SADILI OVAL AFTER THE STORM

After weeks of relentless rain and recovery efforts, the Sadili Oval Sports Club is thrilled to announce the resumption of all tennis activities. The club's reopening is a testament to the enduring spirits of its members and the community.

 The road to recovery was paved with challenges. The club once waterlogged courts have been restored, thanks to the tireless work of the staff. 

“Seeing our courts ready for play again is incredibly rewarding,” shared club coach Mary.

 In anticipation of the reopening, the club has implemented several upgrades. Enhanced drainage systems, new court surfaces, and refurbished amenities await the members. 

“We are not just coming back, we are coming back stronger," said Dr.Elizabeth the G.M.

Most of our members have attested to the reopening of the club, and some of them have come to see if we are really opening.  

The Sadili Oval Sports Club's resumption of activities is more than a return to normalcy, it is a leap forward. With facilities and a united community, the club is set to serve up its best season yet. 

Written by  Akoth Quinter

ANOTHER DANGEROUS FLOOD STORMS KENYA CLAIMING HUNDREDS OF LIVES AND DESTROYING PROPERTIES (2024)

 THE KENYAN FLOODS AND IMPACT EVEN ON EDUCATION

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A Natural disaster has broken its way into the daily lives of Kenyans again. Many parts of Kenya have been experiencing heavy rains since the 18th  of April 2024. 

As one can see in the images, the heavy rain has led to floods leaving many people in distress following the ruins it has caused. The capital city, Nairobi and its surroundings, have been severely affected by this merciless flood. Low-income areas in Nairobi like Kibera, Mathare, Githurai, and Mukuru kwa Njenga have been severely affected due to lack of solid structures, poor drainage systems and infrastructures, and congestions. This leaves people homeless and at risk of contracting diseases like cholera, typhoid and diarrhea.

 

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Additionally, the Nairobi River and Athi River both broke out of their banks sweeping away houses along their paths and damaging nearby neighborhoods leaving about 40,000 people displaced and homeless.

A total number of 17 bridges have been destroyed, making it hard for people to cross from one side to another. In Mai Mahiu, about 60 kilometers from Nairobi about 50 people died after being swept away by the heavy rains as they slept at a dam nearby. Generally, across the whole country, over 180 people have been reported dead. 

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In the North Eastern part of Kenya where the main source of income is the keeping of livestock, the residents have lost their source of livelihood watching their cattle swept away by the oceanic rains.

The families in this part of the country also face displacement. While some of them camp along the Garissa-Nairobi highway, some people have camped at a nearby school, Jaribu Primary School to seek refuge.

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Farmers across the country lament their losses as they watch their crops flowing with the waters. They report that this comes after they have heavily invested their resources in buying seeds and fertilizers. Just when the crops were looking healthy, and they hoped for a better harvest. This is like a nightmare in their eyes.

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Due to the continuous rainfalls, the Cabinet Secretary for Education issued a statement that schools that were to re-open for the second term on 29th April 2024, now re-opens by the 6th of May 2024 hoping that the rains would have reduced. Some schools have been destroyed and brought to ruins. Even after the 6th of May, schools in some parts of the country like Busia County will not be able to open because the classrooms are left in bad conditions.

The government has made the public to understand that they are looking for ways to help the affected families and schools for life to return to normalcy.

Impact Realization

Did you know the most expensive gift one can offer to anyone is time? The wise people said “time is money”. I am not well versed with how one can convert time to money if you are not employed or trading, but if someone lends you their time, serving you and expecting nothing in return, respect the person since they have offered you a gift that can’t be quantified. Sadili Oval Sports Academy was incorporated with one vision, “To empower children and youth to improve their wealth, reduce poverty and improve learning for a better future.” Working round the clock to see improvement in the less privileged society. With this in mind, a number of programs and projects have been launched to see to it that this has been achieved and slowly but surely its happening. The Sadili staffs who are working under Court of Dreams Project have really created a lot of impact among the children in the program as well as the community at large. The self motivation towards keeping the environment clean, the toilets and also their self hygiene is something so remarkable and can confirm that there is  impact of the lessons taught under Court of Dreams."I participated during the Community Clean up which took place on the 11^th March 2019, I was tasked with assisting the participants in hand washing and after closely observing how the children were doing it, and I realized most of them were able to follow all the steps in hand washing which was so impressive. The kind of satisfaction on realizing the impact the lessons by the social educator was enough to mean the time they always give in teaching life skills does not go to waste.

