APRIL 2020 HIGH SCHOOL SECTION
REPORT
(COVID-19 EDITION)

It is NOT business as usual with Kibera and WkW family. Apart from disrupting and exposing the already vulnerable environment, economic and social-cultural structures and systems within the urban informal settlements more so in Kibera slums, the Covid-19 has almost brought every normal operation at WkW centre to a standstill. Now, WkW staff are all working, mostly from  home except when assisting with the distribution of food. This is the new way of being, this is the new way of serving Kibera families, this is the new operation. It feels strange and so distant but it is the reality.
The students are not learning, but the Government insists that there is an online Education Program which primary and secondary children can currently access.
According to the Government, primary and secondary schools are now up and running. The Government has also said that the children can and will access the education materials from the Televisions, radios, smart phones or even laptops.
Is the Government boldly, strangely and systematically again in broad daylight creating social class by providing the most basic and fundamental service to only the rich while discriminating and blocking the poor and the marginalized who cannot afford the services?

Many questions definitely will arise. Questions like, how will the lesson be evaluated at the end of each period? How will questions be administered and managed? How many hungry families in Kibera will have televisions, radios or even smart phones?  How effective is this model in a slum set up? Will hungry children listen to someone speak on the radio?
Many families are not currently able to put food on their tables let alone have electricity. How will the children study from home when the same furniture they sit on in the day are the beds they sleep on at night? How will Angeline, a form four student who will be sitting for her final exams at the end of this year study from her one roomed home while all her 5 younger siblings, the mother together with their drunkard and violent father are in the same house the whole day fighting and quarreling? How?
Our children are indeed caught between a rock and a hard place, especially the candidates. It is not business as usual in Kibera slums and this is the time we must continue being present for the families even more.

High school students’ population in April 2020 and SGBV
The current high school population remains to be one hundred and nine. All are boarders in different schools within Nairobi and outside.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all children were sent back home three weeks to the start of April 2020 school holiday. Currently, there is much pressure in family systems in Kibera. Men and Women have been losing jobs. The casual labourers especially the many women who go and wash clothes in the rich neighbourhoods are currently not wanted around the estates as they are seen and termed as agents of Covid-19 virus. Stress has gone through the roofs and definitely the most vulnerable in the population such as children and women end up as the victims of abuse.  According to the current reports from the justice department, there has been a surge in Sexual abuse and Gender Based violence in Kenya since the pandemic began.
We have not reported or heard of any case involving families we support but as usual, such related violence are always closely guarded within the family circles. As we work from home, it will be hard to come across them. However, sexual and Gender based Violence is an imminent threat which may likely affect our families from Kibera.  
Since the pandemic began, we have been reaching out to families and beneficiaries to ensure that they are safe. We encourage the students to study and keep safe at home even though conditions are tough.

Table 1: 2020 High school students’ population table
 

 

CAN Programs for high school students were already in place for April Holidays. This program is sponsored by Michael Buckley and family. However, Covid-19 came and every little plan we had on the matter got uniquely disrupted.
Covid-19 is what we technically refer to as a risk factor when it comes to child protection matters. This point cannot be over emphasized here in Kibera. During school period, all children are usually at school in boarding schools. At school they are safe. During school holidays, children spend most of their day at the WkW Centre. They only leave in the evening having played, studied and fed.  Due to Covid-19, adults who are child sexual offenders and abusers are free and are currently roaming and spending most of their time at home with the children. They have time to think, scheme and prey on little children whom they live with or whom they neighbour.
Over the last few weeks, part our job has been to reach out to the vulnerable families and to engage them on issues concerning child abuse or any other event that may promote such. We have talked in depths with parents on safety promotions, preventing and reporting abuses. This is an ongoing process.

Food distribution
Faced with real hunger, an already compromised and vulnerable youth may at after all find nothing bad with indulging self in any negative or illegal social-economic activity so as to kick out the pangs of hunger away.

Many students while at home and while hungry may resort to stealing from their houses or from the neighbours, some may be lured into gang life for survival sake, crime, some may get into drugs and others may get into prostitution just to get food and other essential needs. Because of this, WkW Organization, through WFWIA, Ms. Noella who is a WkW Board member and friends organized and mobilized and fundraised for food and other nonfood materials which have up to date benefited over 250 Kibera families in the month of April. The campaign is ongoing and some families who are worse off and very vulnerable are still receiving food and support weekly.
Because of working with Kibera families for a long time and having established a working system, the WkW Organization successfully distribute and is still providing food to many families without a glitch or a hitch. Recently, the Kenyan Government tried to distribute food to Kibera families the best way they know how.  The result? Two deaths, children, elderly, the sick and women were seriously trampled on and no one benefited. Chaos! Now they are working on cash transfer to the most vulnerable groups…. Chaos and scandals in waiting!
We sincerely thank all the people who have contributed in one way or the other so that the Kibera family, especially the vulnerable children may eat and live during this Covid-19 period. Speaking on behalf of the secondary section, I cannot really be grateful enough especially when I think of how teenagers (adolescents) whom I take care of have benefited greatly from the food support. I cannot imagine what could happen for an adolescent girl or boy who is active yet very hungry and with limited opportunities. Thank you again on behalf of these vulnerable young ones.

