A Visit from an ASSETS Beneficiary

We were delighted to have David Nyundo Charo come down to the A Rocha Centre in Watamu, to come and tell the ASSETS team that he had just graduated from Secondary School, with impressive marks. He was pleased to have a quick interview about his background, and how ASSETS has affected his life. David was born and brought up in Mijomboni (a small village near Gede). He’s part of a family of 10 - 3 brothers, and 4 sisters. He’s in the middle - 3rd oldest. Both his parents are farmers, growing maize at a small shamba where they live.

He went to Mijomboni Primary School up until the age of 16, a school he greatly enjoyed being part of, and the place where he first heard about ASSETS. He says he remembers when the ASSETS team came and spoke to his class about it, and how he might have an opportunity of going to secondary school, as he knew his family wouldn’t be able to afford it.

He also explained about a day when people from ASSETS came, and helped his class, and their parents plant Kasarina (indigenous) trees in a tree nursery at Mijomboni Primary. He says they’re still growing well there! The seedlings will be given to the parents, to take home and plants at their own shambas.

He explained how he had been to the boardwalk at Mida Creek, and learnt more about ASSETS there, and was very keen find out more about the scheme, and become a beneficiary.

David did very well in his assessments at Primary School, and ASSETS started to sponsor him to go to Secondary School. The school he went to was Godoma School, in Bamba. He loved his time there, and said he worked very hard, especially enjoying maths and the sciences! His final grades were impressive, and gave him an aggregate mark of 64 - a ‘B’.

To go to university, the required mark is 61. David is now 20, and hopes to go to study Maths or Chemistry at Kenyatta University - he showed real passion for these subjects. He said he would love to be a teacher of Maths and Chemistry when he is older. He said - ‘I really want to thank ASSETS for pushing me, and helping me through secondary school - giving me the opportunity to study and achieve good enough results for university.’ David is now trying to raise money to go to university.

Robin Harris

Farming Gods Way training

A Rocha Kenya as a conservation organization is also concerned with the wellbeing of the community that they work with. The community problems are so vast that the organization cannot fully support all of them but where the organization can, it extends its support. Through the ASSETS programme children have been supported through payment of part of the school fees and that has ongoing for 10 years now. Something that cracks the minds of the officer is how best they can involve the beneficiary parents in practical conservation activities, so as to relieve some of the burden the community have in their families. Farming Gods Way has been the answer to solve some of the community problems .The programme has not fully engaged the parents in such an activity since the how to do it has not been intensified .The ASSETS Community Conservation officer (Festus Masha) had an opportunity to attend a Farming Gods Way Training at Kijabe where he was able to articulate the skills based on biblical principles on how to conduct Farming God’s Way. This technique will not only transform the community but also will try to reverse the mindset of the many who do not believe in this.

Festus Masha on a practical Farming Gods Way

‘The how to do it’ digging perfect planting holes

Conventional plot

Farming Gods way plot

Chipande Primary School Shines the Assets light

Chipande primary school lies near mangrove thicket that extends from Mida creek and goes to the village of Chipande. There had been a lot of destruction of the margrove thicket along this area, that’s why the ASSETS program identified the school as an important point towards mobilizing the larger community around it. Initially this school has been doing badly in terms of Academics, getting students on board of the ASSETS programme was a nightmare. The conditions set to programme was one of the issues behind this, as a fact, one was obliged to obtain a pass mark above 320 out of the 500marks so as to be eligible for the scheme. Years have passed without getting students from this school and the parents’ morale was also down as result of the few numbers of the parents on board. Last year was amazing for this school, the programme recruited 6 students but the fate was that they were all absorbed in a private school which the programme does not support. It was later clarified by the ASSETS Community Conservation officer and all had to transfer to public schools and the programme supported them. The good thing was that among the new parents(Mr. Mumbo Mwakalama) was once a treasurer of the school and his being in the cluster really boosted the morale of the cluster and meetings are held on a weekly basis something that was not happening. As I interviewed him he said…’’the secret behind all this is unity, being able to accept each other and giving feedback to meetings set by themselves…whenever an issue arises within the cluster a solution is raised so as to contain it, this way you will see parents coming to the meetings nowadays ‘’.

Jovial Mumbo Mwakalama-at his home where he was visited by Festus Masha-A Rocha Kenya Staff

The ASSETS-Camps

ASSETS-meetings with families April is one of the months where the ASSETS program meets with the beneficiaries. Both the parents and students come to interact, learn, share experiences and have fun. We played different games, going from getting to know eachother-games, games in which you have to rely on eachother and games were the people got to know more about the environment. These games were to start the events and then we went talking with the parents and students about our ASSETS program.

