As you may have read, our Nairobi Seed of Hope Centre recently launched its first program for boys. Known as “Clayton’s Mechanics – Engineering Brighter Futures” the project has already recruited the first nine students and a teacher who will focus on vocational skills while the existing Seed of Hope staff will help students with business skills and life skills. As this new project starts out, we thought it would be interesting to share the stories and thoughts of some of the people involved.
Teacher Gitau has been with Seed of Hope Nairobi for a number of years teaching the girls business skills such as how to develop a business plan, marketing and record keeping. This year, he was given the challenge to research what would be involved in setting up a centre for boys and to help make that happen. When sponsors, Tina and John Harffey, came to visit Gitau spent time taking them to a number of vocational training centres that offered mechanics courses and also sourced copies of a government approved curriculum so that they could see what equipment would be required. Gitau also helped with the recruitment of students by visiting local area chiefs, schools and churches and he was also involved in recruiting the new teacher who could train the students to become mechanics. Gitau says “This is a good project. Boys have been neglected in Kenya. A child is a child and if we always focus on one gender things start to become awkward. If a trained mechanic marries a girl with dressmaking skills, that can be a good family. If things are one sided, there can be problems.”
One of the students hoping to qualify as a mechanic is 18 year old Anthony from Dagoretti Corner. Anthony heard about Clayton’s Mechanics through an announcement by church elders. Since completing his final year of primary school in November 2008, Anthony has been helping his mother with her business. However, he loved the idea of being a mechanic and when he heard the announcement he decided to attend for an interview. He told us “This has given me hope for the future, to be someone in society. So far I have learned how to remove tyres and repair brake pads. It’s so much fun being at this project and learning everyone’s culture and how to be with people. One day I hope to become successful and give back to society.”
Anthony also helped spread the word about Clayton’s Mechanics and his neighbour, Kim, decided to apply. Kim is 21 and had to drop out of secondary school in Form 3 due to illness then there was no money to get him back in to school. He started hawking goods and running small businesses but says he didn’t have any hope in life. He wanted to “have something to do in life, to have a career and be able to stand on my own in the future”. When he first came to Seed of Hope he says he was nervous and shy about meeting different people but “now I have hope in life. I am able to socialise, make new friends and speak with different people”. In fact, Kim went on to take one of the lead roles in a drama performed at the girls’ graduation in November! He says that in the future he hopes to become a professional mechanic and have a career.
One of the other actors in the graduation drama was 18 year old Daniel who lives with his brother in Nairobi. When he completed primary school last year, his brother couldn’t afford to pay for him to go to secondary school. Daniel was searching for a course to do but his brother, who is a greengrocer, didn’t have any money to spare. A neighbour told Daniel of the new course at Seed of Hope so he came along for the interview. He says “The friends I had were bad and were taking drugs but now I’m away from them. I can have a better life. I have already learned about being with other people and soon I will improve my talents. I hope to pass my exams and one day have my own workshop.”
One man who can help these youths achieve their dreams is their new teacher, Kelvin. He says that his new job at Seed of Hope is fabulous and that so far his students are good, especially in academic performance. In future, he hopes that they will be able to offer full diagnosis of vehicles to allow students to have a lot of skills. He also hopes to “accentuate the workshop to generate income which will sustain the project”.
Once again, we would like to thank Tina and John Harffey who have made this project a reality. We look forward to following the progress of Anthony, Kim, Daniel and their fellow students and hope to bring you news of their success in the near future.