Ujima

Cape Town Summer

admin — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:44:26 +0000

by Tamara D. (Dalton Class of ‘07)

Summer Academy at Cape Town is the four-week-long intensive program in Cape Town, South Africa where I took classes, went on trips, and did community service this summer. Our classes consisted of South African History, Geography, Modern Africa and Global relations, African Ecology and Zoology, African Language and Literature, and African Music and Art. Throughout the four weeks we did community service in local townships and went on trips to places such as Robben Island. We also stayed on a beautiful campus overlooking the ocean in Simon’s Town, Cape Town. About 40 kids attended the program: 15 from various countries in Africa and the rest from different regions of the U.S.

South Africa has such a rich and varied culture. There is so much we can learn from this remarkable country, in particular their great sense of community. That we could experience this is remarkable, because just ten years ago Summer Academy wouldn’t have been able to exist in South Africa because of apartheid. My classes consisted of white and black South Africans and many other races of people. This is something that would have been outlawed ten years ago. Summer Academy in itself is an important mark in South African history.

The Cape Town program challenged me academically and emotionally. I will never forget walking in townships and seeing such extreme poverty, or the conversations that I had in my classes. I made friends with people from all over the world and I spent the most intense month of my life at the Summer Academy. I learned a lot about myself and other people. It was the type of experience that I wish that every person could have.

More details for the Cape Town Summer Academy can be found on their website at www.theacademyct.com/

Making a Difference: Inside and Out

admin — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:43:54 +0000

By Emma R. (Dalton Class of ‘07)

Living in a world as privileged as my own, it is really difficult to relate and appreciate a life very unlike the one I’ve known. I’ve always wanted to be part of a project, which, (as clichéd as it sounds) would make a difference in the world or change people’s lives for the better. Clearly, being a student, and coming from an advantaged background, I can’t really make that ideal difference alone. However, joining the collaborative effort of the students, parents, and faculty who make up Ujima has given me the opportunity to actually make a world of a difference for some people.
The students who are chosen for scholarships lead such difficult lives, very different to anything I know. Many of them are orphans who have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS or other tragedies. Many have difficult and strenuous commutes to school each day, as well as lots of physical work outside of their academics. Last year I received a letter from my pen pal in Kenya, Peter. Although the experiences that these remarkable students have undergone are in some ways incomprehensible to me, I was able to appreciate everything that Ujima had done for him. The simple tone of gratitude and hope in this short letter allowed me to grasp- on maybe a distant level- the life-altering opportunity we had provided Peter, as well as many other students. Everything Ujima has done for these students will help shape their lives and the futures of those around them. To be able to make that difference for someone is a feeling of fulfillment that is truly indescribable.

The First Dalton Ujima Visit to Kenya, June 2005.

admin — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:43:27 +0000

By Katherine F. (Dalton Class ‘07)

The Ujima Project has been a significant part of my life for many years now, and having the opportunity to see so many members of the Dalton community committed to the work and spirit behind this project has been a truly rewarding gift. This summer, I was fortunate enough to visit Kenya for two weeks with my dad, Neil Getnick, my older sister, Courtney Finerty, Ms. Meg Scheurer and Dr. Malcolm Fenton. This experience not only exposed me to the beauty of Kenyan culture, but it provided me with the ability to literally see how much the effort and enthusiasm behind the Ujima Project has genuinely affected the lives of others.

In Kenya, we visited the nine different schools in which the Subukia Scholarship Fund has placed the twenty-one scholarship students. Courtney and I had the opportunity to sit with all of the students and learn about their lives growing up in Kenya, their struggles to obtain an education, and their hopes for the future. We in turn told them all about the Dalton School, and the remarkable dedication of our fellow students back in New York. To their delight, we were able to give them pictures of the projects Dalton has been involved with for Ujima thus far, and we provided each student with information about their Dalton pen pal.

An extraordinary experience for me was when I finally was able to meet my penpal, Nancy Njeri from the Jomo Kenyatta Secondary School. Nancy is 16 years old, an extremely bright student, and has lost both of her parents to the AIDS pandemic. I also learned that, like me, Nancy loves to play volleyball, listen to music, and hang out with her friends on the weekends. Many of the twenty-one students within the Subukia Scholarship Fund have had to overcome tremendous hardships, and they have struggled financially to even get as far as the chance of having secondary school education. One student named James Mwangi, at St Lwanga Secondary School, had lost his father before he was admitted to our scholarship program. Tragically, his mother passed away just after he was admitted, and he was then faced with being an orphan with nowhere to turn. His headmaster, Gabriel Mwago, was compassionate enough to let James live with him at the school so he would be able to pursue his education. This was the attitude of so many of the educators whom we met at the schools in Subukia: complete dedication and genuine care for all of their students.
The amount of gratitude that the students in Kenya expressed for all of the people involved in this project was infinite. Coming as I do from a community where education is guaranteed, and sometimes underappreciated, I was able to find an immense source of inspiration from these students’ desire to learn, and their determination to succeed to their highest potential. One of the most common ambitions amongst the scholarship students was to be able to come to America one day, extend their knowledge, and then return back to Kenya in hopes of serving their country and making it a better place. The pride in self and country that this dream demonstrates is a testament to the overall dignity of Kenyan culture. I found myself constantly telling the students, their parents, and their teachers how mutually beneficial this experience was, and how grateful I was to them. At the root of the Ujima project is the true force behind all of the community activism and service: the dream to create a true relationship between two cultures, a relationship that seeks knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of each other. I cannot overemphasize the difference that our work in the Ujima Project has made on the lives of our companions in Kenya. And I couldn’t be more grateful for the impact that this project has made on my own life, and hopefully on the lives of everyone else involved.

