The Nairobi slums are overpopulated: Kangemi alone hosts more than 500,000 people who live under the poverty line. These slums however, house enormous numbers of informal primary schools offering their destitute children an alternative educational solution to the un-attainable public schools which are both un-affordable and insufficient in numbers.
These informal schools offer great potential in the way of education, guaranteeing the improvement of the average slum dwellers' lifestyle and their chances at success in the future. Informal schools enroll their children for a very low fee or, in some extenuating circumstances; they enroll children free of charge. The schools do their best to follow the national curriculum, despite having such limited means and resources in comparison to the more ‘wealthy' public schools.
In the context of development...
....it is essential that children are educated so as to have a better chance for success in life. It is of equal importance that children attend school on a regular basis and to not have their tuition interrupted. This is an unfortunate regular occurrence in schools throughout Nairobi and Kenya where children are forced to miss school for long periods of time because their parents cannot pay the tuition fees. This can also happen because of other extenuating circumstances including various troubles at home (violence, taking care of sick family, etc.).
Because of the enormous demand on schools from thousands of children coming from slum villages throughout Kenya, the Minister of Education has promised plans to eventually involve informal schools in his educational policies - thereby giving them the chance to grow, develop and improve in their educational services. These policies will work on developing a special curriculum for the informal schools as well as helping them to offer tuition support for those extreme cases who cannot afford to attend.
Meanwhile...
...OSF will continue its help in bringing these schools together and will persevere in its efforts to improve the educational quality at informal slum schools; offering training programs for teachers and Resource Centers for the children in greatest need.
Help the children through education...
Kenya's education system consists of early childhood education, primary, secondary and college. At the end of primary education, pupils sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), which determines those who proceed to secondary school or vocational training. For those who proceed to secondary level, there is a national examination at the end of the Form Four: the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). The KCSEs determines those proceeding to the universities, other professional training or employement.
To become recognised, schools have to attain a certain level of performance and quality in both teaching standards (preferably where teachers have passed official teacher training courses) and resource accessibility (including school libraries, standard classroom furniture (benches, desks, blackboards, writing material, etc.) and fully functioning plumbing systems for toilets and water accessibility). Until then, schools will continue to be labelled as "informal.Lack of funding
OSF EA thus aims to heighten the chances of as many kids in "informal" schools as is possible from within the Nairobi slums by offering informal school teachers training.
For more information on Teacher Training click here !
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Kenya also faces a severe, generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic that continues to have a devastating impact on all sectors of society. National estimates indicate that the adult HIV prevalence rate in 2005 was 6.7%. In 1999, Kenya declared HIV/AIDS a national disaster and public health emergency. An estimated 1.2 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya. An estimated 1.5 million people have died from AIDS since 1984. More than 1.6 million children younger than 15 years (3.7% of the total population) have been orphaned through the death of their mother. At least 180 000 people die from AIDS annually. The prevalence is still high but appears to be decreasing. The Ministry of Health reported an adult prevalence of 13.5% in 2001, and surveillance figures suggested that the prevalence had declined to 10.2% in 2002.
HIV - yet another prevalent enemy
"I lost everything. My husband died. My parents deserted me. My son lives with relatives. I don't even have money to pay for food. I sleep in this ugly shack on the ground without a mattress. It's cold and wet. I feel ill and weak. I'm hungry. Isn't a family supposed to support you during times of hardship? My family threw me away like a broken toy. But I am a human being, am I not?"
Namibia: Maria Nashilongo, 32
Slum women struggle to put food on the table...
NAIROBI, 17 May 2007 (IRIN) - Patricia Atieno lives in Kibera, a large slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, but spends most of her mornings looking for short-term employment as a house help elsewhere in the city.
"I have been doing domestic work for a decade now; my family depends on it," she said. "In the past it was easier to find work but not any more. The employers now hire and dismiss us indiscriminately."
Like Atieno, many of Nairobi's women slum dwellers are the breadwinners: "We have to work harder and move from one place to another to increase our chances of getting work," she added.
.
"I got married six years ago. I didn't know my husband very well. People told me he was a nice and kind man. But then in 2001, I tested positive for HIV. I told him about my status, and he left me - without explaining why. He now lives in the next village. He has another wife. I think they're having a baby. I still love my husband, though. Perhaps he will come back to me. I miss him."
Lesotho: Libuseng Khetang, 22
The women who seek domestic work earn a meagre 200-350 Kenya shillings (US$3-5) per task. Aged between 14 and 40 years, they sit at the periphery of upmarket residential estates for up to seven hours every day hoping to be hired. Despite the uncertainties of the work they do, however, the women insist they would rather engage in traditional household chores than in 'the flesh thing' (prostitution).
Harassment
Women complain that harassment is a significant problem at work. "We usually do laundry, ironing and clean houses," one woman, who requested anonymity, explained; "but sometimes we get crazy people who ask us to do extras."
"I worry whenever a man comes to hire me because I have been coerced into sexual encounters without which I would not be paid my dues on several occasions," she added. "Sexual harassment is becoming a very common part of this job. We are desperate for the money so we oblige at times."
According to Njoki Ndungu, a Kenyan member of parliament, who initiated a new law that introduced a harsher penal code for perpetrators of sexual violence, a woman is raped in Kenya every 30 minutes.
WHO and the World Health Report (2002-2004)
| Life expectancy at birth (years) males | 51.0 |
| Life expectancy at birth (years) females | 51.0 |
| Healthy life expectancy at birth (years) males | 44.1 |
| Healthy life expectancy at birth (years) females | 44.8 |
| Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years (adult mortality rate) males | 447/1000 |
| Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years (adult mortality rate) females | 502/1000 |
| Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years (under 5 years) males | 129/1000 |
| Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years (under 5 years) females | 110/1000 |
| Total expenditure on health as a percentage of the gross domestic product | 4.3 |