 ASSETS had several meetings in 8 primary schools. The main objective of these meetings is to emphasize on environmental conservation principles, meet with the new students and parents so as to inform about governing conditions into the program.

In total we had 180 participants in these meetings (both students and parents)

Activities at Bogamachuko Primary School

Community Forest Protection Story

 An encouraging story is a mother from Girimacha that took the initiative of reporting guys who were doing illegal activities into the Arabuko Sokoke Forest to the Kenya Wildlife Services. The guys who she could not identify have been going into the forest through an entrance near her home. This happened several times of the day and she became suspicious.

With this information she attempted calling the Kenya Wildlife Services Wardens which proved to be successful. The wardens made it into the Forest, did a survey for the first day and did not find any guys. They went back on the second day and they arrested eight men who had even built some structures in the forest with more than a 1oo sculptures inside.

She also said other two escaped in the event and are suspected to be still encroaching into the forest using another unknown hiding place.

The same mother concluded that the majority of the people who cause massive destruction come from beyond the 3km radius around the forest and they tend to lay upon blame on those who live around the forest circumference.

This is quite weird and the first motivating protective measure action taken by the community around Girimacha and this is ideal evidence that environmental education and care for the forest by A Rocha Kenya is getting deep in ASSETS beneficiaries’ interests.

Below is a picture of the mother (the one standing) who seems to have the passion for environment and is a good leading example in the community. Having two to three of this kind would ensure safety of the habitat around that community.

Farming God's Way in Gede!

In Gede, just 15 minutes from the A Rocha centre, there is a ‘shamba’ (farming plot) that A Rocha owns. It is being used for planting different crops, as an example of ‘Farming God’s Way’. About 2 months ago, many A Rocha volunteers and staff (including the cook and maintance staff!) went along to prepare the land for planting. This involved digging holes (or trenches) equal distances apart, filling with compost, then going round the forest collecting ‘mulch’ – dead leaves, to put around all the holes as ‘God’s blanket.’

We then waited a few weeks for the rainy season to start to come! We went back and carefully planted all the seeds, filled in the holes, and covered all the land with God’s blanket, a natural way of stopping the crops from drying out in the sun. The crops we planted were maize, beans and millet. We then waited for the crops to grow. Jimmy, who lives on site, will water the crops when the rains are low. We will use crop rotation after the grain from this planting has been harvested, to keep the soil rich, and ensure it is re-nourished with necessary nutrients. Seeing it a few days ago - the crops are all growing beautifully! We are now in the height of the rainy season; hopefully soon we shall have fully grown crops to provide healthy amounts of the three different foods. This land in Gede is coincidentally the place where the new ASSETS offices will be – right next to the shamba!

Robin Harris - volunteer

Some photos of the fun planting afternoon (photos by Benji)

A Chat With A Beneficiary.

An ASSETS graduate dropped by Mwamba center and had great news.

He just received his grades and they were very good; hence he wanted to come here and share the good news with us.

So  "A perfect opportunity for an interview," I thought.

Ronald Katana grew up in Mida, his dad is a farmer who grows Casuarina trees, and his mother catches butterflies and sells the pupae to butterfly collectors. He went to primary school and enjoyed school very much, one day ASSETS staff arrived at the school and they talked about the program and said that if the children got good grades and did their best ASSETS would support their secondary school education.

So he really wanted to go to secondary school and needed the help of ASSETS because his parents didn't have enough money to pay all of the school fees.

He worked hard while in primary school and in the end his grades were good enough for him to receive support from ASSETS.

Therefore  Ronald went to secondary school in Malindi. He completed his form form (O level) studies though it took him five years to do it. This was because his parents couldn't pay the rest of the fees at the start of form three, as a result,he had to wait for one year out of school for his parents to save for the fees.

The following year, he was able to go back to school and continue with his studies. While in secondary school Ronald worked very hard and did his best. Ronald knew how hard is parents life was so he worked hard in order to qualify for university.

He is very happy with the ASSETS program because without the program he would never have been able to go to secondary school. The funding of Assets also drove him study hard because he didn't want to disappoint the program.

Now secondary school is finished and he is looking forward to the future. He wants to go to university to study financial management. He is very interested in finances and he would like to become an accountant. At the moment he is waiting for a grant to go to university.

While he is waiting for more information, he is trying to find a place to go and volunteer or do a temporary job, however,he still has the dream of going  to university. He is very thankful for the help and support by the ASSETS program, the community and his parents.

Benji Vanbaelenberghe ,volunteer.

A Little Environmental Trip Goes A Long Way.