I am optimistic that this impact will be sustained for a long time and with support from every stakeholder i.e Sadili Oval Sports Academy Board members, Staff Members, donors and the target community at large, a complete transformation will be realized"

Discovering the entry point for year 3 of the project

Data for baseline surveys are always the measure to clearly know where to start and the needs to address in reference to the set objectives and outcomes of project implementation.

For the three months of the 2nd quarter for the court of dreams project, baselines studies has been on going with implementers zealous to know the entry point for the newly selected sites for year 3, that includes, Stara Rescue center a school in Darajani, St Vincent De Paul in Olympic and Undugu Basic Education Unit located in Silanga, all located in Kibera slum.

All the tools were put to task including but not limited to; Children’s interviews that investigates the knowledge on toilet use, Standardized tests gauge the level of literacy and numeracy of children, Behavior dos and don’ts that tries to find out that understanding of safe WASH practices, Parents surveys, Concentration and memory games, Quick test games, WASH 2 that handles hand washing practices and monthly school attendance records for children.

Picking on one of the tools’ data from baseline that seem holistic in reference to all the designed M&E tools is Behaviors dos and don’ts. This tool was put to task with twelve pictures with behaviors around WASH.Children are shown the pictures one at a time and probed to tell whether it has a Good, Bad or an in-between option for those who were undecided on the first two options.

A good job done by implementers brought about a view of the state at baseline which is amazing and really defines why intervention is important in the selected sites for year 3.Data analysis showed results such as on the third picture with a child eating food covered with flies, out of 118 participants 29 of them said it is a good behavior, 8 participants were undecided whether it’s good or bad, while 81 said it is a bad WASH practices. This informs the wide spread ways of poor food hygiene practices in the community. Food vendors are always less concern of swam of flies on fish, fruits, and vegetables on a display table. Children learn from observations hence to them food covered with flies is not a bad behavior as their surrounding nurtures them.

Children also informed on the burying feaces as a Safe WASH practice to being a bad behaviors as majority of the participants in the sample saying it’s a bad behavior. Reading through their reasoning and comments, when feaces are buried this becomes interference to farming or people can still come into contact with the buried feaces.

The baseline studies therefore has informed implementers and the team at Sadili at large on the key areas and approaches to make  sustainable impact through reaching out to children, teachers and parents using various learning manuals as designed by the social educator. From the monitoring and evaluation desk a project is made of a commendable change at the end of the project in September 2019.

                

Marking the safe space

The safeguarding training held in April was an activity that children would want to remember in the days to come.  It was the first of its kind where we had children from our three schools come to Sadili to learn how they can keep themselves safe. The activity which took half a day was both fun and an eye opener to the children as they came to realize how their own safety is in their hands.

After some warm up activities in the field, children gathered in the hall very anxious to learn about child safeguarding. The session had a whole range of different topics covering children’s rights, maintaining a safe space, how to say no and the circumstances under which the rights of the child may be abused. Among these were topics children were already familiar with such as the rights of the child. Also were topics that were very new to the children.

 Intriguing to the children was the discussion on online child protection which was new and yet very insightful. The discussion centered on the use of social media and the internet as the other avenue that perpetrators of child abuse have resorted to as a way of reaching out to these innocent ones. Surprising to note is that more than half of the participants present were interacting with the internet in various ways and most of them being ardent followers of face book and Instagram

It was indeed an eye opener to the children when it was brought to their attention the risks of accepting friend requests from strangers, sending them to strangers and joining strange online groups.

Grooming and sexting was explained to the children as ways in which they became easy targets to abusers. Children were able to understand the simple ways in which abusers use fake promises to entice children into cyber sex and ultimately into other forms of abuse. Very engaging with practical examples of what goes on in the social media platform; children were able to identify with these examples amid laughs, jeers and questions. This session was the epic of all the lessons learnt and with so much to discuss, time became a limiting factor.

