8 series challenge 6

The tournament started at 3.00 pm and ended at 4:30 pm with most of the children coming from Kibera. The tournament was held at our court in Kibera for the young ones mostly under the age of 6  and 8
The children were organized in different a category that is under 6 years, 8 years, 10 years and 12 years. The under 6 and under 8 tournament was held at the Kibera tennis court and the under 10 and under 12 was held at Sadili Oval sports Academy  

                                  

The children were registered, given uniforms and later went to their different pools and the competitions started this being the 6^th 8 series challenge the children showed remarkable results as most of them had improved from the previous results. The game was intense as each player didn't want to lose the ball you could actually follow with yours eyes to see where the ball falls next and the tension in the children as they didn’t want to loose.

 

''There is a lot of improvement from the children who constantly come for practice during Saturday squad sessions, the evening sessions and the holiday camp. This being a continuing group that was started in January ,am glad as most of the children understand the basics of tennis and are consistent in their training session observing discipline so that they can excel. I would also like to thank Dr Elizabeth Odera our director for providing sports uniforms for our children the uniformity was amazing. My objective is to get my team to play tournaments outside Sadili and also participate in major championships "said coach Asha Adongo during a short interview.

Running Court of Dreams.

Children being taught about WASH.

When carrying out sessions you might think that the children are just doing it for fun or not getting it until they shock you by telling  you what you taught them a few weeks ago .Its then that it will hit you that you positively impacted the children which is the goal from the word go.

All trough from year one since the initiating of the Court of dreams program we have been able to interact with different children from different schools

comprising those leaving with disabilities, most of them coming from the large slum of Kibera. Teaching them WASH and Comprising it with sports has been the most amazing thing we ever did as the children did not only learn but they learnt and had fun at the same time making the lessons memorable.

The first group that we started with are all grown now in class 5 and by the time we were starting with them they were in class 3.Some of them during the tennis sessions at the Kibera tennis court they would come and help coach Asha Adongo run the sessions. The teachers have also been very supportive during our sessions helping us manage the children and also keeping us up to date with the new curriculum when we are running our sessions.

Parents during the meeting.

The community at large inclusive of the parents has also been very helpful in taking part in our activities that is the cleanups, home visits, training’s, taking care of our community court and policy making. Running our project has been smooth .Despite the small hitches here and there, the good work of promoting WASH, numeracy and literacy will continue.

The community clean up activity

The second clean up activity was held on the 5^th of July 2019 led by Sadili oval staff members with Kevin Ayuko as the organizer. The event started at 10:00 am at Stara Rescue Center and School where all the three schools that were participating had assembled that is St Catherine, Nazarene and Stara Rescue center. Close to 100 members participated in the activity that is inclusive of teachers and students from the three schools plus Sadili Oval Staff members. The area to be covered was between Darajani where Stara Rescue Center is located via Gatwekera to Nazarene in Soweto area. The purpose for the cleanup was to create awareness to the community on the importance of environmental conservation.

Members participating in the clean up activity were given a short brief by Kevin Ayuko on the program that is areas to be covered and what is needed. All members were given Sadili branded T-shirts, caps, dust masks, gloves and equipment's to be used during the clean up that is rakes, spades and sacks for collecting garbage. The Participants actively participated in collecting rubbish and cleaning all the areas that we passed in the community to the last area which was Nazarene located in Soweto.

The clean up activity ended at 12:00 pm and all members assembled at the hall in Nazarene where introduction of the schools present, teachers present and Sadili Oval staff members was done with the teachers and pupils emphasizing that clean ups should always be done and that it should not be the last one they thanked Sadili Oval sports Academy for the great job being done in the community and encouraged us to keep up. Vote of thanks was also done to thank all members who participated in the activity and later all members enjoyed a snack and left for their respective schools promising to always keep the environment clean.

Using play based approach to address WASH

Pupils of Stara during a life skills session on Hand Washing

Tuesdays and Thursdays are always packed days for WASH implementers to execute life skills and sports sessions at Stara Rescue Center and School. The new term and new games for tennis came with a clearer implication of the strength of using play to reach out to children with lessons around WASH, Literacy and numeracy.

One Tuesday, when coach Asha was held up and wouldn't make it for a session at Stara school became my center of interest to unearth how much the children from Stara School loved sport in comparison to WASH sessions. Together with my colleague, we studied the behavior of children in the absence of coach Asha and decided to further  the research

Normally, Sadili’s staff arrival at the school will attract the attention of all the children either in their class rooms or outside playing. The children would shout, and scream in joy as they chant songs because they know its play time with "coach tennis" as they had named Asha.

We decide that one day  coach Asha would be left behind so as to see the difference in our arrival at the school.As we entered the compound of Stara School, there were some normal excitements from the children, shouting the name Sadili and P.E congruently. We thereafter alerted the coach who was standing just outside the gate to join us. This made us dissolve into laughter as the children already organized in groups screamed in  excitement calling out the name coach, tennis and others shouting ‘game yetu’-our game.

Children during play session with coach Adongo

In conclusion, play based approach to address the situation of WASH and reaching out to out of school children is the best choice made by the court of dreams project that suits well the different categories in ages of the targeted groups. Children of Stara as a sample here give a clearer message that when play is involved the interest of children to learn is attained hence driving home the message of WASH, Literacy and Education.

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"

The weird fun game.

