Latest News & Events
2010
We are now connected with Everyclick which will donate a small amount to our charity every time someone uses the everyclick link instead of their normal search engine. This will not cost the user anything. Please try to use this link as often as possible so that we can add to our funds.
You can find full information on this link on our 'Can you Help?' page.
We have already raised just over £30 by friends simply using this link instead of their usual search engine.
You can also read how you can donate to the school by using this link.
Thank you so much for your help.
Winter 2009
Christmas Appeal
If you would like to help us this Christmas you will find our Christmas Wish List on our 'Can You Help' page. We are always very grateful for the help given to our Christmas appeal and would like to thank everyone who helps us at this time and throughout the year. Without your wonderful generosity we would not be able to continue our work.
Christmas Fayre
We will also be having our usual stall at the Royal Victoria Country Park Victorian Christmas Craft Fayre on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December from 10 - 4 pm. each day. We would be very pleased to see you there.
We will have beautiful items from Tanzania on sale, Christmas cards and gifts and a variety of craft items ready made and for your own crafting - something for everyone - as well as up to date news on the school. This is always a lovely occasion with dozens of different stalls with stallholders in Victorial dress, Christmas carols, hot chestnuts, mince pies and a really lovely start to the Christmas season.
Photography Exhibition
The 'One Land- One People' exhibition, mentioned below, is currently hanging at The Parlour, Southsea, Hampshire www.theparloursouthsea.co.uk for a three month exhibition, through to the end of January 2010. If you were unable to see it at the Grange Gallery this summer , do try to pay it a visit.
Summer 2009
The three week exhibition featuring the photography of Bob Webzell, and three Noonkodin Students, (Paulo Emanuel, Mboyo Kayaai and Godson Ismael) at the Grange Gallery Rottingdean, was seen by over 850 visitors and raised a total of £1,255 for Serian UK to continue the developments at Noonkodin School. Our grateful thanks to all who attended and in particular, of course, to Bob for this fantastic fundraising event.
July
* There is a very interesting article about some of the work being done at Noonkodin School in this week's copy of 'Look' magazine.( Week starting Sunday 12th July)
You will find it on pages 60 - 62. It covers the work being done to help eliminate FGM and there are some really good pictures of the school and some of the girls who are studying there.
Noonkodin School Newsletter
This newsletter has been written by the students of Noonkodin school.
We hope you find it interesting and are sure you will be impressed by the work they are doing.
Previous News Items
May 2008 Newsletter
Noonkodin School is situated only a few miles south west of Mount Kilimanjaro
in North Tanzania
Construction of Buildings at Noonknodin School
The past few months have seen great progress at Noonkondin School, especially in the construction of new buildings. The second staff house is now finished and the long-awaited girls’ dormitory is nearing completion thanks to substantial donations from various organizations and individuals. Two new classrooms are also roofed and require only doors, windows, plaster and paint.
Book Appeal
The book appeal that was launched at the end of 2007 was very successful and resulted in the purchase of around 300 much needed books for the School.
Water Availability
Another great achievement is the completion of our first rainwater harvesting system – a large underground tank, six metres deep, that collects water from the gutters on the classroom roof. The rainy season is still ongoing and we expect to collect over 100,000 litres of water that will go a long way towards meeting the school’s needs for water for washing, bathing, building and even cooking. The next step is to secure funding for a safe, sustainable and low-cost way to purify the harvested rainwater so that it is suitable for drinking.
Jatropha Project
A group of Form 3 and 4 students, under the guidance of Environmental Studies teacher Kephas Ndiamasi, have established a student enterprise project to cultivate the indigenous shrub Jatropha curcas as a living fence all around the school compound. J. curcas is a non-food plant indigenous to Tanzania that produces seeds containing valuable oil, which can be used either in the manufacture of medicinal soap or as an environmentally friendly alternative to diesel. The students will make their own decisions as to the proportion of seed that could be sold that which could be processed on site, using a small hand-operated oil press. It may be possible to use the oil for cooking at the School, using an appropriate oil-burning stove, so that the wood fuel can be reduced. Hopefully, this will become a sustainable activity that not only helps the students to develop transferable skills in project design and implementation, but also generates some income and/or reduces the environmental footprint of the School.
New Headmaster
The Headmaster, Mathew Ole Kasaro, retired at the end of May and the School is very grateful for his contribution. Under his leadership, full national registration and excellent results in the National Form 2 Examinations were achieved. Joseph Daniel Logolie will be the new Headmaster and trust that under his guidance the School will achieve new heights of excellence.
Student out of school uniform wearing Traditional Maasai dress and Jackson Sambeo - Teacher
Campaign against HIV/AIDS and Female Genital Mutilation
Good progress has been made in raising awareness of HIV/AIDS in the area , and many people have responded by taking a voluntary HIV test offered by the Ministry of Health (which now has a mobile testing service for the villages). ‘Guest houses’ have also been built in a number of homesteads, in response to concern about the Maasai tradition that a guest who belongs to the same age-set as the man of the house and arrives in his absence has the right to spend the night with his wife, with or without her consent!
Most of the girls who ran away from home in November 2006 to escape
FGM are still at Noonkondin School, and making good progress with their education.
Most of the girls are now in Form 1, although one or two of them who did particularly
well in the 2007 entrance examinations are already in Form 2. Through an intensive
e-mail fundraising campaign, enough funds were raised to support all of the
girls for the academic year 2007, and we are very grateful to everyone who
responded so generously to our urgent appeal. However, a lot of this money
was given in the form of one-off donations, and there are still eleven girls
who have no sponsorship for 2008.
Form 4 Graduation
The first Form 4 class will sit for their Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (CSEE), the Tanzanian equivalent of GCSEs, in September and the first graduation ceremony is planned for 25 October. Sponsors, donors and other friends of the School are warmly welcomed to attend, and should contact Gemma Enolengila (enolengila@yahoo.co.uk) if interested.
Thank you to everyone who has given their support by either sponsorship of students, helping with the book appeal, holding fund raising events or givng one-off donations.
From 24 April, 2007.
100 EX CIRCUMCISERS RECEIVE TRAINING IN HEALTH AND HYGIENE
From 21 - 25 May, 2007, 100 Maasai women who used to practice female genital mutilation (FGM), and have given up as a result of the Aang Serian campaign, were trained by local doctors in basic hygiene, HIV/AIDS and STD prevention, and how to stay healthy during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The programme aims to empower them to become educators, rather than circumcisers, of Maasai girls during their coming-of-age ceremony. In addition to the training provided by the doctors, the elderly women will also pass on their own knowledge of culture and herbal medicine.
MAASAI TRADITIONAL LEADERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST FGM
The training seminar follows a declaration, on 15th May, by Maasai traditional leaders (ilaigwenak) from six villages that FGM is no longer an acceptable way of initiating a girl into adulthood. Instead, parents should hold a 'modified rite of passage' ceremony, in which the girl receives instruction about how an adult woman should behave in order to have a strong marriage and healthy children. In place of FGM, girls will have to demonstrate their bravery and readiness for the responsibilties of adulthood by undergoing an HIV test and a cervical smeal test at a local clinic. The initiate will be dressed in special clothes and jewellery, as before, and have a period of seclusion after the ceremony. Feasting, dancing and singing will also continue to form part of the rite of passage.
The traditional leaders also declared that in order to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS within the Maasai community, the custom of allowing male guests of the husband's age-set to sleep in the wife's hut is no longer acceptable. Instead, special huts for guests must be built in each homestead.