(By teacher Joseph Karanja)
No matter where we come from, or how tough the situation might be in our homes, we each carry within us a unique set of talents. That is the clear message from our distinguished directors to the students of St. Bernadette Mary School. After the official invitation from The Aga Khan International Academy, Nairobi, for us to attend their annual personal project exhibition, two students, Joel and Vincent, were lucky to be picked to represent the entire school at the international exhibition. Both the students have played a key role in the SBM poetry project. Joel has been expressing himself through poetry, while Vincent has been doing a lot in art.
Papa Kevin and Mama Mary understand that our students represent a kaleidoscope of different perspectives, sensibilities and possibilities. They wholly agree that the students’ panorama of possibilities is as wide as The Nyika Plateau of Kenya, therefore, the lifetime of hard knocks that the students go through in their homes cannot limit their view. For this reason, the school has gone an extra mile to make sure that students access quality experiences to enrich their learning.
The Journey began at 2200hrs and the students had a profound task to keep their excitement in check, this of course being the first time they had had an opportunity to travel out of the coast and more so representing the school at an international event. We arrived in Nairobi at around 0630hrs and after freshening up and enjoying a hearty breakfast, we headed straight to Ngong road, where Professor John Mbuthi of International Baccalaureate Organization was waiting to receive us. At around 0930hrs, we departed to the Aga Khan Academy- Parklands.
On arrival at the exhibition venue, Joel and Vincent immersed themselves heart and soul in the immense sea of creativity. They chatted lively with their peers from the International Academy as they moved from one invention to the next, a lot of excitement was in the art gallery but unfortunately no photos were allowed in the gallery due to the copyright related issues.
Finally it was time to call it a day, we left the school and went to have some fun sight seeing, we started off with the Thika super highway on our way to Runda for lunch, where the boys’ culinary expertise came in handy as we collectively prepared lunch. We later had a chance to sight see landmark buildings at the capital including The Office of The President at Harambee avenue and Parliament buildings as we waited for the departure time to the coast to arrive.
The intended outcome of the whole exposure to our students was to equip them with a different story about themselves. To grant them an opportunity to look at different possibilities that life offers in the event they put their talents into good use. It is indeed true that the students at SBM have immense problems in their homes, but the school, under the guidance of a very able Board of Trustees, has always been committed to offer varied definitive avenues for our children. I cannot fail to recognize the valuable and priceless contribution of our donors, they too have made a great contribution in the realization, growth, nurturing and success of our students. God Bless you all. God Bless SBM.
As always, pushing the boundaries for our children. I hope they enjoyed their trip and learned a lot from their experience.