Successful Completion of the Court Of Dreams project

Since the inception of the Court Of Dreams project in the year 2016 a lot has been covered especially in the areas of WASH, Health and Education in the different schools that Court Of Dreams was introduced to, with sports juicing up all the life skills sessions that were carried out.

The project targeted young children between the age of 4 and 10 years that is children from Nursery to class 3 who are mostly neglected when it comes to going to school, issues related to WASH and are prone to diseases which are caused due to the nature of games and environment that they play in. It has been an amazing time working with the little ones getting to learn from them as they also learn from us during the life skills and sports sessions which they actively engaged in.

The support has been great from the different schools that we have worked with, which most of them are from Kibera and a few from Lang'ata. The directors, teachers, parents and pupils played an active role in the successful carrying out of the Court Of Dreams project to its completion. From the different sessions carried out at schools to training's that parents and teachers were coming in to participate at Sadili Oval Sports Academy ,to ensure that the lessons taught do not become extinct.

As they say everything that has a beginning has an end, it has been awesome working with everyone who supported the Court Of Dreams. Our greatest appreciation goes to the Comic relief and United Purpose for funding our project from the start to the end ,Dr Elizabeth Odera who ensured that the project ran smoothly, all our partners for the continuous support ,all well wishers and friends of Sadili for their generous donations and support, the schools that we have worked with that is all the teachers and pupils without them the implementation of the project wouldn’t have been successful and the Sadili Oval Staff members for working relentlessly to ensure that the Court Of Dreams project objectives are achieved

Teachers Training

Despite the gloomy weather caused by the rains the previous night, the teachers still showed up on the 19th of October for their planned 3 hour training session at Sadili Oval Sports Academy. Teachers from some of the schools that we have worked with in the Court of Dreams project from year 1 to year 3 came for the training .The schools that were present include:Nazarene,Becky school,St Catherine,St Stephen,Jitahidi,Nazarene and Kimmta.

The event started with warm up activities, which were participated in by both the teachers and the facilitators. The warm up involved a singing game that also played the role of introduction of the participants. This was, “Fire in the Jungle, run! Run! Run!” whereby the participants would run round in a circle, and would stop momentarily while a participant said his/her name, and sang the words repeatedly, and after stopping the next person would do the same. This was repeated until all the participants had introduced themselves. 

The main session later started which was facilitated by Joy Akim who is the project manager and Brighton Amuni the Monitoring and Evaluation officer.The teachers were taken through Play based learning which was the main topic of the day which comprised of Importance of play based learning,participants and their responsibilities,where play based learning can take place,structure of a gaming session and development of a game.

Participant centered method was mostly used during the training where by the teachers got to effectively participate.They were divided into groups and given a chance to come up with different games around numeracy and literacy which they later presented and demonstrated how best they would deliver the lessons to children.Later lunch was served, all the teachers enjoyed and later

left with knowledge on how best to implement play based learning in school even with the new curriculum.

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 August Holiday Camp

A session on how to hold the racket

The holiday camp was carried out from the 20th  of August to the 31st at the Kibera tennis court.Most of our participants being children under the age of 10 years.Being the holiday season the turn up was great as most of the children were not going to school thus attending the August holiday camp.
Life skills sessions and sports sessions were the main activities being carried out during the holiday camp.Under life skills,the emphasis was on WASH activities and some of the sessions carried out in the two weeks camp included ;Hand washing(Steps of hand washing,When to wash hands and the importance of washing hands),Keeping the environment clean,Brushing teeth and Cholera.
In sports tennis was the main game being played and most of the players being new faces the coach had to start with the basics of tennis that is;How to hold the racket,How to swing backhand and forehand,How to hit and roll the ball.She was however impressed as most of the children were fast learners and were picking up the skills really fast,with the help of the older squad kids she was able to run her sessions with the large number of young ones who showed up.

Learning how to roll

Immediately the children saw coach Adongo carrying porridge and heading down to Kibera tennis court they  would immediately swarm up the place ready for the sessions with their cups and plates for porridge and sweet potatoes or 'KDF' which was being served after every session. ''I am really grateful for the holiday camp as it has really helped my children as she refers to them,some have even come and confessed how they used to use the same basin to wash their utensils and again shower with it but now they have a separate basin for doing dishes and showering which is a good thing .For my old players,their tennis skills have greatly improved and for the new players they have gained some skills and with consistency in training they will be as good as the others.Am also happy about the food that was being offered at the end of the session as it tremendously contributed to the huge turnout of children thus being able to teach life skills and tennis to many children",said Coach Adongo during a short interview with her.

