Maji Mazuri

As the programs activities in the slum areas expanded, it was found necessary to relocate the program activities to a one central place where all activities could be coordinated from, and which would provide training facilities for members on life skills. The program has therefore acquired a 25 acres peace of land in Kiserian, south west of Nairobi City. About 116 children are attending primary school. Each parent pays some amount of money per term, per family, which goes towards paying the teachers salary and buying learning materials. However, since the community is very poor some families are not able to pay. Currently the project consists of a primary school and a nursery school.

Maji Mazuri Kis...

Although located within what can be described as peri urban, the Masai community, living in this locality appears to be very rural. The new urban-like shelters mushrooming all over appear to suggest that the site will soon be part of Nairobi urban. Lack of social amenities is very much in-evidence. The terrain is flat and there is no source of water nearby. The community survives on the water pond that was constructed by one of the local NGO, in order to harvest rain water and make it available mainly for Masai Cattle. This same water is used by the community, as well as by their livestock and wild animals, from the nearby Nairobi Game Park. There is no health facility nearby or a primary school while the nearest secondary school is about 40-Kilometer away in Isinye, The road is normally impassible during the rainy season and is very rough.

The Present School Buildings

The school consists of a newly constructed but incomplete stoned-walled building and a temporary building. The structure is designed as a multi story building although only the ground floor has been completed. There are plans to complete this structure and create more classrooms as well as to offer space for a school office. Currently the roof appears to be deteriorating due to exposure to extreme weather. There is therefore an urgent need to complete this structure to avoid future damage. This could involve completing the second floor and providing temporary roofing, which could be removed at a later date if there is need to extend the building to more floors. There are eight classrooms furnished with wooden benches and tables. The classrooms do not have windowpanes and when it rains the class sessions are interrupted. Although the classrooms are not excessively full, the number of rooms available is not enough to house the current students’ population. A temporary structure is being used for the nursery class.

Accommodation Facilities

Although established as a rehabilitation center, there are no accommodation facilities for teachers, visitors on the students. Students walk from home to school. Some were reported to be walking for about 3 kilometers to the school. Currently all the teachers have rented a three-bedroom, partly completed, house next to the school. They are sharing this house with five children (three boys and two girls) who had recently lost their parent to HIV/IDS. There are more orphan children who could not be accommodated by teachers for lack of space, and the headmaster has requested some families to host some of these children whose parents or relatives have died of HIV/AIDS. The main needs of these orphans are food, clothing and school fees.

Health Problems

There are reported widespread cases of HIV/AIDS infections in the area. About 45 percent of the children at the school were reported to be orphans. In such circumstances, the only available option particularly for girls was to get married. The other phenomenon that complicated the matter is that men who have lost their wives to HIV/AIDS were often in a hurry to marry young girls, which means that such girls miss school and are at risk of contracting HIV. In December alone, it was reported that five parents died from HIV/AIDS and related diseases, and considering the Masai culture of sharing wives, the problem of HIV/AIDS is likely to get worse.

Since the water that the community use is drawn from an open pond this water is very dirty, because it is also used by Masai cows and wild animals. This exposes the community to various waterborne diseases. At the school there were reported cases of diarrhea diseases among the children, which is also a major cause of absenteeism.  Since there are no proper disease surveillance facilities it was not possible to estimate the burden of diseases in this community. Due to lack of health facilities access to medical services is very limited.

Sources of Power

At the beginning of the year, Maji Mazuri managed to raise some money for drilling a borehole. The borehole has been drilled and an excellent flow of good quality within was discovered. However, an electrical generator and a pump are required to get the water to the reservoir tank and make it available for use by the community. The farm will provide training opportunities in agribusiness to Maji Mazuri members and the public. Since water will also be made available to the community on a cost-sharing basis, the money received will be used to support the program.

Education

The level of education in this area is very low as evidenced by the widespread illiteracy among parents and the late age at which children start school. It is customary for Masai girls to be married off at an early and tender age, while the boys are withdrawn from school to take care of livestock. It was reported, that in last year, for example, three girls from class seven, were married off by their parents. The project manager tried to stop this, but all was in vain, sometimes at the risk of becoming an enemy to the community. It was even discovered that sometimes even by the time we started taking measure to prevent, these early marriages, the girls were already pregnant. It is envisaged that providing accommodation for the girls would be a necessary precaution to save them from these early marriages.

However, the community, through their representative, appears very motivated and supportive of the program, and appreciates the fact that the project has been able to provide education to their children despite the many difficulties. They are full of praise for the Director and all the teachers. They assured us of their support and assistance in whichever way they can. This is a strength that the project should capitalize on in building a viable community based rehabilitation program.

Teachers

Currently the school has only 4 teachers including the headmaster and his deputy, thus many classes are going without teachers. Teachers have resigned citing the lack of a reliable salary and hardship as some of the reasons for leaving. Teachers get Ksh 4000(approximately US$ 50) each per month as salary, which is not enough to meet their basic needs. The other problem is that this salary is not guaranteed and depends on whether the parent has paid their contribution or not. The project has shared these problems with parents, and the community had pledged to increase their contributions from Ksh.500 per month per family to Ksh.600 (approximately US$ 7.50 per month) per family. Since this figure is out of reach for some families, there was a suggestion to institute work for fees. This is a viable strategy in any community, if managed well.

Learning Materials

Since the parents are poor, and cannot afford to buy school uniforms and learning materials for their children, let alone, assist in buying school furniture, the project has been buying school text, books, uniforms and writing materials, for all the children. But as the number of destitute children increases the project cannot afford these essential services without a sustainable source of funding.

Linkages with the Community

There is a very good linkage between the community and the project, which is demonstrated by the cordial relationship observed between the school management and the parents committees.  There is need to sensitive the community on the foundational basis of the program through more participatory initiatives. There is also need to work in partnership with other local community organizations. The school also works closely with Upper Matasia Secondary school which willingly agreed to admit four girls who achieved the primary school certificate, despite the fact they did not have scholarship.

After School

Any effective school-based rehabilitation program requires that children who finish one level of education are enabled to proceed to the next level. Thus, accesses to opportunities at the next level are critical. Girls from this community are disadvantaged in that, immediately they finish the standard eight levels, their parents are quick to marry them off. Sometimes they become pregnant and therefore cannot continue with their schooling. Because of custom, some parents are not motivated to send their girls to secondary school, but rather encourage them to get married.

Future Plans

The project has the following future plans: