June 2025

Jambo Happy Day family,  

We trust this finds you well. We at Happy day junior school are doing fine. 

We started this term on very low turnout as we reported in our previous newsletter.  

This was caused by unavoidable circumstances that included our lack of the feeding program and other external factors.  However, the turnout has slowly began improving especially when we re- introduced the breaktime porridge. This made parents who trust us with their kids to bring them back. We are hoping for more to come back as the days go by. Our teachers are a dedicated lot and many parents trust our school as a safe space for their children for both academics and social life. 

This term we have not engaged in any extra curriculum activities due to financial limitations.  

We were planning to take our pupils for an educational trip to the animal orphanage and the giraffe center for them to learn more about wild and domestic animals. We were alternatively having an option of going for fun trip ( like we had last year).  This requires money for logistics and even food. It also requires that we buy uniform for some of our kids who were left behind during last years trip for lack of the uniforms.  Uniforms help in identification during such events because incase a child goes wondering from the group they can easily be located. This and other unavoidable circumstances have made us to hold the plans until our facilitators can afford to finance the events for us. 

This term too has seen us operating without the very important stationaries. We have been buying items like Chalk, pens and pencils from our pockets and so at times we have even gone without writing on the board.  

It is our hope that things will get better and that we can at least have the feeding program running and the stationaries in place. 

Most important stationaries that we require include : 

- Chalk 

- pencils 

- crayons 

- water colours 

- plain papers

- marker pens

- office glue

- stapler

- Staples 

- exercise books ( for the kids who do not have them because the families cannot afford). 

Porridge flour

Sugar

Cooking pallets.  

We hope some, even if not all of the above will be affordable soon. 

However, it is not all gloomy at Happy Day because we keep our spirits high and out motivation to give the kids a better and safe space is always good. 

We love working with the families and doing a follow up on our kids immediately we notice a problem.  Recently we had a 8 year old girl child ( name withheld) who had been molested by the father and the teachers noticed her gloomy and isolated self from others. They immediately took action and wanted to know if she was sick or hungry only to find out that it was a bad situation.  They took action and informed the local authorities and action was taken against the father. We have very dedicated and observant staff. 

We keep on keeping on despite the hard times and we pray that things improve worldwide.  

We also are about to sit for the midterm exams for this term and then go for a 1 week break.  Our mid exam requires 1850 shillings.  We therefore ask for the above money so that we can buy the exams. This exams help our teachers to identify pupils weak areas and improve on that. 

This year we haven't renewed our licences and we just hope that the inspectors do not come knocking. Especially the county askari and the ministry of education personnel.  

This 2 licences are the most essential ones . 

The government read the budget this week and this is the time they follow up on those who haven't paid their taxes so that they can finance their budget. 

It is our sincere hope that life improves everywhere.  

We are forever grateful for the continuous support that you give to us. We do not take it for granted.  

Be blessed always.

(Written 13 June, 2025)

April 2025

Jambo Happy Day family,

We closed school on Friday 4/04/2025 for the Easter holiday. We will open on 29/04/2025 for the second term of this academic year.

As we had reported before the attendance this term was fluctuating due to unavoidable circumstances which may include our lack of the feeding program. This is because most of our families cannot afford to bring food for their kids and so they opt to stay home with them and eat whatever they get or even go with them to look for help.

We have had a non-eventful term and we hope second term brings good tidings with it. There was a planned fun day which didn't take place. (The organizers didn't inform us in advance) We are informed that in second term we will be given the details early so that we can prepare.

In academics our staff is very dedicated in ensuring that the children get the best education in cbc (competency based curriculum). Despite us not having all the necessary items and teaching aids required for the cbc system, we try and improvise the ones we can. The cbc system is very very expensive for the parents especially when the school is unable to provide for the materials.

Teachers and kids need (mostly):
1.   Plain papers
2. Scissors
3. crayons
4. water paints
5. Brushes
6. White chalks
7. coloured chalks
8. counters
9. Balls
10. Toys (as teaching aid)
11. exercise books
12. Textbooks
13. Activity books (for teachers)
14. registers
15. Staples
16. manilla papers
17. Pencils
18. Biro pens
 
And some other items which are required from day to day. We have been asking the parents to provide their kids with the items but unfortunately most of them cannot afford. We therefore hope that we will afford some of the above items next term for easier learning.
 
