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 
