KforC

Knowledge for Children is working in rural primary schools. I grew up in a village in the Netherlands and did attend a rural primary school as well. I am not sure if I had exactly the same opportunities as children in urban schools (especially regarding sports, art, etc.) but I don’t think I was very disadvantaged being in a rural school. We had teachers, we had proper classrooms, we had books, we had computers, we had everything we needed to learn. Some of my classmates were children of farmers, they could still go to school and didn’t have to stay home to help in busy times.

I am getting more and more aware that this is all not as normal as it sounds to us. In many schools where we work, children don’t have the same opportunities as pupils in cities. Their teachers are not qualified, if they are there at all. Textbooks are a rare thing. Classrooms might be in need of renovation. There is often no light or running water. And many children have to help in the farm or market before, after or during school hours.

In short, if you are a child in Cameroon and you are unlucky enough to be born in the rural areas of your country, you are disadvantaged from the very beginning. The chances you have to make it to higher education are low, simply because you don’t have the facilities. It doesn’t have anything to do with your intelligence or motivation, but how will you be able to read and write well if you have no books and your teachers don’t really know how to teach you?

Last week I visited a few private (and very expensive) private primary schools in Douala, the commercial centre of Cameroon. It was quite shocking to see the differences. Books everywhere, computer labs, highly qualified teachers, very nice school buildings. My colleague and I were really wondering if the children in our schools would recognise this as a school. They can’t imagine that something like this also exists.

Knowledge for Children tries to improve the standards of education in the rural schools we are working. We work together with the community, normally represented by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). We donate textbooks but the community also has to raise money to also buy books. In three years, schools will receive textbooks on word and sound building, English language, French language, mathematics and two more subjects chosen by the school.

We buy books which are officially recognised by the Ministry of Basic Education to make sure the books can really be used in the classrooms. Besides donating books, we also sensitize parents and community members on the importance of education. We try to teach them that they are also responsible for the education of their children and can (and should!) hold the school in account.

In many cases, teachers are not very well trained (the formal study to become a primary school teachers takes nine months!). Therefore we also train teachers, focussing again on literacy. We believe that if teachers can teach better, and use the textbooks effectively, literacy rates will raise.

Besides educational projects we also work on health. Rural children are vulnerable to HIV/Aids and malaria and have little or no knowledge about basic hygiene. In forty schools we are running Health Clubs. These clubs are formed by pupils and work under the motto; ‘good health for quality education’. We train the health scouts and their coordinators (one teacher and one community members) on health issues and on ways how to educate the other children in their school, their parents and the rest of the community on healthy practises like washing hands.

What makes Knowledge for Children very special is that we do everything together with the community. We are not going to give them books which are put in a cupboard and never come out again. Communities have to contribute financially and every time we visit the school to donate books parents have to be there (if not, we are taking the books back to Kumbo).

In this way, we want to make our work sustainable and we can reach these communities that are ready to get things work. By doing so, we hope to prevent that we end up ‘feeding the hippos' (see the first minutes of the movie below).

First impressions of Cameroon

I am for four weeks in Cameroon now and it is very hard for me to write a nice blog about it. I have had so many impressions, so many ideas, so many changes. I think it is impossible to summarize it. But, let’s give it a try!

Differences between Ilorin and Kumbo

Kumbo

When I arrived in Nigeria, I had a culture shock. Now, arriving in Kumbo, I have a culture shock again. I do still find it difficult to point the differences between Nigeria and its neighbouring countries. But somehow you can feel it. I have the impression that Nigerians in general don’t trust strangers. This makes your life hard, if you always have to wonder if that person wants to do something bad, you have to be aware all the time. Here the feeling is different.
When I went to the market in Ilorin, people were really grabbing my arm and pulling me into their shop; BUY FABRIC! No, I want to buy tomatoes! And then a discussion was following. When I go to the market here, people ask me; Hello ma’ how are you? Do you want to buy fabric? And if I say no, tomatoes, they will point me to someone who sells tomatoes and wish me a nice day.
When we were looking for a house in Ilorin, everybody was telling me we could only arrange that through people we know, otherwise it would be too dangerous. Here I was looking for a house and all my colleagues encouraged me to ask strangers as well. In the end I found a house through the landlord of our office, but the approach is very different.
At the downside of Kumbo are definitely the roads. The rainy season has started and every morning there is less road left between my house and the office. There are only two paved roads and all others become extremely slippery when it rains as it all becomes red mud. It is very hilly here so it is quite dangerous.
Another thing I miss from Nigeria is the spice in the food. Yoruba people eat a lot of ‘pepe’ but here in many dishes there is no spice at all. In Nigeria they sell chili peppers in huge quantities, here it is only ‘small small’.
And last but not least, I miss the internet connection from Nigeria. I thought the MTN fast link (cruel joke!) was the slowest ever. I now know that is not true…

Knowledge for Children

Donating books to a school

I will soon write an entire blog post about my new job. But for now, I really like working here. The staff is very committed and motivated. The projects are great and there are a lot of ideas to make it even better.
What I like is that we are not a NGO who goes to bring some boxes of books. We only donate books if the community (parents) also buy books. They buy them through our office and after they did, we will also donate our part. Over three years, they buy 30% of the books. In this way, they are really involved.

Health club member teaching how to wash your hands

Another interesting program is the health program. In several schools we have health clubs. These clubs consist of about 30-40 pupils. They are trained on health issues like HIV and aids, malaria and hygiene. They also learn how to share their knowledge with their classmates and parents. I have seen some nice sketches performed by the health club members to sensitise their parents on hand washing.

As I said, I will soon write more about Knowledge for Children. For now, check out our Facebook page. And if you like to contribute, you can either donate straight to the bank account NL37 INGB 000 (BIC/SWIFT code: INGBNL2A) or use the tool at the right!