Looking ahead
‘Presence and hope’ are the word that comes to me when I think of the future. Listening and journeying together with the families of Kibera in these challenging, unpredictable and unfortunate times is probably the best gift I can offer for now. What I know is that poor and hungry people may not afford sanitizer nor can they even survive a lockdown at home and definitely with an average household of between 5 and 7 living in a room of 12ft by 12ft, social distancing may be a mirage BUT what I Know quite well is that because of WkW Kenya, its benefactors and supporters, the Kibera families have HOPE.
We shall continue reaching out to families, distributing food to each family. We shall journey with the students as they try to learn and study from home. We shall encourage, and inspire them during this tough period so that they study hard, complete assignments while being safe. We shall help them with question papers, reading materials, books if needed and any other help they may need especially with the government new Education program. We shall print out for them the Government education timetables, find out how best they can access radios to listen to for programs, we shall listen and journey with them through all this because we are here for them and they deserve it. My other prayers go to thousands of children who are students from Kibera who do not have institutions such as WkW Kenya.
What is their situation? Your guess is as good as mine.

REPORT FROM BENJAMIN MBASA, CO-ORDINATOR OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS. 

APRIL REPORT PRIMARY SECTION

It has been the dream of both WFWIA and WKW to have their sponsored children in good boarding schools. And this has always happened. The children are placed in good schools where learning is taking place, a place with good academic competition and above all a secure place where children are safe and loved among other things.
It is true, the children have been competing well and emerging academic giants in their schools. It is also true education equals us all. It doesn’t matter the back ground, opportunities have proved that. 
However, this plague (I fear even to mention its name) co-o-o-ro-na virus has robbed the children of their opportunity. The children are home now for over one month, denied their opportunity to learn and compete.
 

There is still a challenge with food to the children. The families are big and so the food depletes faster than expected.
These children are used to having 3 meals or 4 in school. That is breakfast, tea break snack, lunch, four o’clock tea and supper. As it stands now, no family can afford to feed them like the way they are fed in school. They rely on their schools for nutrition.
The parents are finding it strenuous having these children at home. When the schools are on, the children used to have their food, water, soap etc. in school. while at home, they used to spend the whole day at WKW Centre playing, studying and having their 10 O’clock and 1 O’clock. But now they don’t have WkW to go for the day.
The parents don’t seem to find casual jobs because no one wants them in their houses. Hunger is real and corona virus is real too.

Now, the education CS has approved children to learn online. Almost all schools are talking about online platform whereby the children take their lessons. These platforms are WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom etc. To download such an app, one would need to have a good phone with high memory because there is a lot of graphics and content sent to the child.
From my statistics, only 15% of my primary children have either a parent, or guardian or sibling with a smartphone.
This plague is robbing me of the giants of this year.
Internet is very expensive and even those who have smartphones still ask me how they are going to maintain this learning. It is a challenge it is expensive and it is not sustainable.

The children are home with their parents, guardians and siblings. Some of these children are living with guardians that are not related to them by blood. They could also be living with their biological parents that could be an abusive home or environment. What does this mean? The children are the foremost victims and witnesses of abuse and violence.
Children also have no scheduled time to follow. They being children and no WKW Centre to go to, they begin wandering around and about. I met one of them dirty and with unkept hair. Told him to go home but I don’t know if he ever reached that time or if he played hide and seek with me.
As they are home, the older siblings or those with phones could be accessing some content that is not child friendly. There could be online sex, cyber bullying etc. and this is because children have been exposed to the phones in the name of online learning. Children are introduced to content that is not healthy.
There has been disturbance at some homes because of curfew defaulters. The children get tear gas smoke in their homes almost every night. One child told me that some youths engage the police and do not want to go home. The police throw tear gas in order to disperse them. The house gets smothered with smoke. The result is choking and difficulty in breathing.

Social distancing and hygiene are the new ways of living. 10 of them in a small shanty and you may ask ‘How do they attain social distancing? your guess is as good as mine. It is impossible and not practical. These days, a headache, cough and runny nose translates to covid-20. One fears to take a child to normal immunization or regular checkup incase, incase and incase.
I am also looking at stress levels in families as a health issue. Children are in this home where the father comes back without any food for the family. The anger is too much and the child is the recipient of high levels of stress in the family. Probably the father has not been coming home for eons now because of curfew, he comes home regularly. The child is also stressed up-you mean he lives with us these days!!
 

I can clearly see the disparities in our society. The children were put to school to learn but now the pandemic has robbed them of that chance. The ‘have nots’ are still languishing in poverty even after being put into good and competitive schools. Now the gap of disparity in education is widening.
There is a lot of work entailed in making sure that the children do not miss out on their learning. I get work on my whatsapp, I download, print it out and put it in envelops for the children. I label them so that it is easy for the guard to know whom he gives the work to. The children work on it for a day or 2 days depending on the amount of work. They return the work as they collect the printed one again. I scan the work and send back to the respective teacher who marks and sends the results back. There is back and forth and a lot of involvement.
For all this we pray that this pandemic pass quickly.

REPORT FROM SR. KEVINA EKAL, PRIMARY STUDENTS CO-ORDINATOR.