President Kibaki Nine Points Down in Most Recent Poll

admin — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 14:49:04 +0000

September 29, 2007

September 28: In the most recent poll, the Orange Democratic Movement’s (ODM) candidate, Raila Odinga, leads incumbent President Kibaki by nine points. 47% of respondents said they would vote for Odinga, while only 38% would vote for President Kibaki. The third candidate, Kalonzo Musyoka of the ODM-Kenya party, had only 8% of respondents’ votes. Odinga is supported in both urban and rural areas. Since March, Odinga’s popularity has been steadily rising while President Kibaki’s has been falling, from 51% in March to 5% in July and now to 38%. Former President Moi, who has a very high approval rating, is supporting President Kibaki, and many people believe that his support will cause President Kibaki to win the election. Like its candidate, ODM is the favored party among voters; President Kibaki’s new party, PNU, is supported by only 20%.
The poll was conducted by Steadman Group’s Managing Director George Waititu. It was conducted in all of Kenya’s 53 districts from September 21-25. However, there isn’t uniform awareness all around Kenya – 3% of respondents did not know that President Kibaki was a candidate, compared to 6.25% for Odinga and 10% for Musyoka.

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200709281185.html

President Kibaki Names his Re-Election Party

admin — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 14:51:56 +0000

September 15, 2007: President Kibaki has named the Party of National Unity as his re-election party, and is scheduled to make the announcement today on radio and television. His is the third party to enter the presidential race, following the Orange Democratic Movement and the Orange Democratic Movement – Kenya. The most recent polls show President Kibaki in the lead with 42% of the vote. He has support from three high-profile Cabinet Ministers as well as fourteen parties. President Kibaki is going to base his campaign, which will officially start on September 29, on bringing the nation together. To be elected, a candidate needs to receive the majority of the votes as well as at least 25% of the votes in five of eight provinces.
In his first term, President Kibaki has helped the economy, made primary education free, and improved health care. He has also helped bring electricity to more rural areas of Kenya, as well as “re-energised civil service” (source 1). However, much of Kenya does not agree with his positions. The MP from Wajir West, for example, greeted the President when he went there last week by saying that he has no support in that district.
Organization is key to winning the Presidential race in Kenya as anywhere, and yet there is still confusion as to who is running President Kibaki’s campaign. President Kibaki also must show Kenya that he is not being influenced by any interest groups and must “pacify political parties who are also fighting for space in his court” (1).

Debate over KACC’s Power

admin — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 14:49:56 +0000

September 15, 2007: Professor Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Peace Laureate, defends Parliament’s decision to limit the powers of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) (source 1). Prof. Maathai said that the KACC had not accomplished much and had not fulfilled its intended purpose. The KACC’s powers were drawn back earlier on September 12, when Parliament decided that the KACC would not be able to investigate “grand corruption committed before May 2003” (source 2). Ms. Martha Karua, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, disagrees with Prof. Maathai, saying that Parliament’s decision is letting down the people of Kenya, since corruption is a problem that needs to be solved in order for Kenya to grow as a nation.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200709150160.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/200709120976.html

Mungiki Attack June 21-22

admin — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 14:55:43 +0000

June 23, 2007: On the night of June 21 and the morning of June 22, 2007, four people were beheaded and seventeen were shot in a Mungiki strike in Nairobi and Kiambu. Five people were killed in by grenades in a bar, contributing to the same wave of Mungiki attacks. Mungiki is an illegal sect that values traditional practices. Its creation was inspired by the Mau Mau revolts of the 1950s, violent demonstrations that ultimately succeeded in gaining Kenya’s independence. Many believe that it was formed in 1988 against former President Daniel arap Moi. It now focuses less on religion and more on violence. Two main suspects have been arrested for the grenade attack. Though the police are still investigating the motive of the attacks, they believe it could be related to a Nairobi court’s decision to jail Maina Njenga, a former Mungiki leader, earlier on June 21.

Minister and Assistant Publicly Clash

admin — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 14:54:09 +0000

June 23, 2007: Tourism and Wildlife Minister Morris Dzoro and his assistant, Kalembe Ndile, publicly clashed over a few issues. Ndile asked for more duties and for vehicles to complete these duties in; Dzoro said that he has already given him vehicles, which he has crashed, and that Ndile is not in the office enough to be given more duties. Ndile also asked that answers to parliamentary questions be translated into Kiswahili, one of the most widely spoken languages in Kenya. English is the official language of Kenya; Kiswahili is the national language. This means that education and government use English. Dzoro said that he had already asked for a translator. Ndile subsequently said that he has raised these issues privately with Dzoro and with Kenya’s President Kibaki, but it was Dzoro that brought them up publicly. The clash ended with Ndile “leaving in a huff” (source 1) and not attending a dignitary luncheon.