Brushing teeth being demonstrated by one of the children

Time for Porridge

REPORT  FOR THE VALIDATION MEETING HELD AT SADILI OVAL SPORTS ACADEMY ON THE 15^TH OF AUGUST.

Vitalis Akora leading the meeting

Introduction

Stakeholders that we have worked with from year 1 to year 3 were sent for invitations to attend the validation meeting which was held at Sadili Oval Sports Academy from 10:00am to 1:00pm on the 15^th of August 2019.The meeting was led by Vitalis Akora who did most of the talking as Beryl Akinyi assisted in taking notes. The meeting had 23 participants inclusive of Sadili oval staff members and the two evaluators.

Executive Summary

The main agenda for holding the meeting was to get feedback from the stakeholders on how the project has been so far. Some of the issues discussed include:

·         Involvement of the girl child in tennis

·         How to improve the girl child’s participation in tennis

·         Challenges faced during hand washing in schools

·         Likelihood of  continuity of the program after Sadili’s withdrawal

·         Possibility of the teachers training in September

·         Attendance and dropout of children

·         How Sadili can help reduce drop out

·         Support received from the Children’s department

·         How the project has impacted on child safeguarding

·         Areas that Sadili need to improve on

Body

The activity started with all members introducing themselves, where they come from and how they are related to Sadili Oval sports Academy. Later the evaluator started the discussion by asking the member’s questions and they would respond with different opinions. Some of the issues discussed include:

Ø  Involvement of girls in tennis

      A question on why the is a low turnout of girls during the tennis sessions was posed and the parents and teachers were able to contribute on the issue the main reason coming up being;

a)      Girls are usually left with responsibilities of taking care of their young ones and doing house chores thus them coming for the training becomes impossible

b)      Tennis is usually considered a boys game there by parents do not allow their girls to get involved in it

c)      Sadili is usually far there by parents wouldn’t allow their children to walk all the way alone stating that there might be risk involved on the way i.e.  boys chasing them, crossing the road

The members suggested that to ensure maximum participation of the girls, the parents and teachers need to be sensitized on the importance of tennis to both boys and girls.

Parents and teachers during the meeting

Ø  Challenges faced during Hand Washing

      The teachers took an active part in this question citing several issues that have occurred in their respective schools which include;

a)      Lack of time to practice Hand Washing as the WASH committee members might be willing to teach others during their break time but you find that the teachers usually take up that free time to cover up their lessons thus no time for them to practice

b)      Younger ones get influenced when they do not see the older ones practicing hand washing as they always learn from their older ones thereby they also stop practicing hand washing

c)      The management that is the directors of the schools are not involved thus making running the activity a challenge as they do not provide the hand washing materials which the teachers don’t have.

The teachers suggested that repetition should be encouraged and also monitoring as the children tend to forget. Also school directors should be involved to enable them support the activity to the latter.

Parents and teachers during the meeting

Ø  Likelihood of continuity of the project after Sadili’s withdrawal

Some of the teachers said that the probability of the continuity of the project in their schools would be half .Giving the reason that if the staff we trained on hand washing and safeguarding issues leave they will leave with the knowledge thus the new ones will not continue with what they have no idea on thus extinction of the project.

Most of the teachers promised to continue with the project even after Sadili leaves.

Ø  Possibility of teachers training in September

Most of the teachers disagreed to this suggestion reasons being;

a)      Third term is a short term as  most of the teachers will be busy trying to cover the syllabus thus the training cannot be fixed in the busy schedule

b)      There will be grade 3 preparations that most of the teachers are going to be involved in.

However a few of the teachers suggested that it might be possible with proper planning, communication and co-ordination with the required parties.

