Posts Tagged ‘St. Clare Centre’

                                                             (The girls practiced their dances.)

This past Fall, the girls at St. Clare Centre for Girls put on a short program to welcome some friends to the St. Clare campus.  Visiting were Gian Carlo and Fernando, friends of Mama Beatrice (Queen of St. Clare).  Since the couple had heard so much about St. Clare Centre from Mama Beatrice before she died, they wanted to visit.  Of course, they brought some gifts for the girls (baseball caps).  Another couple, Kathy and Derwyn, friends of Sisters Maurine and Renee, was also visiting from Canada.  Everyone enjoyed the program and the girls were thrilled to display their skills.

The girls in grass skirts depicted a Luo dance and the girls with the long turquoise, red, and yellow danced a tribal Samburu dance.  The girls made all the beaded accessories.

After returning from the U.S., this past summer, Sister Christa began a weaving class.  The girls in the class are continuing to do well as they are completing their first project.  They are each working toward making small bags.  The yarns are colorful and the girls are enjoying their handiwork.  Sister Christa (pictured above)  meets with nine girls in two different groups.  One group is able to work on their own, checking periodically with Sister.  The other group needs a little more direct attention as they work on understanding the weaving process.  Sister and the staff at St. Clare are extremely proud of all the girls and what they are accomplishing.

When Father Riwa was in the United States this past October, he, and Bud and Sue Ozar stopped to visit the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubuque, Iowa.  The group spent some time with Sister Mary Martens, BVM and a half a dozen sisters.  When the drought killed the crops at the Children’s Village in 2011, Father Riwa did not know how he was going to feed the children.  At the point he would have to purchase cereals and grain on the open market at inflated prices and simply did not have the money.  When Friends of Kenyan Orphans sent out an SOS, the Sisters of Charity heard the appeal and responded with a contribution from the congregation’s Hunger Fund.  Their motto says it all: “FREED BY LOVE, ACTING FOR JUSTICE.”

Last week Walsh University in Canton Ohio held a week of activities aimed at heightening global awareness and solidarity with the poor. A highlight of the week was the students took An Uncommon Walk for the Common Good where they wore flip flops or no shoes at all to simulate a connection with people in the developing world. Funds raised during this week were given to Friends of Kenyan Orphans with the specific purpose of purchasing flip-flops for the St Clare girls in Nchiru Kenya.

Without education in this developing world, you are limiting yourself. Education at St. Clare is unequalled.

Things at St. Clare are totally different from other schools from our uniform as we put on jeans, white blouses and navy blue pullovers to our beginning as a school.

When St. Clare started many people looked down on it thinking that the organization could not succeed. The school started with students learning under the trees since the building was not completed. This was not conducive to study because it was busy everywhere with construction. The teachers would dictate the notes for us since there were no appropriate places to place a blackboard. We found it difficult but since we had determination and the belief that education is the key of success, we had to persevere.

As the days went by and the school developed, more pupils who were really in need of education and could not find it elsewhere, joined us. We were now many pupils living in an environment conducive to study. Our director brought different teachers from different backgrounds to teach us. We really enjoyed the education since many of us could now read as well as write. Despite the right to education provided by law, many girls like us were denied the opportunity.

With time, the school curriculum was enhanced. The teachers started coming in the classroom at six o’clock in the morning and ending lessons at four in the evening. This is the type of learning that we now follow.

Right now, the teachers are devoted and working very hard together with the sisters to educate us spiritually, morally, emotionally, physically and psychologically. In addition to learning in the classroom, extra activities have been added. The staff members have come up with different clubs where students participate. The clubs include movement, drama, music, scouting, environmental and dancing clubs. Different teachers conduct these clubs and they nurture girls’ abilities and talents and help girls develop respect for each other.

Our teachers always tell us that successful people are not super human or endowed with certain abilities lacking in others. They are ordinary people with extra ordinary persistence and determination. The girls of St. Clare are very determined to achieve their goals by getting an education. We at St. Clare Girls’ Center have dreams that we want to make realities. There is no way we will become nurses, doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, neurosurgeons, teachers without this nine letter word “EDUCATION.”

Purity is a Form II student (sophomore) at St. Clare Girls’ Center in Nchiru, Kenya.

Girls come to St. Clare from 17 different Kenyan Tribes.

Last Saturday they participated in  an inter-school competition sharing stories, poems, songs and plays in their mother tongue.

What a wonderful learning experience and community builder.