Hip hip hooray! We made it to 2018! Happy New Year 2018 to everyone reading this. It would not be a new year without us recounting some details about our previous year as an organization.
The community involvement in the building of one of our community schools earlier last year.
At World Teacher Aid, we had one of the most resourceful years yet! We started the year 2017 right by having the very FIRST EVER World Teacher Aid Teacher’s Conference, hosting over 85 teachers. The conference was mainly aimed at making our students’ learning conditions more favourable and also enhancing the performance of our community schools. We were able to draw objectives from most of the suggestions raised by the teachers, mostly regarding the provision of enough textbooks and appropriate learning materials for the school. This meeting also led to the introduction of a guidance and counselling department in two of our schools. We also established well-equipped laboratories in two of our secondary schools (Bright Hope and Safina Haji Secondary Schools) and added more equipment to all of our existing laboratories. The increased number of students led us to purchase more desks and chairs in all our various schools.
Our biggest accomplishment was the establishment of three community schools in Kenya — the San Marco, Amani Kuresoi and Ndatho Hope Primary Schools. This enabled children within the communities to obtain reliable and convenient education within the given areas. The establishment of the new schools led to the introduction of two new members of staff, Elidah and Philip.
Elidah was responsible for enhancing guidance and counselling within Shalom Primary and Springs Secondary School situated within the same community. Her impact was instantly felt as she was able to address most of the underlying problems facing both the parents and the teachers.
Philip was tasked with the responsibility of helping Sam (an existing Field Officer) in following up on the progress of our different schools.
Towards the end of the year, we managed to organize our second Principal’s Meeting, which turned out to not only be motivating to our teachers, but also resourceful in the formulation of our goals this year. Our principals also highlighted how our work throughout the year had impacted the progression of their schools. They were also keen to note that the Teacher’s Conference organized earlier last year had really motivated the teachers and also made them more objective in their teaching. Most principals also noted that their teachers’ needs were in most cases addressed and really helped in the enhancement of education within our school.
The political upheavals in Kenya led to the cancellation of our annual donor trip last year. However, this year promises to have the best donor trip ever in July! It will be a great platform not only to visit our different community schools, but also to interact with the different members of our community schools.
The Kenyan government has introduced free secondary education this year and it is because of this that most of our schools are expected to have a larger number of students. It will be a very busy year for our schools but we are well equipped in tackling all situations as they come. The World Teacher Aid staff have really worked in unison to ensure that we make our schools the best in the country.
We would like to thank all our stakeholders, especially our donors! You have been very efficient and helpful in ensuring that all our school activities run smoothly. We really don’t take it for granted. We have seen many students being directly influenced by our schools. We can assure you that great people within the society are being molded within our schools. The future doctor, lawyer and the next business mogul studies within our group of schools. This can been seen by the many students who have been directly enrolled into public universities and colleges.
It’s a year full of optimism and we have already clearly formulated objectives and goals for this year. From the Kenyan World Teacher Aid Desk, Happy New Year 2018! Wishing you all the best in all your individual goals and aspirations! God Bless you all! Let’s do this!!!
Philip, WTA Field Rep
