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 Her brother is 5 years old and very withdrawn.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.

SvarVideresend Legg til en reaksjon

Update August 2024

Jambo Happy Day family.  

We hope you are all doing great. 

We at happy day are well and back to school for the third
and last term of 2024 academic year. We hope this term is
not disrupted as last term was. This term is going for 9 weeks
only making it the shortest academic term .

Last term was a very hard term for all of us in Kenya. 
First it was the floods which saw many households affected.  
At Happy day we had families which were very much affected
by the floods. Houses were swept away by the waters with every
belongings carried away too. Uniforms and books were not
spared either. This really affected the families because they had
to relocate with most of them not having an alternative place to go. 
Some were hosted by neighbors and friends while some had to go
to upcountry to seek for shelter. 

After the floods came the political unrests caused by the high cost
of living in Kenya. Life has become very hard with most families
not able to have their daily meals. Taxes are so high that people have
had to close their small businesses. 

Most parents at Happy day are casual laborers and due to the closure of
small businesses and exit of many companies they were rendered jobless
with no sources of income.  

It has really taken a toll on us at Happy day because we too are not able
to offer much help especially on the feeding program. We continued with
the feeding program with just a few parents being able to give the 20
shillings daily for food. It is such a hard task to budget for the food daily
because we also have to give food to the most vulnerable who we are
sure cannot afford the 20 shillings.  We also have to feed those affected
by the calamities and this has been a hard task to handle.  However little
we cook we have taught our kids to be a brother's keeper.  They have
learnt to share. At one time we had so little money that a teacher had to
cook at her home and bring food to the kids.  Another time I had to
carry rice and maize flour from home to enable us to feed the kids. 

We hope and pray that this term we get some help on the feeding program. 

Last term we didn't have any major extra curriculum activities due to the
above mentioned issues. We had planned to take our kids once every term
for a fun day but last term was an exception. This term we hope to take
them for the fun day at a day with we have not yet gotten the time and date. 

The government announced a schools compliance inspection
from last term. As at closing we were not yet inspected but the
ministry officials were in our zone. We expect them to pop in
any day now that we are back. They are checking to see that all
schools are a safe space for children and staff, they are also checking
if all schools are compliant and with the required teacher pupil ratio. 
Another requirement is the relevant licenses and if the teachers are
tsc registered. The cooks are also required to have a health and food
handlers certificate too. 

We are a safe space. Our teachers are compliant. We have the 2
most important licenses ( kra and ministry). We have 2 toilets
which is a good number because our population is not big. We have
a good number of teaching staff and so our classes are not congested.
Our kitchen is in a good condition and well equipped.  Our class
rooms are upto standard.  We have enough desks. We have a 5000
liters water storage tank. 

(the above makes us ready for the inspection).

The paint on our walls has fallen of and that's the only problem that
the inspectors might pin us on. We hope to have them painted (subject to
availability of funds)

We will keep you updated on the inspection and any other happenings.  

We are very grateful to the happy day friends and families for the great
support we receive.  Financial, advices, inputs, sacrifices and all kindness
shown to any of us including the children doesn't go unnoticed.  

We say Asante sana

Requirements to stay open

 Good morning Happy Day family.  

We trust you are all fine. 

Yesterday the government announced that it's starting a schools inspection and mapping program starting in June. This exercise targets all public, private and informal schools in the country.  

The inspection and mapping includes::

1. Checking if a school is a safe space for the kids.

2. If the school has enough toilets.

3. Child to teacher ratio.

4. Availability of teaching and learning materials. 

5. Compliance ( licenses)

6. Availability of extracurricular activities space.

7. School records...registers, admission books, attendance books, parent's contacts, visitor's book. 

8. Student -desk ratio.

9. Cleanliness. 

10. Compliance by teaching and non teaching staff ( health certificates, tsc numbers, lesson plans, schemes of work)

This year we have not gotten the relevant licenses and this might land us into problems during the exercise by the government.  

We are therefore requesting for at least 2 of them .... 

1. Ministry of education 

2. County government 

This 2 are the major ones and they are mostly the ones that are checked during such exercises.  

For extracurricular activities we have a space near the school where our children are able to play and create talents. 

We have 2 toilets that are functional though they need a few repairs. 

Our classroom are at a fair condition. .

We have enough desks for our kids. 

We have good water storage ( 3000 liter capacity tank). 

Our blackboards are good though in need of repainting). One classroom does not have a blackboard. 

Our staffs are compliant.  

We have a banner that we will hang outside the gate as our identity.  

The feeding program is ongoing though in need of a boost. 

All our records are upto date.  

We hope when they come they find us compliant in all areas though there is always some things that might pass our eyes