Behind the Scenes of Back to School!

By Gillian Kane, Human Rights Officer

It’s that time of year again: the holidays are over, and a new school term has begun. Around this time, in households across the world, school supplies have been listed and bought; uniforms have been washed, labelled, and ironed; and schoolbags have been packed in anticipation of a new term. It is no different for us at Stahili! As we ensured the return of 40 children to school in the past week, I am reminded of my first ‘back to school’ experience with Stahili around this time last year.

Our mission was to ensure that all 40 students in our programme were ready to go back to school! I had just started to work as a fellow for Stahili about a month before, so the task of making sure the students were ready for a new term was completely new for me. Preparing even 2 children to return school takes a lot of work, but what does it take for 40 students? I was about to find out!

Having initially joined the Stahili human rights team, much of my work involved human rights research, and writing about children’s rights law. However, I was pretty happy to be involved in this project which implements human rights law in practice! At the end of the day, we can advocate, and we can enter the legal debate about children rights, but unless we make sure we are honouring our commitment to the children we support, it is pointless.

Lists, spreadsheets, and lots of emails

During August, I was with my family in Northern Ireland; Michelle (our executive director) was located between the Netherlands and Kenya; and our team was on the ground in Kenya. One thing was clear from the outset: co-ordinating a back to school mission across 3 different countries meant LOTS of emails.

The work started with our team on the ground in Kenya, who worked together with the students’ guardians and families to gather a list of what each child needed in order to go back to school. This included socks, mattresses, uniforms, glasses, gumboots and just about anything in between. My job was to compile the lists onto spreadsheets so we could get an overall picture of which supplies were needed, and how much it would cost.

We also had to ensure that each child’s school fees were paid. This involved going through the correspondence sent from all the schools attended by Stahili students and ensuring that the correct amount was paid for each one. We made yet more spreadsheets to have an accurate record of what was being paid to each school, and an accurate breakdown of what this covered.

The next thing I had to do was gather the bank account details of all the schools so that the correct amounts could be paid to the correct accounts. Another document was made with all these details, so that the person in charge of transferring the fees from the Netherlands would know what amount to pay into which account.

Recording Everything: We Value Transparency

At Stahili, transparency is a high priority. We do not just say that. Through this process I was part of a process establishing an accurate record of where donor money is going, and how funds are allocated. This meant that throughout the process of payment, we made sure to keep a record of, and file all receipts of supplies bought and payments made. For me, this meant one thing: more spreadsheets and filing! This was of course a small price to pay to ensure we could properly account for money generously donated by hard-working people.

Mission Accomplished!

After a hectic few weeks, we were finally finished! Our team in Kenya had purchased all the necessary items and the children were on their way to school. The process had carved a new space in my heart for 40 children who I have yet to meet. As the term began, and all the children returned to school, as we continued with our work at Stahili, a message from Michelle appeared on my screen, which summed everything up perfectly: ‘we did it!’

Operation- Back to School was complete…. until the next term!

 

Our team of dedicated volunteers and staff works to ensure that the children we support return to school with everything they need to thrive. With the new school term underway, the back to school preparations are in full swing. Will you help provide items needed to return to school? bit.ly/2cARfww