Milele has recently been working closely with Regent High School in Camden, London. We wanted to say a very big thank-you to them for taking part in Milele's 'Bring a Book' project by donating their old and unwanted books, which have now been given out to two schools in Kenya.

Royal Academy and New Life School in Mtwapa, Kenya have both benefited from the books from Regent High School in London. The children were very excited to receive them and the teachers were thrilled. One of the teachers receiving books through the Bring a Book project said:

"Thank-you so much for these books—the children love them. They enjoy reading them so much, the only problem is getting the books back at the end of the reading hour!"

Royal Academy is a small local school based in a shanty town, Mtwapa, on the east coast of Kenya. The school works on providing low cost education to children in the area who cannot afford school fees. The director, Mr Bosco, said how pleased he was to be able to read with the children; the books will make a huge difference to their work. New Life School are also benefiting from the books from Regent High (Camden, London). New Life school is also a small school, providing basic education to children in the area who cannot afford school fees. The director, Madam Esther, set the school up because she had no way of educating her own children. This is a common problem and now the school is growing, with more than 50 families asking for their children to attend.

Without basic resources, both these schools are struggling to provide a good level of education for their students. With these new books, the schools hope to dramatically improve literacy, reading, writing and spelling skills.

Follow up work:

Royal Academy has already hosted a Milele volunteer, Agnes, for a few months. She worked with the school to help them arrange the books and use them in small groups with the children. The children very much enjoyed the reading groups and got involved and engaged in learning through books.

After our trip in January we hope to bring you more feedback on the Bring A Book project - keep your eyes peeled on the site for more information.

Once again, thanks so much to Regent High and all our schools on the Bring a Book project, your donations are making a huge difference already.

For more information on our other work with Regent high school and to see photos of some of their home-made dolls being distributed, look at our other news articles.

Amy

Hello! I wanted to give you an update on the new 'Bring a Book' scheme we are launching. Read on to find out more about how your school could get involved.

The new ‘Bring a Book’ scheme will encourage children in schools here in the UK to bring in an old or unwanted book that they no longer need, which will then be taken out to a school in Kenya where the children just don’t have access to a wide range or literature in the same way we do. We all know the huge social, emotional and education benefits books bring, and I am really excited to launch a new project helping children in Kenya to use and develop their knowledge and experience of reading!

To launch the project I would love the opportunity to visit UK schools and work with the children. We have a ‘Introduction to Kenya’ pack for schools which includes loads of exciting, fun and hands-on activities such as learning some basic Swahili and some Swahili songs, trying out Kenyan musical instruments, investigating the culture and traditional clothing of some of the tribes in Kenya and perhaps even having a go at some Kenyan cookery! I find that this is a great way for the children to get interested in and learn about Kenya, the culture, language and way of life as well as some of the challenges people face in their daily lives in a fun, engaging and accessible way. Working with Milele can also be extremely beneficial for the school, helping them to increase their cross-cultural diversity. One of the groups we have worked with before said:

"The things we have done with Milele are really lovely, the children enjoy them and at the last Ofstead inspection they pretty much single-handedly got us an 'outstanding' rating in the area of cultural diversity!"

I am happy to work with small groups over a longer period of time, or to do a combination of assembly and small group work, whatever works best for the school. The activities can also be easily adapted to suit different ages, from nursery school to college. I do not charge anything to come in and work with the children – I would just like the opportunity to engage with the school and see if any of the children or staff would like to get involved with the ‘Bring a Book’ scheme or any of our many other projects in Kenya. The fact that we are such a small, grassroots charity really gives the chance for the children and staff to get to know the children we work with and to be as hands on as they would like!

If you are reading this blog and you are a teacher or member of staff at a children’s setting please do not hesitate to get in touch with me on 07950329398 or by email at amy@milele.org.uk. I would absolutely love to hear from you! You can also find out more about Milele on our website www.milele.org.uk

Amy

Hello everyone!

