Day of the African Child Kenya

Contents THE PARTNERS .......................................................................................................................................... 4 THE LEAD UP TO THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD ...................................................................................... 5 ACTIVITIES ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 10 APPRECIATION ............................................................................................................................................ 11

22ND DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD; JUNE 16TH 2012

THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITY; THE DUTY TO PROTECT, RESPECT, PROMOTE, FULFILL.

INTRODUCTION The Day of the African Child marks the anniversary of the Soweto Uprising in 1976. On June 16, 1976, thousands of black South African students joined in a protest against the oppressive education policies of the apartheid regime. Police responded with force, killing an estimated two hundred children. Since 1991, June 16th has been an occasion to honour the courage of the children who participated in the protests, and to advocate for further action to address the physical and educational needs of children in Africa.

This year's theme was, "The Rights of Children with Disabilities": the duty to protect, respect, promote and fulfill.

A child is considered by the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACRWC), to be anyone under the age of 18 years and is entitled to protection of his/her human rights and special care in recognition of their situation as dependants.

The last two decades in Africa have witnessed dramatic progress in health and education in many countries. African governments have ratified many international and regional human rights instruments and made encouraging progress in domesticating them. Still life for millions of Africa’s children remains hard, insecure and fragile. For instance, Africa has only 10 percent of the world’s population but 40 percent of childhood deaths, 80% of persons with disabilities live in the developing world, according to UNDP and 90% of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school, says UNESCO. Disability mainstreaming is key to shifting the view of disability from a medical condition (also known as the “medical model”) to what is gradually being replaced by a social view (known as the “social model”). The social model looks at disabling environments and social structures (including attitudes); rather than viewing the person with a disability as having a shortcoming, the focus has now moved to the environment and society as a whole and to the lack of consideration for human difference.

In light of this situation, the Federation of African Medical Students' Association (FAMSA), which is a project- oriented body of African Medical Students who seek to be actively involved in tackling the peculiar problems of the African continent, especially with regard to health

felt compelled to show our support for the disabled in Africa by marking the day with activities aimed at improving the health of and raising awareness about the rights of the disabled in our communities.

For this reason, the Medical Students' Association of Moi university (MSAMU), which is a member association of FAMSA partnered with various schools for the disabled, NonGovernmental Organisations, corporates and community members in celebrating the Day of the African Child in Kitale town, Kenya.

THE PARTNERS MSAMU partnered with various organizations to bring about the success of the Day of the African Child activities.

Based on the fact that the theme for the DAC centred on disability, our major partner was Handicap International- Kitale program office. Kitale town was therefore chosen as the venue of the DAC celebration. HI proved invaluable in organizing the days events and using their existing relationships within Kitale town, were able to mobilize various schools, the department of children’s services, the local town council, community members and Chanuka Youth group to attend the day’s events. They, along with Chanuka Youth Centre, also provided tents, sporting equipment and a public address system for the day.

Chanuka Youth Centre provided HIV counseling and testing services for the youth attending the event.

Aphia plus- Nuru ya Bonde reached out to their partners to help facilitate the days events.

However, efforts to obtain drugs and medical supplies from the national medical supplies agency did not bear fruit. For this reason, the planned Free Paediatric Health Camp did not pan out as planned.

HIV Free Generation and their implementing partner Family Health Options-Kenya provided branded merchandise for the peer educators who were testing and counseling the youth. They also provided peer educators who were to screen Shuga and discuss matters pertaining to HIV awareness.

Various corporates and business enterprises facilitated the event by providing goods in kind;

Safaricom provided 100 T-shirts, printed with the FAMSA and MSAMU logos and the event’s chosen slogan “It’s not Dis-ability; It’s a Different ability”.

Paul’s Bakery- Eldoret, Coca Cola- Rift Valley Bottlers ltd, Khetia, Suam and Transmatt supermarkets (all based in kitale) provided soft drinks and snacks for the event.

Members of the local community turned out in force to participate in the event. There were representatives from the local ‘HIV- Survivor’ support groups, the churches and schools in the area.

