Just two more days of work left before I have a 6 week break travelling. Very excited about the travels, not only do I see one of my best friends for the first time in over 2 years, but also because I am feeling like I definitely need a break from work!
After the intensity of the last few weeks: fearing for my life, confrontations, making difficult decisions about children’s lives and generally feeling pretty overwhelmed by all things work for a period of time, this last week and a half has been a really positive one. Thank goodness.
Tony – all’s sorted, ‘agreement’ signed by all parties and he will continue attending an excellent school that is doing wonders for him. Hurrah!!
I am really lucky to work with a beautiful little boy called Newton. Not only am I lucky to work with him, but also his Grandmother. The inner strength this woman has is unreal. Newton is her responsibility after his birth parents ran away from him and the stigma that comes with him. Newton has cerebral palsy, and as a result is significantly physically impaired. However, he’s as bright as a button and is a proper cheeky 6 year old. Newton’s Grandmother brings him every week to our cerebral palsy clinic, carries him for about 6 miles on her back and never does she complain. She treats Newton like a ‘normal’ boy and their relationship is how I wish it would be with his mother.
Anyhoos, Newton should be attending school, so far only special units have accepted him, however we all believed that he should attend a mainstream school because cognitively he is able to access the curriculum. After a lot of discussion with Wellington we decided that a local school called Ikumba Primary would be great for him. I’ve always been impressed with the school and their attitudes when I’ve been in and met them, plus one of the teachers is trained in special educational needs, and sits on the community based organisation (CBO) Yellow House so is very much on the ‘ball’ of inclusion! However, we knew there would be one ‘excuse’ as to why the school would not accept Newton. He didn’t have a wheelchair. Thanks to the fundraising of a friend from the UK, Newton has now been measured for his very own adapted wheelchair so that he can attend school. His face has never looked so proud and excited when we took him to get measured in Kisumu. I wish I’d had my camera... Wellington and I met with the head teacher of Ikumba Primary School, discussed Newton’s strengths and needs and they have agreed to place him there. Even suggesting assigning one of the staff’s latrines to Newton so that a toilet seat the EARC is donating can always be there so he can use the toilet independently!! I was pleasantly shocked when the head teacher agreed; this is inclusion in a way that has never been seen before in Vihiga County. Amazing!!
Newton starts school in January 2012 with a brand new wheelchair. I can’t wait to see him in his school uniform, he will be the proudest and happiest boy in Kenya!!
Wellington is starting his distance learning degree in Special Educational Needs Teaching this month. He has been doing the job he has been doing for the last 15 years, is an amazing assessment teacher and has done an unbelievable amount of advocacy and raising awareness for children and adults with disabilities in Vihiga County. Often supporting them from his own pocket, from which he has very little to give. However, the government has brought in a new policy that to do the job he is doing, he has to have a degree in it. Ridiculous! He’s managed to get a loan to pay for this session. Basically the course is over 2 years and has 3 sessions a year, where he has 3 weeks of intensive lectures per session, and the rest is done independently. It’s how a lot of people here afford to be able to do degrees. Each session, including accommodation and travel (it takes place 6hours away in Eldoret) costs 40,000ksh, about £250.
I have decided to pay for April 2012’s session from some of the money I fundraised before coming out here. This gives Wellington 8 months to find the money to fund the August session. The reason I have decided to use some of the money raised on this is because Wellington is the person who will still be here when I leave. The work he does is beyond his job description, and obviously by working alongside 2 SLTs for over a year will mean that he can continue some of our work when we have left.
I was very lucky to tell Wellington on Monday that a friend of mine has offered to pay for a session in December next year. He doesn’t understand why someone who has never met him wants to help him. I tried to explain that by supporting him doing this degree we will be continuing to support the children we work with in Vihiga. All he could say was that “Kenyans have a long way to go before we are like you...” and then cried – which of course made me blub like a baby!!!
I’m going to wind up there – thank you all so much for continuing to read my ramblings and waffle. I’ll be back on here in January..
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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