Meanwhile our walls are worn out. The paint has faded and looks very dull and dirty. The wall need a repainting as soon as possible. A few repairs are also needed on the iron sheet class walls so that the wornout ones can be replaced. They are very dangerous to the kids and even adults.
 
However, it's not always gloomy here. Kids are angels and little cuties who brighten our days and we always look forward to having them in school every day. We always get concerned when they miss school. We miss them so much when schools are closed and we are very happy when we meet them during the holidays. We have asked the staff to follow up and know why some very vulnerable kids didn't report to school this term. We hope they come back next term.
 
Amongst our kids there are a couple of siblings from a very very needy family and their grandmother, who was their guardian, died before we opened for term one. We are doing a follow up to know their whereabouts.
 
Another kid’s house was swept away by the floods and she didn't report back and we are optimistic that we will find them and bring them back.
 
We wish you all a happy Easter season.
 
We wish our staff and children a happy and safe holiday.
 
See you on 29/04/2025 as we open for the second term of 2025 academic year. 

March 2025

Jambo Happy Day family.

We hope this finds you well. We are well too. This is our March 2025 newsletter.

We are glad to report that we are progressing on well and the first half of first term 2025 hasn't had any major events or occurrences so far. Our staff are always ready to be caregivers to the Happy day kids and we are trying to nurture good and wholistic citizens of the world. 

This term we have fluctuating number of kids in attendance per day. We attribute this to lack or absence of the feeding program. Parents are supposed to either bring lunch for their kids or the kids go back home for lunch and then come back to school for the afternoon classes. This is a very hectic and sometimes difficult thing for almost all the families of happy day. Reason being that the families are struggling to even have a meal. Some parents have resorted to taking their kids to school projects that have a feeding program. 

Currently we have approximately 45 kids. I say approximately because they don't usually attend.
We have asked the staff members to do a follow up and get to know why some kids come 3 days a week and why some take up to a whole week and come back later. The staff are willing and able to take on the task of visiting the affected Happy Day families. 

As we all know, 95% of Happy Day families are very poor and some extremely poor. ... Here are a few samples of the happy day families: 
1. Two siblings from a migrant family from Burundi. The parents are jobless and their other sibling is very sick. They can barely afford to put food on the table .  They are unable to buy school requirements for their kids and especially exercise books and pencils. We have been trying to assist where possible but due to the hard economic times we have not been able to provide the items for them. The oldest is a very bright and polite 9-year-old girl. Her brother is 5 years old and very withdrawn.

2. Another child is a 9 year old boy from a very humble background.  The mother is mentally unstable and unable to provide for her only child. The boy has very good vibes and blends well with his peers. Most of the times he comes to school crying because of hunger. We used to make sure that he and others get breakfast before classes but now we too are unable to. He is a go getter who doesn't give up easily. 

3. The last child we will present in this newsletter is a 7-year-old girl from another migrant family.
The mother makes baskets and mats as an income generating project. This work enables her to feed, clothe and educate her daughter.  Her mum is one of the few parents who are able to provide requirements for their children at happy day.

THE REQUIREMENTS THAT PARENTS ARE REQUIRED TO BRING FOR THEIR KIDS ARE :
1. 8 exercise books
2.  3 HB pencils
3. 2 manilla papers
4. Crayon
5. Modeling clay
6. Scissors
7. 3 tissue papers
The above are bought termly except the books which are bought after they fill up.

The above requirements costs maximum 1000 shillings, (approximately 86 NOK) from a bookshop and they are the most essential items for a learner. Unfortunately only about 10% of our kids families can afford that and it becomes very difficult for the teacher to teach without.

The last few terms we have had the feeding program ongoing. The parents were contributing 20 shillings each. We have not received any support from Norway for a long time due to lack of funds. Unfortunately, we have had to stop the feeding program because only a few of the parents continued to contribute and it became a huge task for the management here.

Teacher Mary is one of our staff and she doubles up as a community health volunteer.  This has given her exposure to many families lifestyle around the area and she helps our families to get medical help when they fall sick. She takes our playgroup class (the youngest of our kids) who rage between 2 ½ to 3 year olds. Teacher Kelli's is our longest serving staff and she takes our pre-primary 1 class who rage between 4 to 5 year olds. 

This term we have an upcoming fun day. The date has not yet been confirmed. During such events the kids get exposed to life outside their neighborhood and it's is an eye opener and a great motivation to them. Our staff too get to interact with staff from other schools and exchange an idea or two. Immediately we who get the details to when and how much to pay for the event we will give the details. We are hoping for support from Norway to be able to take our kids on this adventure.