At the end of the day children had a lot to carry home in view of the do’s and don’ts in making themselves safe, courageously saying No to perpetrators and taking time to report any dangers and risks they encounter in their lives. If children will have to forget anything they learnt from the session, safe online use is no doubt one of the areas they will not forget

When Tennis Runs in the Family

Allan Bahati playing

It all started with Allan Bahati a 14 year old and second born of the family. During one of our sessions at the Kibera tennis court he came out and tried playing tennis since then he never stopped later the first born Jerry Masika decided to tag along out of curiosity he really wanted to see what really his sibling was into and just like that he got hooked too and the small brother Hezron Tajiri who is 11 couldn’t be left behind as the others went for the tennis sessions he also tagged along and later became part of the squad.

The three children come from Lindi located in the large slum of Kibera being raised by a single mother who support their passion of playing tennis as long as all the house chores are done you are free to go for the tennis sessions that’s what she says. The three boys have grown playing tennis from a young age till now they are all grown Allan and Jerry have joined different high schools leaving Tajiri in Primary but that has not stopped Tajiri from coming for the Saturday sessions and the brothers usually join for the holiday camps held at Sadili after they have closed schools.

“What impresses me is their determination and zeal. They are eager to learn and they are disciplined. Whatever rules I have set they usually follow to the latter be it keeping time or observing the different tennis rules”, say Coach Asha Adongo. During a short interview with the three brothers, Jerry wants be a professional Tennis player and a Neurosurgeon, Allan wants to be an Engineer and Tajiri wants to become a doctor in future.

Despite the distance from their home to Sadili, that doesn’t stop them from coming for the tennis sessions in fact they even get to Sadili earlier than those who come from around with the motivation of learning a new skill each time and they are always the last to leave as they want to practice with each other whatever they have learnt .It is here at Sadili where we nature the talent of the young ones and see them grow and blossom.

Hezron Tajiri before the game

The Clean Up Activity.

The 11^th of March started on a beautiful note with the Sadili Oval Sports Academy staff making their way to St Catherine which is located in Sarang’ombe ward in Kibera where the clean up was to start. The pupils were excited as they were handed gloves and dust masks and branded Sadili caps as part of their protection during the activity.

The clean up activity was done in partnership with Woodley Nazarene, St Catherine, Ministry of health Kibera and Sadili Oval Sports Academy who were the organizers of the event. All individuals who were to take part in the activity assembled in one place and were briefed on how the activity was  to take place, that is where we start and stop, safety measures and  what everyone was to ensure he or she had for the activity.

Introduction of the different partners present was done and Mr. Stephen Oketch from the Ministry of Health officiated the cleaning up activity by cutting the ribbon and the clean up started. Everyone tried as much as they could not to leave any form of dirt behind as our main aim was keeping the environment clean and leaving it far much better than it was before. Members participating in the activity had the zeal of carrying out the activity, no stone was left unturned, no trench was left with garbage armed with rakes, spades and trash sacks they got the work done. A few community members were impressed with the work that was being done in their area that they even chose to join and help in the clean up.

The activity ended at Woodley Nazarene where all members practiced Hand washing after the activity which is one of the Life skills we teach our children and everyone assembled at the hall for the closure of the activity. Mr. Stephen Oketch from the Ministry of Health Kibera was able to introduce his team and later took all the members through the disease Cholera which had suddenly increased in Kibera. All pupils were then given Aqua tabs to help them treat their drinking water and they were taught how to use it. A snack was served to all and people left at their own pleasure. What a successful clean up day!!

WONDER GAMES.

fun !

All activities conducted are coupled with games just so to break the monotony of listening all through,this helps increase the concentration span of the children and also help in better understanding a mastery of lessons learnt. This is actually the most fun moment for all the kids. You can vividly tell this since as soon as a game is introduced, they all jump in ecstasy and sing joyfully. It has been so fascinating playing with the kids, and may sound interesting that I get excited about the games too. Anyway, who would not like to engage in a fun activity?

