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