Friday 28 November 2008

Refugees, Famine.......................

Although Marich Pass and the immediate surrounding area has sufficient water, and food, due to the Cherangani Hills influencing the climate and the Pokot being a mostly agricultural people, you don't have to travel far north to find people living their lives on the edge. It is here that there is great human suffering when the rains fail or when there is insufficient precipitation resulting in the failure of the harvest.

We will pass through this area on our way to the Turkwell Dam HEP which is in an extremely arid area bordering Turkana. Here I have seen refugees from further north as the further north you travel the worse the situation becomes.

Food is a precious commodity, but nobody thinks twice when there is Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose or some other supermarket just round the corner with shelves filled to overflowing.

Spare just one minute to think about those less fortunate than ourselves.


A malnourished Turkana child pictured naked in a barren, desolate landscape!

There are other images that will educate you if you look on the PHOTOVALET website. Images 138813 to 138837.

See also the two links at the foot of the blog for The Tribes of Kenya and The Traditional Music & Cultures of Kenya, or just click on these links.

Thursday 27 November 2008

Flora and Fauna





More from the Mara


















LIVE AID


These are some links to videos that I showed to students in school over the last year. None of them need commentary, nor shall I say enjoy........................... just watch, listen and think............................ We are extremely fortunate.

It is hoped that our students will return from the Field Trip somewhat humbled and with a better understanding of what life is like in the greater world outside that of Stalham and Norfolk, by experiencing, first hand, some of what the world has to offer.

Please click on these links....................

Live Aid 1985

Live Aid 2005

More Pictures from West Pokot and MPFSC











The Beginnings

It just dawned on me that it was just a little over a year ago that the seed was sown for what will culminate in the Field Trip to Kenya in May/June of next year. At that time it was my tutor group who were due to make a presentation on the topic of the week which was 'When the Harvest Fails'. It was decided, with some encouragement from me (!!!), that it would be an opportunity to focus away from 'US/WE/ME' and the Harvest Festival and where the Harvest doesn't fail to somewhere that the Harvest DOES Fail on a regular basis. In fact somewhere that the harvest is rarely successful!

At the time a band named Mattafix had recently released a single and video for the track 'LIVING DARFUR'. I was immediately taken by this track and showed it as part of our assembly. The audience was silenced.................. even the Headteacher commented on the presentation.

From this followed Africa Week and a Mufti Day (£1132) and then the Sponsored Walk - "The Walk to Africa" (£6,000+ money still to be collected).

The Video can be watched on You Tube by clicking HERE on the link above.

During the year I also showed numerous videos with a similar theme and these are also available on YouTube (I will post the links when I have time). I just wanted the students to be aware that they have so much and the majority of people in the world have virtually nothing, struggling to survive from day to day.

The people of Marich may not be as badly off as some in the world. They have a ready supply of water from the river, albeit not clean and not piped to their homes, but there is water. Food is not plentiful but they are not starving as long as there is sufficient rain (not too much and no failure of the rains!) and as long as the elephants and monkeys don't get to it first. From experience I have seen great community spirit in Marich where families help each other in times of need................... a characteristic that is sadly missing from our society today. However in recent times Marich has suffered due to the sad loss of David Roden, resulting in the loss of employment at the Field Studies Centre. In addition, the Political problems in late 2007 early 2008 proved to complicate matters in Marich even though the fighting never reached that far north. The problem was that tourists stopped traveling to Kenya.................... end result.................... no tourist revenue...................... loss of employment....................... also causing a reduction in revenue to support worthwhile causes in the area.

Things are improving in Marich................. visitors are starting to return, schools, universities and other institutions that regularly visited the area are booking again BUT, it will take time for the place to recover.

Wednesday 26 November 2008

Header

I have reduced the size of the Header photo due to it being far too big................ however, the photo can still be seen at full size, showing the area surrounding Marich in all its glory, by clicking on the photo below.

Innoculations

I have been advised that all students should shortly start receiving their vaccinations.

If you haven't already visited your GP in order to obtain advice about what you need to be vaccinated against, then you need to do this at the earliest possible opportunity.

The following sites may give some initial advice:


or


Please note that such advice can only be given by those qualified to do so.

Sanction of Field Trip

We are still awaiting official confirmation that the planned field trip can proceed!

Everything is in place, as can be seen from this BLOG, it just requires rubber stamping that the trip satisfies all the Health & Safety requirements with all the necessary Risk Assessments duly completed.

We await the necessary..........................................................

Text Books to Tanzania

The school is currently organising the collection of text books that are surplus to requirements.

These text books, which are no longer in use, out of date or have just seen better days, are being packed and sent to READ INTERNATIONAL who will ship these books to Tanzania in East Africa, to be put to good use.

Click on the link above or at the foot of the blog to see Read International's Website.

Tuesday 25 November 2008

School Field Trip 2001

These are a selection of photos taken during a field trip organised in 2001. The school, St. Austin's Academy (SAA) from Nairobi, spent 5 days and 6 nights at MPFSC. The Year 8 students followed a very similar itinerary to the one planned for the Stalham High School Students.

Apologies for the poor quality as the original shots were on slide format, scanned to TIFF format and then converted to JPEG! Still, they give a good impression of what to expect.