Talking of games does not absolutely mean the very widely known ones like volleyball, hockey or even football. The games played are unique and can be adjusted to suit all, including the physically challenged. And not just that, they are brief and are easily understood by the children. They include the Newcombe game, rally around, beat the bucket, find the goal line, keep the ball, boccia and activity card, to mention just a few.

What happens behind the scenes

Pupils lead in a song that they like.

The practice of safe WASH practices is a major skill on the delivery list of services for the court of dreams program The skills requires patience, persistent and a listening ear just like that of an innocent child from Kibera slum, however the environment becomes a great hindrance  to make the skills effective for posterity.

The life skills sessions which are sports oriented finds Salem (not his real name), a boy who loves sports studying at Undugu Basic Education Unit as an avenue to explore his dramatic behaviors in the field for activity assessments.

According to Salem ,who is in phase two as they categories their transition from one phase to the other, Tuesdays are the best day to be in school because of what he called P.E-Physical Exercise days in the school. He is now a regular school attendant and never misses the days when we have sessions at their school. Sometimes Salem may appear absent in class but on our arrival he is found to be present as he comes from the neighborhood and keen to see whether we are in the school playground doing setups for sessions.

One of the pupils showcasing his dancing skills.

Salem though not so much into sport but enjoys the drama he presents before the other pupils and being an attention seeker which I guess might have been achieved by us in the life skill and sport sessions, he now finds interaction into our session as the best place to showcase his humor.

The session on behavior dos and don’ts left most of us laughing and it’s was the first instance to note the humor that was bestowed in Salem. Some of the pictures presented to him on safe and unsafe WASH practices unleashed the funniest moments of Salem and the inquisitive behavior of the boy.

Salem  apart from noting the behavior to be either good or bad and for some undecided to say whether good or bad, person defecating into the stream to him was a big crime and he went further to ask whether the person had sound mind or not. Using some of the slang terms used within the community, Salem described the incidence as, “Aaaaah! Hii nayo ni noma bro, huyu jamaa ni mkali hii form’’

A pupil leading in a game.

He went ahead to ask who was taking the pictures and if possible will have notify the police to arrest the person and send him  to jail for messing up with food,(fish) in the stream. Apart from the life skills sessions and sports we also promote talent among the children that when positively tapped can take this children places.

MY EXPERIENCE AS AN INTERN AT SADILI OVAL SPORTS ACADEMY

Lorein Odhiambo taking children through Hand washing.

Being in one of the best organizations and having an awesome experience in one’s area of study is usually a dream of every student. To begin with, personally I had always wished that a time would come when I would actually put that which was taught in class into action. I bet the most interesting experience any student would come by is that which is out of class, anyway.

Honestly, it was not a walk in the park to join Sadili Oval Sports Academy.  I had to follow the right procedure and also present the relevant documents. It took a lot, but I must admit it was worth it. Actually, I am sure I’m one of the luckiest interns ever, since that very week when I was to begin my attachment, there was an ongoing capacity building training session and I was so privileged to have got a chance to attend it. It was a great time that brought with it several challenges on my side till I felt like I had a lot to learn during my attachment and set me to thorough work. I learnt so many things that I was very zealous to begin working instantly. Well, you won’t just understand what I mean if you haven’t experienced an individually-challenging training session that can actually propel you to work.

So the long awaited moment to begin working finally materialized. I was taken through the orientation process in the following week, just after the capacity building training had ended. The orientation processes was an intense one, but trust me, I got more eager to begin the work. So Tuesday came, 5th February 2019, and we were to have a field work activity that was to take place in Kibera at Undugu Basic Education Unit. Well, I must admit that it was not easy on my side being the first time in Kibera. But then, the morale and teamwork seen in the other staff members re energized me. If anything, this is just one team anyone who comes by would like to work with entirely. They are not just colleagues, but are friendlier till you can see the brotherhood in all that they do and hence a better flow of work.

To all students out there, this is actually the best place for you to come and have greater experiences, both in the office and in the field area. Personally, I feel like I gain so much and I’m so ready just to get out and exploit the experiences gained, and I’m looking forward to even greater experiences during my three-month stay here.