On our last day in Kenya we visited one of the local community schools which has been started by a mother in the village who wanted to provide education for children who couldn't afford to go to school.

The school currently has around 40 students and has kindergarten classes 1 to 3 and because it is a community school doesn't charge any fees for the children who attend.

Enjoy the photos, i think they say it all.

Today Charo in his role of elder brother (which he fulfils perfectly) escorted us around his and his brothers classrooms for a version of an English parents evening. You sit and talk through your child’s mark with the teacher, then receive their school report. We were very pleased to find that all four of our children had glowing reports in all areas.

Charo proudly showed us to his classroom where his teacher went through his marks with us. Overall he has done exceptionally well, getting 740 marks out of 800 and rising to position 2 in class. He only needs to rise one more position and he will achieve the coveted rank of first in class, meaning his name will go on the board in the school courtyard for everyone to see! Charo has achieved more than 80% in every single subject this term, in English and Swahili reading and in English writing he received 100%; and in maths he received a 96% score. These are clearly impeccable marks and he is justifiably very proud, showing us each piece of class-work bound together in his folder. Charo’s teacher reported to us that she is very happy to have him in her class, that he is a polite and extremely responsible boy and that he has the best handwriting in the whole class! She also told us that this term Charo has been given the honour of class monitor- someone the teachers select to be responsible for their classmates; he is (of course) carrying out this role perfectly!

Kaingu and Safari’s teacher was also very pleased  with them. Both are achieving very high marks. Kaingu this term achieved a total of 709 marks out of 800, making him position 6 in class out of 24. In English and Swahili reading he received full marks, 100%. The teacher informed us that she will be working with him during tuition over the holidays to improve his spoken English (in which he got 76%) and social studies (74%), which are his lowest subjects since he prefers to talk in Kiswahili all the time!! We discussed his weakness in social studies, suggesting that this might be because it includes CRE (Christianity). The boys did not learn CRE in their previous home, so now approaching this subject in school is challenging for them. However overall she said he is a very hardworking boy, though a little shy, and very bright, always looking up to his brother Safari!

Safari’s report was just as positive, overall he managed to get 724 marks out of 800 in his first term in Standard 2, and got into the top three being position 3 out of 24 students in his class. Once again Safari managed 100% in English and Swahili reading, and English writing, and very high marks in maths (96%). It would seem that he takes after his big brother Charo in these things! Safari’s weakest subjects are Kiswahili (80%) and Social Studies (80%). He seems to have a specific problem in understanding ‘opposites’, within the Kiswahili exam and so the teacher is going to work on this with him during tuition over the holidays.

Emmanuel is in Standard 1 now and so it is his first year in the lower primary classes! Since he is such a big boy now this has meant a change in his uniform and he struts proudly around wearing exactly the same clothes as his big brothers, which he is extremely happy about! Emmanuel has achieved 3rd place in class this term, showing how well he has settled into proper primary classes. This move also means he has started computer classes, a subject he is throwing himself into and really enjoying. We have been told that if the teacher overruns in any subject and it is time for computer lessons, all the students in the class immediately let her know! Teacher, Teacher, it is computer time now!!

We are very proud of all of them and how hard they are clearly working to have achieved such high marks. After only four terms in school all the children have improved hugely. When they started at Mtwapa Academy, Safari was getting 640 marks out of 800, and was position 5 in class, after 12 months worth of schooling he is now getting 724 marks and has risen to position 3. Kaingu began in position 7, with 530 marks and since then has risen to 709 marks. Charo 12 months ago was position 14 in class, receiving 680 marks, and has since shot all the way up to position 2, with 740 marks. We are very pleased with how quickly the boys have caught up with their classmates despite their shaky start in life.

All the children’s sponsors will receive their full end of term reports in the post immediately after we return back from Kenya next week. Keep your eyes peeled, let’s hope Charo manages to get top place in class next term!!