Eleven students from Rift Valley Academy(RVA) a missionary international high school in Kijabe, Rift valley,  came to Mwamba for four days, for an environmental education school trip.

In this time, they visited some of the ASSETS tourist attractions They had a lot of fun walking along the boardwalk at Mida Creek and had canoe rides.

Their little environmental education trip went a long way in helping A Rocha reach some of its of objectives.In the very capable and experienced hands of Stanley,our environmental education officer, received lectures on conservation besides paying visits to other conservation organisations in Watamu like Watamu, A marine conservation organisation working to protect sea turtles and the marine environment and Bio-Ken,a research centre, which deals with reptiles, especially snakes and snake-bite

Whereas their stay at Mwamba indirectly benefited A Rocha's commitment to community-based conservation projects, as a certain percentage of what they paid during their stay at Mwamba was channeled towards  ASSETS bursaries , their visit to the ASSETS Eco facilities directly benefited the program as100% of proceeds went to the ASSETS bursaries.

I must say that they sure did,probably knowingly and unknowingly help us kill two birds with one stone-though as Colin always says "At A Rocha we don't kill birds!" and am in total agreement with him!

Except for those crows, of course,that have been a nightmare to people in Malindi district!

Unfortunately - for a third time - the generator at Mida Creek (required to fix some of the boards), failed to work. This is hugely important as the walk needs

to be fixed for people to visit and therefore generate income for ASSETS for bursaries. A new one will have to be bought.

Planting and Giving Away:Sourcing for Indigenous Trees.

Recently, the ASSETS team at Mwamba has been working on a project that involves planting and giving away trees! Our community conservation assistant,Jonathan, made his way to the Gede ruins (where the treehouse is located), to collect different seeds of tree species indigenous to this area of Kenya.

He brought them back to Mwamba and planted them in the centre’s tree nursery bed. This nursery bed has the primary function of sourcing these indigenous

trees, such as Balanites and Diospyros squarrisa.

When the seeds have germinated there, and grown to a suitable size, they will be dispersed to different places. Some will go to the parents of the children

who are given bursaries for school, to plant in their garden. The aim is for them to take care of them until they grow into beautiful full-sized trees.Others

of the germinated trees will be provided to the actual schools where the beneficiaries go. It will be up to the school to choose where they

would like to plant it.

ASSETS Graduates Results trickle in

Just received the Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education (KCSE) results for one of the ASSETS Graduates. Kitsao Jefwa Nelson graduated from Lutsangani Secondary School last year and has scored a mean grade of B- of 55 points. This is quite a commendable performance. Thumbs up to this fine gentleman!

Stanley is Back from Leave

It has been quite an eventful one month of leave. Characterized by major highs and lows, my one month of leave has in general been a great family time. The first weekend was indeed the best of all. The children had a big time swimming with their favorite uncle and wished every day was Saturday afternoon.

Soon after, Jordan fell sick. I spent seven sleepless nights trying to control Junior's body temperature which in many occasions defied the power of Calpol and wet towels. It ended up being a very stressful week. Nevertheless, this was a great time for bonding with my son and from it I got to understand him more and even love him better. What a joy it has been.

Junior was hardly back in school when a major tragedy struck; the passing on of a close cousin from Leukemia. For another week I was juggling between taking part in preparation for the funeral and looking after Jordan.  This was one of my worst experiences in my life. Still in between all this madness, I managed to find time to go ahead with supervising the construction of A Rocha Kenya's community office at Gede.

The following week was another great family time where I spent a good amount of time working in the farm and even had rare opportunities to drop Junior at school. I also had time to take part in assessing potential ASSETS beneficiaries from three schools. Despite the long hours driving around the forest, this was quite a fulfilling and enjoyable exercise.  It always great to deliver the great message of hope to these otherwise desperate families around the forest.

The most frightful happening came on the night of 28th; a Thursday. I was woken up by a uniquely disturbing cough from Jordan. That evening, I had given him some pain-killer after noticing a slight rise in temperature. I had hoped that within a short time the temperature would drop back to normal but instead it went on to cause terrible fits of convulsions. It was very reassuring to here the doctor say he was alright on reaching the hospital at 1 a.m.

The climax has been the general election from which we are still waiting for the outcome. By 5 a.m. on the 4th of March, my whole family was already in the queue at Gede Polytechnic ready to participate in this historic event. I still wonder what difference this is going to make. Nonetheless we are very pleased to have participated in the exercise despite that most of the candidates we voted for lost the election. We have no regrets but only hope that one day Kenyans will be able to vote candidates because of their credibility and not their ethnic affiliation.