Ø  Attendance and Drop out of children

Both parents and teachers agreed that attendance is an issue amongst the schools and a question was posed on how Sadili can help reduce dropout and increase attendance and the suggestions included;

a)      By encouraging the children who have been constantly attending classes by awarding them

b)      Sensitizing parents on the importance school to a child’s future

c)      By creating an interactive activity that the child can do and not forget easily

Ø  Support received from the department of child service

Some of the schools reported that they have been working with several child welfare services closely in issues regarding their children some of those organizations mentioned include; Carolina for Kibera(CFK) and Edmond Rice Camp

Other schools stated that the children department has been distant with them citing that being overwhelmed with many issues might be one of the reasons why

Ø  How the project has impacted on child safeguarding

Most of the parents and teachers who came in for the safeguarding training and meetings attested that the training has had a great impact in them and their respective schools listing the following;

a)      Corporal punishment that they were giving to the children stopped and they are using positive reinforcement

b)      Teachers accepted that not all learners are good in class there by focusing on what they are good in

c)      Teachers are going deep to check on the root causes of a certain behavior in a child

d)     Teachers and parents are having a good relationship with the pupils there by enabling them to open up to them in case they have a problem.

Lunch!

Ø  Areas that Sadili need to improve on

The parents and teachers were asked to state some of the areas that they would like to see changes in regards to Sadili and how the project was run and the following were some of the suggestions;

a)      Sadili should increase contact time with the children as the sessions were so short and when they were just enjoying the session had to be cut short due to time

b)      Introducing other co-curricular activities as not all the children love tennis

c)      Introduce competitions where by schools meet up and compete and the winners are awarded

d)     Safety of the kids should be looked at when they are coming to Sadili for tennis a van should be bought to pick them up and drop them in Sadili hence ensuring no risks in terms of accidents while crossing the road and also personal safety

e)      Several patrons should be trained at schools as there are many transfers thus no continuity of the program.

f)       Sadili should work more closely with the owners of the schools are they are the yes Sayers in all the activities that should be carried out in schools

g)      School meetings should be attended by Sadili Staff members where they can share more about the activities carried out and their importance

h)      Participants in the training's that happen at Sadili should be given certificates to show that they have participated as a motivation

i)        Children coming to Sadili for training be provided for branded Sadili uniforms

j)        The program should also involve the upper primary kids and all staff members including the subordinate staff ,as they are the ones most of the young kids look up to

k)      Sadili should at least supply tanks which will be permanent to schools that they have worked with to promote WASH

l)        Sadili should create awareness of the activities that they are going to carry out before starting them.

Later the meeting ended with a vote of thanks from Joy Akim who later gave all participants a bucket and a bar of soap as a token of appreciation for taking their time to come and also to continue promoting WASH

Participants with their buckets

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Sadili Oval sports Academy for the approval and support given in this activity, Vitalis Akora and Beryl Akinyi for taking their time to listen to our stakeholders views, all the stakeholders for taking their time to attend and lastly all the Sadili Oval Sports academy staff members for their support from planning to the conclusion of the activity.

Conclusion

The day ran smoothly with all the activities carried out as planned. The participants were active in their participation leaving no stone upturned. The participants had lunch and left at their own pleasure.

Report compiled by: Flora Khisa

                                                                                                 

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.

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!!

8 SERIES TOURNAMENT GETS BETTER

The day started on a good note with children coming in on time anxious to tackle each other and showcase some of the techniques taught to them by Coach Asha Adongo in their regular Saturday Tennis sessions. After the first tournament held at Sadili Oval sports Academy, the children were able to identify their areas of weakness and ought to become better in the next tournament.
The tournament started at 9.00 am and ended at 12:00 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 as they couldn't come to Lang'ata considering their age and the distance to Sadili and the other was held at Sadili for the older ones mostly and children from Lang'ata.
The children were organized in different a category that is under 6 years, 8 years, 10 years and 12 years. They were then registered and later went to their different pools and the competitions started this being the second competition 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

''Their is a lot of improvement from the children who constantly come for practice during Saturday squad sessions this being a new 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 Oder 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.

In every game there has to be a winner and in this competition the winners were as follows under 6 boys and girls Moses Ekisa and Shantel Jasmine, Under 8-Shelton Omondi and Joy Atieno, Under 10-James Collo and Irene Natalia Under 12-Patel Ambache and Angela Alwanga. After the children had lunch and later left to their respective homes full of smiles, hope and determination about the next tournament