Currently our school is in need of a renovation especially the wall paintings. This includes the outside wall which is worn out due to weather conditions.

As we reported earlier this term, our water system was tampered with during the Christmas holidays and we have been unable to bring water back. We have been buying water from a water vendor and it is not easy. We therefore require 3000 shillings to have the plumber come and repair (check what happened in our previous newsletter) and maybe buy the required items to help bring back water. We were not the only one affected.  Some of our neighbors were affected too and they brought back theirs by paying the above amount and buying the necessary items. We hope we are able to have the water restored as soon as possible. 

We really appreciate all the help and assistance accorded or extended to us from all our happy day friends. We are forever grateful because we wouldn't be where we are without your help. Feel appreciated and may you be blessed.

We will keep you updated. 

If you have any concerns, input and even compliments you are welcome to share with us and we will gladly tackle the raised issue.

ASANTE SANA

Requests for a new school year

 

Jambo you all and happy 2025.

We opened school on 7th January 2025 for term one of this academic year. 
We are glad to report that the kids are back and we even have new comers for our playgroup class.
The new curriculum is in place though the government via the ministry keeps adjusting ( bringing new changes) every now and then. We however have to adjust with the changes as stipulated by the ministry. 
We hope this year brings good tidings with it.

Below are our current requirements for this term.

1. Chalks.... @ 1600
2. Pens @...........400
3.pencils @......400
4 . Ream paper @.... 750
5. Fullscaps @.........750
6. Office glue 1 litre @... 550
7. Crayon 20 pieces @ 2000
8. Exercise books.....@ 3500
9. Marker pens.........@ 500
10. Stick glue....... @ 400
11. 6 padlocks @ 9001.
12.  4 class registers @ 400
13. 4 activity books ( teachers guide) @.... 2400

The above are the most essential ones as at now and we will appreciate if they are available for smooth learning. 

Water is not flowing into our premises due to a damage on the pipes . ( we can't tell what happened).
So we are currently buying water for use until when repairs will take place.

We require around 200 shillings for our daily water supply.  This is used in the kitchen and also in the ablution block.

We hope soon the pipes will be repaired. 

This term has many activities ( both academic and extra curriculum) and we will keep you updated as soon as we have an upcoming activity. 

Our feeding program is currently at a stand still due to lack of funds...

Some of the kids have stopped coming because we don't have the feeding program in place.
We hope to revive it because it is a key factor in us having our desired number of pupils.
It also helps ( so much) those who are very vulnerable and extremely needs because they at least get a hot meal in school.

Last year we tried so much to keep it running but it proved to be a tall order for us.

We wish you all a prosperous and productive 2025 .

BE BLESSED ALWAYS

End of year report and photos from graduation

 

Jambo Happy Day family. We hope you are all fine.  We at Happy Day Junior School closed school for the Christmas holiday and I trust we too are fine. 

 

This year was a very hectic one academically due to the very many riots and unrests caused by the floods, political temperatures and hard economic times.  The academic calendar was interrupted occasionally by the above circumstances... however, our teachers were able to recover lost time and by the time we closed we had covered the syllabus. 

 

Asante sana to our very able teachers for the good work done. Feel appreciated.  

The floods also displaced some of the happy day families with some losing all their belongings. Some came back to school when we opened while some had to relocate permanently.  We wish them all the best wherever they may be. 

 

Third term is usually the shortest with only 9 weeks of Learning with short breaks (public holidays) in between.  It is a term that doesn't have many extra curriculum activities due to the national exams that take place during the term. So it is just about academics. 

 

Term 1 we went for our fun day to Buruburu grounds and it was nice and the children had lot's of fun. There were all types of games and face painting and competition games too... Our school has children from very, very poor backgrounds and most of them have never gone to have fun anywhere except when they play with neighborhood kids. And so such activities give them memories and the urge to venture outside their hood when they grow up. What some of us take as normal is not normal to most of the kids... Even traveling in a vehicle is a once in a while event for some!.... seeing better houses and neighborhood is a wonder to some too....

The food we cook for such occasions (spiced rice with beef) is another sweet moment for almost all of them. This makes us wish to have similar events once every term so that we can give our kids the feelings that they too can be like the other kids. 