 

Lorein participating in giving rewards.

Safe spaces!

Safes paces are free of prejudice; they promote inclusion, communication, participation for all. They are intentionally created to give room to all especially those that would be left out. They are avenues where all disenfranchised beings will feel welcomed.

Safe spaces are assumed to be very easy to create. That with guidance from our culture, constitution, policies, rules and religion to mention a few, we are able to create safe spaces for all to live and let others live. These are among the many encounters that we have at our community court, and the community

Mary arrives in the morning at the court with a swollen eye. It is so red and she seems to be in pain. The coach enquirers about the eye and she says `` Mum beat me because I went to the shop and bought something different.” ``Is that the only reason the coach insists?’’  ``Yes she says ‘’ the coach trying to comfort Mary says `` Mum need to be reported.” ``Mary agrees nodding her head and says `` I don’t know why she beats me so bad?’’

On different occasion walking through the community we find a parent seriously canning some children. The coach confronts the parent to stop the act. She tells them that what they are doing is not helpful to the child. Others join in the discussion wondering who we are. One says `` our children are very naughty, my own is worse. How will we mould them if we do not Cain / beat? Yes, another added, tell us? They do not listen or follow our instructions.” We look at each other, and coach said ``okay enough of the beating the children have heard you.’’ After a short discussion one parent agrees to think about it.  Another says `` in my house I beat the properly. They know. ’’

I once participated in a training that involved head teachers and coaches. As they were being trained for a holiday camp that was to take place soon for the children, it was clear that some the head teachers wanted to make their schools safer for their pupils. The teachers said `` they know we cannot touch them and if we did we will be punished.’’ That they had put in place strict rules to ensure this. Having interacted with the children in this school, they were outspoken and confident but lacked respect even for their teachers.

Creation of safe spaces is intended for all. The responsibility of the individual in creation of safe spaces as consumer and initiator should be clearly understood for us to achieve the intended end goal `safe spaces’. Safe spaces should be everywhere, in the school wash rooms, at the dining table, in a community play ground , our roads,  in the market place at the, at the bus stop. The individual should be responsible for it knowing that we all are challenged in different ways.

Does it not surprise you how children who do not know each other meet and play together? That is how beautiful a safe space is. It is filled with peace, contentment, understanding, smiles and many other good things.

Everyone is vulnerable in a setting strange to them. Therefore strive to create safe spaces for they will help include you and all children.

SQUATTING AND JUMPING FINDS A NEW MEANING AT THE WASH COMMITTEE TRAINING.

Last weekend was a beautiful and successful one as  pupils from Ngei primary, St Stephen, Nazarene and St Catherine had so much fun participating at the WASH committee training for the ambassadors and the influential pupils from their respective schools.

Pupils during the training session.

Many of the children arrived in good time and before they knew it the activities began in the interest of time. Children were taken through warm up and orientation into the compound as preliminary activities before they all settled in the hall for the overview of the WASH themes namely Hand Washing, Using the toilet, Food hygiene, Water safety, Environmental hygiene and menstrual hygiene.  With each participating child having been given a note book and a pen, their enthusiasm was lightened up as they took notes during the facilitation.

Another session followed immediately after facilitation, it was the opportunity to learn how to be peer educators in training other children WASH messages using sports, play and fun activities. It was at this time that in deed children were able to make lots of fun and enjoy the game. One of the games demonstrating the use of toilet was fun and fun according the feedback from them. The game had several cones labeled with both the correct and wrong use of toilets. Children were then instructed to queue up in groups and to run to the stations of the cones, read the label and then jump over if the label indicated a wrong type of toilet or squat if the label had the correct type.

Squatting indicated using that toilet since it was the correct type. The fun of it emanated from the squatting as this is what actually happens while using the toilets but the children felt some embarrassment doing so and furthermore some children ended up squatting at the wrong type of toilet use as others jumped over the correct types of toilet use.Children then gathered into groups to develop WASH resources which they carried to school and it was amazing to see huge creativity from the children with some others making a drawing to demonstrate ovulation and the menstrual cycle in reference to menstrual hygiene that they had just learnt. Presentation of badges to WASH ambassadors, giving out of WASH materials and serving of lunch followed before the children departed to their homes. Many children were for this day well spent in learning and fun.