THE LEAD UP TO THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD In addition to sourcing for support, the students of the Medical Students’ Association of Moi University carried out activities to raise awareness about the rights of children with disabilities and the Day of the African Child amongst the students, faculty and staff of the School of Medicine and staff of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.

This was done through the use of posters within the school and hospital and awareness talks given to the students at the school.

The community and schools in the Kitale locality were sensitized about the event and the rights of children with disability.through the use of Handicap International’s existing relationships with the community leaders and local organizations.

Chanuka youth Centre and Family health Options- Kenya recruited the active participation of the youth, whom we recognize as future parents, leaders, health care providers and policy makers, in protecting and safeguarding the rights and welfare of children with disability.

ACTIVITIES The proposed activities included;     

Disability Awareness Walk Free paediatric medical camp Health education at neighbouring schools and communities Fun day Be a buddy- day

1. Disability Awareness Walk On the 16th June, the walk kicked off at the Posta grounds in Kitale Town at 11am. There were over 400participants taking part in a 3km walk through the town and ending at the Kitale Social Hall. 100 participants were branded in the day’s slogan and sponsors’ colours. The main banner was branded with the day’s theme ‘THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES; OUR DUTY TO PROTECT, RESPECT, PROMOTE, FULFILL’. Posters had disability awareness messages such as “I support the rights of the disabled’, ‘It’s not Dis- Ability; It’s a Different- Ability’, ‘I protect the rights of children with Disabilities’. A marching band led the walk.

2. Fun Day The main aim of holdng a fun day was to provide a forum for children with disabilities to interact with their non-disabled peers, realise each other’s capabilities and potential, therefore fostering integration and acceptance of the children with disabilities into the community.

The fun day was a raging success in which the following events took place; 

The County Director of Children’s Services read the ministerial peech



Children from the 7 schools and children’s homes in attendance showcased their talent through songs, poems and dance.



The children played games such as rope skipping, scrabble



Face painting was done for all the children in attendance



The youth visited the Chanuka youth centre for games such as scrabble and other board games



All the participants, including street children from Kitale town had lunch together

3. Voluntary HIV testing and counseling Peer educators from Chanuka Youth Group and Family Health Options-Kenya educated the participating youth on HIV. Some of these young people were voluntarily tested. A scheduled screening of the movie ‘Shuga’ did not however, take place due to time constraints.

CHALLENGES Due to difficulties with acquiring medical supplies and drugs, the proposed health camp did not happen as planned.

Time constraints prevented the screening of “SHUGA”. As such, a major opportunity for peer education was not adequately exploited.

Sponsorship for the event was also a problem to get. While a number of organizations were very generous with their resources, it fell to the students and staff of Moi University and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) to raise most of the funding for the event. For most of the organizations approached, the short notice posed a major difficulty as these organizations were already in the middle of their financial year and could not disburse funds towards a project not previously budgeted for.

FUNDING AND EXPENDITURE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD FUNDING SOURCE Faculty, staff , students of Moi Uni/ MTRH MUSO Walk registration Total

ORGANISATION Moi University, College of Health Sciences Fuel for transport to and from Kitale College bus Handicap International-Kitale program office/ Chanuka Youth centre Public Address System Tent Scrabble boards HIV Counselling and Testing services Safaricom T-shirts (branded with FAMSA and MSAMU logos and slogan) HIV Free Generation/ Family Health Options-Kenya T-shirts Caps Bags Generation Next materials Condoms Coca Cola Sodas (300 ml) Khetia’s supermarket-Kitale Ready to Drink juice Biscuits Suam supermarket- Kitale Biscuits Tusky’s supermarket- Eldoret 1 case of water Transmatt supermarket- Kitale 1 case of water Biscuits Paul’s Bakery-Eldoret Queen cakes Herbal life Herbal life nutrishakes

AMOUNT 30,270 1,500 6,800 38, 570

ITEM Ksh 6400 1 1

100

6 6 7 5boxes 5crates/ 120sodas 180 bottles 3cartons 2 cartons 30 bottles 30 bottles 1 carton 150 pieces -

DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD EXPENDITURE

Food items

ITEM

NUMBER

UNIT COST (ksh)

COST

SUB-TOTAL

Soda (300ml)

96 sodas/ 4 crates

25/ 600

2400

17620

Biscuits scones

300 pkt@50

900 7500

200 140 20 5 pkt@200

4000 560 100 1500 200

Straws Paper bags

3 cartons 900 pieces/ 150 pkts 200pkts 4pkts 5pkts 300pieces 50pieces/ 1pkt 4pkts 3pkts

40 100

160 300

Tshirt delivery

-

1400

1400

1400

Driver allowance

1

1000

1000

4000

Transport to and from kitale Within Eldoret

4 ppl

500

2000

6

200

1200

Band

1

7000

7500

Posters

30

17

510

Banners

1

3000

3000

Ribbons

1 rolls of ribbon

400

400

Felt pens

2

70

140

Cellotape

1

40

40

Face paints

1set of paints

160

160

balloons

5pkt

140

700

Skipping ropes

5

20

100

Yoghurt Sweets Glucose Buns Paper plates

Transport

Disability awareness walk 11590

Fun day 960

Administration expenses: Communication costs Printing, Phone calls, Internet and fax

GRAND TOTAL

3000

3000

38,570

38,570

RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Be-a-buddy program; it is our recommendation that every Medical Students’ Association in FAMSA endeavour to set up a social responsibility program in their university to enable the medical students to interact with disabled and less-priviledged persons of society in their immediate locality.

2. FAMSA event calendar; it is imperative that FAMSA prepare an annual event calendar and source for sponsors for the proposed events before the end of each calendar year to ensure that these events are supported by other organisations.

APPRECIATION MSAMU ON THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD The Medical Students’ Association of Moi University (MSAMU) had the honour of commemorating the Day of the African Child on the 16th of July 2012, in partnership with FAMSA-SCOMER and FAMSA-SCOPE. With the participation of 64 students from the association and with about 400 people from the community, 275 of whom were children, the day was a success. Sponsorship from Safaricom (a national telecommunications company), cocacola, Khetia supermarket, Handicap International and Family health options went a long way towards realizing the success. MSAMU thanks FAMSA for its continued support.

Oundo Emmanuel Owiti, for Dennis Okaka, Chairman, MSAMU

FAMSA SCOPE ON THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD FAMSA-SCOPE was grateful for the opportunity from SCOMER to partner with them in commemorating the Day of the African Child on the 16th of June, 2012. Working hand in hand with the Medical Students’ Association of Moi University (MSAMU), we involved as many members of SPE and SCOMER for the activity. This was helpful in improving student relations both socially and professionally and also improved their relations with the community in which they are situated. The cooperation worked well because the Moi hosts both the country representative of SCOMER and the chairman of SCOPE. It is our hope that this spirit will spread across Africa.

Oundo Emmanuel Owiti, FAMSA-SCOPE Chairman

DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD COMMITTEE, MOI UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE It is with a sense of deep gratitude that I write to thank all the people who participated in the Day of the African Child events, 2012.

I wish to thank; 1.

2.

3.

4.

The Principal, Moi University, College of Health Sciences The Dean of Students, Moi University, College of Health Sciences The Dean, Moi University, School of Medicine; patron of MSAMU The faculty, staff and students of the College of Health Sciences and MTRH for their support, encouragement, advice and generosity.

We are deeply indebted to all the corporate organsations and non-governmental organizations that sponsored/ supported the event; 1. APHIA plus, rift valley 2. Handicap international, kitale 3. Safaricom 4. HIV free generation 5. Family Health Options Kenya 6. Chanuka youth group 7. Khetias Supermarket: 8. Transmatt Supermarket: 9. Suam Supermarket: 10. Paul's bakery 11. Coca cola bottlers: rift valley Finally, I commend the Kitale community for their overwhelming turn out on the day and their great enthusiasm for the day’s activities. We look forward to working together again in improving the health of the African people.

Joy Wangithi Kamau Chairperson, DAC committee, Moi University.