 

It is unfortunate that during the above trip we had to leave behind 6 of our kids due to lack of school uniform.  We did this because many schools were also participating in the event and incase a child got lost they would only be identified through the uniform. It was also a requirement by the organizers that all kids be in school uniform for identification. We hope next time we will all go without leaving anyone of us behind.  

 

This year we have had a big challenge with the feeding program.  Our kids were asked to bring 20 shillings daily for the feeding program but only around 20 to 25 were able to do so. We have struggled to make lunch with the available funds but we almost gave up and stopped the program altogether.  We only kept holding onto it because there are kids who depend on us for their daily meals..( when we close they face it rough and tough)..We always make sure that even though they don't pay a dime they get a little food to keep them going. We were only able to make lunch but no porridge for breakfast because we couldn't afford. It is our prayer that come next year we will be able to provide 2 meals to the kids just like before.

 

The government has had a school inspection going on for some time now. They have been around our zone and we were hoping that they would have reached us by the time we closed school but they hadn't.  

 

They are checking to see if:

1. The school is compliant (is operating legally).

2. The teachers are compliant (have the necessary records)

3. The school is a safe space with the required teacher pupil ratio

4. The school has enough classrooms and toilets.

5. Available of a nearby playground or own one. 

6. Health certificate for food handler.

 

All the above and a few more like desks, state of the classrooms, water and sanitation are what we are required to have. 

 

We are compliant in almost all of them except that our walls need some repainting and our iron sheet walls need a few repairs.  

 

This year our sewage line was also connected to the main sewer line and so we no longer need exhauster services....Asante sana for making it possible. 

 

This term we had a graduation ceremony on closing day for 15 kids set to join primary school.  Though we didn't hold a big event ( where we cook pilau, meat stew and invite guests) our graduates and the rest of the kids had an enjoyable day with teachers giving valuable advice and wishing them all the best that life has to offer. 

We hope next year we will have a bigger and better event. 

 

We have some food (though not much) to distribute to families and we know it will go a long way into giving them a smile and a meal too... Asante sana to Liv for her kind donation. We will welcome and appreciate any other donation towards the food distribution which will take place next week on a day that will be communicated. 

 

We wish all our Happy Day families, staff and friends a nice and enjoyable time during the festive season ....

 

BE BLESSED ALWAYS   

Preparing for end of year celebrations

 Good evening happy day family...

We are almost coming to the end of 2024 academic year here in kenya...

As usual this is the shortest term in our academic year with only 9 weeks. All schools are scheduled to close by 25th October 2024. 

We have been waiting for the inspection to take place in our school but the inspectors have not come yet though the exercise is still ongoing.  

Most small informal schools have not yet had the inspection done.( maybe they started with bigger schools).

In third term we usually hold a graduation ceremony for our pre primary 2 class as the proceed to grade one. 

 Last year we didn't hold one for our current grade one class when they were in pp2 because of unavoidable circumstances.  

We have 15 pupils who are supposed to graduate this year....

We therefore request for facilitation to enable us to hold the ceremony.  

Our requirements are as follows:

1. Gowns @ 200 each....3000

2. Certificates @200......3000

3. Presents 15 piece @150...2250

4. Snacks ( all pupils).... 2000

5. Juice 5 litres @... 650

TOTAL.....10,900

We will be very grateful for the above facilitation. 

We are planning to hold the graduation on 22nd Oct and so we need to prepare this week for the event.

Have a blessed evening

In need of learning and teaching materials

 Learning is ongoing and the kids are not yet fully back. 

We attribute this to the ongoing public schools teachers strike. 

Hopefully by next week they will be fully back. 

This term we are scheduled to have a graduation ceremony for our pre
primary 2 class and we will include our grade 1 class because they didn't
celebrate this milestone last year. We hope to have the ceremony taking
place in the last week of this term. 

We are also planning to go for the fun day at a later date. 

We will inform you as soon as we get a report on the dates for it. 

We are short of Learning and teaching materials and therefore we request
that we get the most essential ones...

This are...

1. Chalks

2. Pencils

3. Pens

4. Writing books ( exercise books.

5. Crayon

6. Modeling clay

7. Office glue

8. Stick glue

9. Liquid soap

10. Toilet brush 

11. 3 buckets

12. 3 padlocks

13. Food items for the feeding program ( if possible)

14. Plain papers

15. Ruled papers 

16. sharpeners 

17. erasers 

This is a kind request from us. 

Have a blessed Thursday.

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