Warm up session .

Presentation by Felix Kipkoech who was one of the facilitators.

The pupils working in groups.

St Catherine pupils showcasing their presentation.

Ngei WASH ambassadors after receiving badges

Pupils receiving materials to help promote WASH in schools.  

STARA RESCUE CENTER AND SCHOOL

Stara Rescue Center and school

And finally we settled on our last school which is Stara Rescue Center the school is located in Darajani area Makini ward. In a short Interview with Mr. Fred Onserio who is the school Head teacher we got to learn more about the school, the head teacher informed us that the school was started in 2000 as a Pre-school and later expanded into a Primary school with the first class doing their K.C.P.E exams in 2008.The school has 14 teachers and 2 social workers who ensure that all the children’s needs education wise and psychological wise are met.

The school gives 1^st priority to Total orphans, children from single parents, HIV positive children and abandoned and neglected children to be part of the school. Providing to them quality education from qualified teachers and also meals which some of them are unable to get from their homes. The school also empowers young girls on different areas and the girls are really doing well. The school offers scholarship to children who perform well as they provide their School fees and basic needs when they join high school thus this gives the children the motivation to work hard in school.

Learning block in the school

Education is not the only focus of this school but also Sports, Drama and Music are usually incorporated which the children also enjoy and have excelled in it hence tapping and promoting talent amongst the children and helping them to sustain themselves and survive in Kibera. However the school also faces a few challenges which include water shortage, enough text books and desks for all the children as the numbers keep increasing, children missing school and not getting enough meals for children as they are provided for tea break and lunch.

Despite all this the school still aims at improving Kibera with their mission being to effectively respond to communities needs through caring for the disadvantaged.

Pupils of Stara participating in a session

Sadili Oval Sports Academy Celebrates 2017 Global Handwashing Day

On 13^th October 2017, hundreds of pupils from 9 Primary schools in Kibera and their teachers gathered at Magoso Primary in Kibera for an early celebration of this year’s edition of Global Handwashing Day. This event was made possible through partnership between various organizations and institutions in Nairobi including Sadili Oval Sports Academy, Savo Foundation and the Ministry of Health among others. The Ministry of Health was represented by Public Health Officers from Nairobi’s Kibera and Lang’ata areas. This year’s Global Handwashing Day theme was ‘Our Hands, Our Future’,  reminding us that handwashing protects our own health, but also allows us to build our own futures, as well as those of our communities, and the world.

The event commenced with an introduction of this year’s theme and a brief explanation on what it means to everyone- both children and adults. This was followed by a short question and answer session where the pupils were given an opportunity to show how much they know about hand hygiene. For each correct answer, a piece of soap was given to a child.

One of the messages stressed during the event was the 5 critical times of handwashing: after visiting the toilet, before eating, after changing the baby’s nappy, before cooking and before feeding the baby.

The pupils were all surprised that a simple act of handwashing during these critical times could save them from catching so many diseases. The discussions were then followed by a handwashing demonstration where the children were taken through all the steps involved in proper handwashing.

Finally, bar soaps and leaky tins were donated to all the schools that attended the event. The leaky tins were donated courtesy of Sadili Oval Sports Academy.

Prior to this day, Sadili Oval Sports Academy through its Court of Dreams (WASH) project had been conducting weekly hand washing campaigns in 4 of the schools participating in the project in Kibera. A similar campaign was done during a tennis tournament held at Sadili Oval grounds on 7th October 2017 (http://sadiliovalnews.blogspot.co.ke/2017/10/hand-washing-campaign-embraced-at.html ). All these were done as build-up activities for the Global Handwashing Day, officially marked by the whole world on 15th October.

Court of Dreams uses tennis to promote good health among children under the age of 10. One of its major focus areas is promotion of good hand hygiene practices- an idea that is globally accepted considered as the easiest and cheapest way of preventing many illnesses. 

Global Handwashing Day is an annual global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.