HIV/AIDS has affected every aspect of community life. Most people in Kenya know someone who has died because of HIV. Daily, wives become widows and children are orphaned because of the disease. Therefore Kijani has prioritised supporting projects that serve children living with HIV/AIDS. Over the past five years, Kijani helped establish a Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) centre at Nanyuki Cottage Hospital and brought the first (and only) CD4 machine to Laikipia District. Today, Kijani is partnering with Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital to support rural outreach health clinics.
“With Kijani, we were treated well and respected, nobody beat us”
10 year old boy from SCREAM children’s home in Nairobi
Opera Playhouse
“Music is, of course, truly international, intercultural and intergenerational. It transcends language, background and age.” Karl Daymond of the Opera Playhouse, London
Karl was one of the international artists who participated in the 2009 Kijani Music Festival. His quote sums up so well the desired impact of Kijani’s music education programme – to foster musical exchanges across cultures and to increase the number of Kenyan young people exposed to a variety of music.
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Ken Burton
When Ken first came to Kenya we took him to a children’s home. One little boy had come to the home when his parents died of HIV AIDS. He was only three. He had sat in a corner during the day and had not spoken for 2 weeks he was so traumatised.
Ken started teaching the other children and they were all singing away. Suddenly the little boy got up and joined in – singing his first words for two weeks.
Special thanks go to Ken Burton for his dedication. He has visited Kenya each year for the last four years. He has an amazing number of young Kenyan friends!
PEDPACT in Laikipia East District
Clinic consultation
Communities within the Laikipia East District are Isolated and among the poorest in the country.
The issues the project addresses are reduced access to health due to poverty and poor infrastructure, stigma towards people living with HIV/ AIDS, low rates of volunteer testing and lack of health care services.
“Raises their confidence because of performing in front of an audience.” Director, The Nest Children’s Home
“It’s not what I can bring to them – it’s what they give to me”
Ken Burton,
London Adventist Chorale,
on his Musical Workshops
with the children.
Ken Burton is a well known conductor and Director of the London Adventist Chorale (LAC) who specialises in teaching young children to sing. He has become particularly involved working in Kenya in homes for vulnerable children and the results of his work have been spectacular.
Gatanyaga Primary School
Water Harvesting
Kijani has focused most of their conservation efforts in supporting schools improve their ability to harvest water for hygiene and to grow food to supplement the school lunch programme. The efforts also help the students learn more about the environment and the importance of conservation.
Gatanyaga Primary School is in a very dry area. Previously, the children were asked to carry water to school for the cooking and to water the trees planted as wind breaks.
Between November 2008 and April 2009, Kenya experienced an incredibly dry period. The local rivers dried up, there was no grass and crops failed.
Water tanks collect and store rain water
However, with the gutters, the pipes and the tanks purchased and installed with funding from Kijani and Collier Trust, the school was able to store water that helped them survive the drought. During this time, Gatanyaga Primary School was still able to provide lunches for the children and water the garden plot where the children were growing cabbages and kale (important for adding nutrition to their lunches). With the rains that came in late April and May, the tanks are full again and the school intends to plant more spinach.
Cooking
An insulated 'jiko' broiler
Most schools purchase large open pans or jikos (cookers that boil the lunch of beans and maize by using firewood or charcoal). These are laid on three stones for stability but the open fire makes a very smoky kitchen. The size of the cooker and the quantity of food cooked on a daily basis meant that the school had to use immense amounts of firewood – adding to the depletion of firewood in the area. Parents had to bring firewood to the school at great cost of money and/or energy.
The new modern jiko purchased and installed by Collier/Kijani is heavily insulated to avoid heat loss and uses only 25% of fuel of the previous version without having smoke in the kitchen. This saves the school money and time and adds to the conservation efforts of the school.
Gatanyaga Primary School in Google Maps
Update:
Hon George Thuo MGP MP Lula Constituency and Government Cheif Whip spoke at the school in 2010
- Hon. George Thuo visit on Fri, 17 Sep 2010
Kenya Tourism Board