School during the elections

I met with Dixon, the Headmaster in Destiny school last week. He told me horror stories about how the election period has been like in Mathare. The school is in Mathare 10A, which is just off Juja road across from Moi Airforce base. This is also the location where there was a lot of protests. There were burning tires, fights and looting and when the police shot teargas, it drifted down to the school. Dixon said that they were very happy that we installed toilets and water a few years ago, because they needed to get some relief from rinsing their faces in the water. The police was looking for the protesters, and went in to all the small houses in the area. They found a friend of Dixon (a student in form 4), and because he was the right age, they beat him to death. The protesters took about 38 desks and threw at the police chasing them so the desks were completely broken. Now when there is demonstrations Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, Dixon has been having meetings with the community and talking to all the chiefs around to stop the protesters and the police. He also tried to talk to the police, but there are different patrols coming every time. They managed to work together, so the demonstrations on Monday were OK. No teargas going into school, so he was happy and think they can manage to keep things calm coming weeks.

He also told me that many of the students lost much of their personal products, so I gave him about 50 washable sanitary pads and underwear to give to the girls. We also finally gave him money for another school room that he went and bought right away. Now, we have to raise money to rebuild the room to a good class room, but we will do that after the next election. We are also holding off building new desks until after the election.

Prices for Pads

During my summer in Sweden I managed to buy a lot of fabric for the pads. However, I realised that fabric is not so cheap in Sweden as it used to be. Right now it’s a lot cheaper in Kenya. I still need printed fleece for the outer core of the pads, and that I can’t find in Kenya, so I obviously had to get some in Sweden. I will, however, continue to dye the flannel because it is really cheap in Kenya. I’m also going to make my dad buy more fleece in America when he is traveling. What I am not going to do, is to go to oneway and buy the clothes with animal print fleece because it is way to expensive. Right now I am a bit pressed for time, but I am going to start as soon as I have a chance.

First election "lock down"

The election period was not so good for my friends in Mathare. Dixon, the headmaster and I were in contact through Facebook and he told me that his family was locked up in their house and that the school was looted. They destroyed about 36 desks, stole computers, printers and a TV. I saw on TV that the area outside the school, on Juja road were very violent. They were burning tires and the police were shooting. I could actually recognize the area, because it’s close to Moi air force base and I could identify the wall. It is really sad that I can’t use the money from Rotary to build desks and buy a printer, but the deal with them is only building and fixing classrooms.

Rotary club

During my summer in Sweden, I worked hard on getting more money for the school in Mathare. I had a good contact with a Rotary club in Stockholm, and I gave them cost estimates for buying and remodeling three more rooms for the school. They agreed to help me, but to my confusion they only gave me a part of the money that was needed. They also did not tell me that they were going to give it to me, so I was quite confused when I found part of the money on the account. Now, I really don’t know what to do with the money because it is not enough to buy a room or renovate it. I have to ask my contact in Sweden.

Graduation song

We have finally gotten the chance to perform this year at the high school graduation and at the send of tomorrow at lunch. It will be fun to hear a song that I helped write without being on stage. I have always hated being on stage since Westgate and the experiences following. I was at first forced to sing by the old leaders and this year I have been doing it because my friends needed me to. But this time I will be in the crowd. I think it is a good song. I am mostly excited for the send off song because it is a lot more fun and makes some fun references while the final graduation song isn't as fun but more appropriate. 

Crossfit ball

​Lately with the heat I have been having a difficult time getting to the gym. It also doesn't help that I am very scared of getting sun burnt. I also missed the Crossfit Charity Ball which is held every year. This year I decided not to go considering that Friday night was Prom and that Saturday night was the crossfit ball.

Artsco plans

We haven't really had that many meetings because of scheduling issues. We have wanted to plan something for after the exams were we would do something similar to earth week but with art week including a color run etc. We wanted to have some things that would encourage people who don't usually want to do arts would still be interested in.