This is a weird game, is how one beginner described the Tennis game.Tennis is not a very common game in our communities. It is perceived to be a rich man’s game. Our community project in Kibera is meant to nature young tennis players from the slum into exceptional players. They are introduced into the game at a young age in our community court and graduate to the Sadili Oval Sports club where they get seasoned further. We have worked hard over the years to produce players who have joined the tennis national team.

Many children of different age groups who encounter the game, the first time do not understand it. They ask questions about the rackets and ball that always fascinate them. Since they can hold the racket and hit the ball, most of the balls fly out of the court and into the nearby Nairobi River. The child is then left wondering, what did I just do? You should see their face then.

Training session after school hours is fun and requires a lot of attention. They are taught on how to hold the racket properly `say hello racket?’.They are also taught how to swing the racket properly `draw a letter C’ the coach instructs. These take some time to perfect. They keep forgetting and are reminded by the coach. This is followed by foot work, the different tennis hits, serving and counting. Counting is the weirdest. We don’t say 0 point but we say love. We do not count the normal way as from 1,2,3,4 consecutively but  we start from love,15,30,40 and game.  All this is very unusual as you continue to learn the game.

Soon they learn to play the game. It is so much fun. They can now count and know when there is an advantage. They know when the serve is a fault and give room for a second serve. They know how to control the balls that once flew out of the court. The game now is so much fun that every Saturday they play each other find the king and or queen of the court. They now understand that even with good skills you need to be smart to win.

It is indeed a weird and fun game.

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.

                

Significance of a name.

Names are powerful. Children learn to identify with their names at a very early age. They love to be called names that they perceive to be trendy, good, and stylish. We have had to refer to the same child with at least three different names as they grow in the program.  To all children it is important that you address them in the correct way in front of their peers. We have used names in our interaction with children to achieve different goals. Names have been a means and an end.

One of the drives to using names is to ensure we have a fun filled session as we learn tennis. So in our introduction session with one of the schools, our life skill topic was about healthy eating. Every child mentioned the food they like and we adopted these as their names. This made marking the register so much fun. We had ‘Omena’, ‘Madondo’, ‘Chapo’, ‘Chips’, ‘mafuta ya chips’ (to differentiate from chips), ‘githeri’, ‘mchele’, ‘maharage’e.t.c .They loved it and it made it  easy for us to know who is absent, and make corrections as we learn the basic steps. All the coach had to say is ``saidia githeri hapo, vile ameshika racquet atamwaga githeri yote’’ the kids would laugh and help. We never had a dull session and we still use our names.

Children learn from doing, they at times assume roles and sometime are given roles to play. This is how we came to give some names to our children. When we end our sessions at the community court we often have some children who just do not want to leave the court and go home. Otieno would go round telling them that the coach has said it is time to go home and make sure they are on their way. He is not old as you may assume he is in nursery school about 6 years. Every time we went to the court he is among the first children to come in and reports of what happened at the court in our absence. This is how he got his name ‘Soja wa coach’.

Head boy on the other hand loved collecting all the rackets and balls when session is over and ensuring they are well placed in the store. He will ensure everyone has returned their racket and all balls are in the basket. Our head boy assumes this role even without being told.

‘Ochi makamasi’ got his name because he always has a dirty nose. He is a big boy old enough to clean his nose but he does not. We have done live skills sessions on washing my face and cleaning my nose but this did not bring about change with Ochi. So we adopted this name for him so that he realizes and makes an effort to do something. He did not like the name and this made him check his nose every time he is coming to the court. This has improved and we do not use the name as often anymore. His nose is clean nowadays.

‘Baba yao’ got this name because he marks the register for the Squad and has to know all who are absent. ‘Mama yao’ serves porridge to the team so she ensures all have eaten. ‘Firstborn’ does cleaning of the cups. The names help the children remember their roles and responsibilities. As coaches we also get names in line with our inter action with the children, the oldest being ‘Princi’. Sometimes we are referred to by the name of their favorites coach.

It is important to ensure names are used positively, since there is significance to a name. 

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

WASH competitions

The day started on a beautiful note with children coming in from Kibera and Kijiji ready to compete for the price to be won. Three schools were represented during the WASH competition held at Sadili Oval Sports Academy on the 9^th of April. The schools were Ngei primary school, St Catherine, Nazarene and St Stephen.

The members of staff from Sadili and the WASH Committee club patrons present introduced themselves led by Kevin Ayuko who also introduced the schools present. Staff from Sadili started by cheering up the children and preparing them for the competitions Lorein Odhiambo teaching them a song on Hand washing and Felix Kipkoech presenting a short poem on the same which they actively engaged in doing the actions and singing along.

The children were then given time to prepare their different presentations which the judges were to choose from and the creativity from the children was mind blowing as they had amazing things to showcase. They came up with interesting dramas, poems, songs (raps) and Drawings all with the message on promoting WASH activities which they presented to the judges.

The children then presented four members from their respective schools that were taken through the hot sit where by questions around WASH were asked and they were given time to answer as the judges awarded them marks according to the way they answered the questions giving detailed information and tackling the questions exhaustively. The children confidently answered the questions with the winning spirit not letting anything put them down.

The schools were then awarded after compilation of all results and St Catherine emerged the winner followed by St Stephen, then Ngei Primary and Lastly Nazarene. There were also individual awards for the best pupils who showed exemplary results during their presentations and lastly schools were awarded for their participation. The pupils left happy promising to go practice WASH and come beat the winner next time.

What an awesome day of promoting talent and WASH.

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.

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.  

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.