their horizons beyond what their parents could have dreamed of. I look forward to your next blog Emily xoxox I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale